A Ray of Hope in the Maya Mountains of Belize
How a Hunter-Turned-Birder Has Big Dreams for Community Conservation
“When I first met William, he was working with his father helping to manage their citrus and pineapple farms. He also was a self-professed hunter and had little knowledge about conservation issues and even less about birds. However, what he did possess was an eagerness to learn, a strong work ethic, and recognition of the opportunity of becoming a technician with our avian project.
“In a very short time, William started to transform, with his mentality shifting from that of hunter to passionate conservation advocate. William proved to be a fast learner, listening constantly to bird tapes to learn their calls and poring over the Birds of Belize book during any time off. By the end of the first year of the project, it was clear that William was not only dedicated to the project, but he had truly found his passion in life, his calling.
“Over the next two years, William matured both as an individual and as a team leader. He has been a critical player in keeping the project on track and motivating the other team members. This past year, William worked closely with me to plan and implement educational outreach activities for the local schoolchildren highlighting the avian project. During the planning and implementation of these activities, William demonstrated his abilities as not only an excellent field technician and birder but as a natural educator as well.”
—
JudyDourson,
Director of Educational Programs
Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education
William Garcia was born in Trio village, a small community in the northern part of the Toledo District in southern Belize. Located five miles down a dirt road off the southern highway, Trio is home to about 1,000 people, mainly immigrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, along with a small Ke’echi Maya population. The primary occupation here is agriculture, either farming or working in the local banana plantation. Only in mid-2009 did the village receive electricity and a centralized water system.
William’s Guatemalan immigrant parents started a small farm in Trio in 1988. Although he was a good student and graduated second in his class, William never went on to high school. Instead, he began working at his father’s farm at age 14, helping to plant and harvest beans, corn, pineapple, citrus and plantain. He also began hunting for bush meat, mostly deer and paca (locally called gibnut), primarily in the reserves of the Maya Mountains.
Soon with a wife and three small children, William struggled to provide for his family through his meager farming and hunting activities. He saw no opportunities to land a job without a high school education, skills or training. He didn’t envision a very bright future for himself or his family. That all changed in November 2007 when William was approached by another Trio resident, Oscar Hernandez, who suggested that William join the Belize Foundation for Research and Environmental Education (BFREE).
BFREE supports and manages a private research and educational facility on 1,153 acres of tropical rainforest nestled in the foothills of the Maya Mountains in southern Belize along the Bladen River.
BFREE began working in Trio because of the village’s growth (a near doubling in the population) over the past five years. Access to BFREE’s rain forest reserve and the nearby Bladen River Nature Reserve increased dramatically as a result of older forest reserves being opened up for development and new roads being built into the area. This caused an unfortunate increase in illegal logging, hunting, fishing, looting of Mayan ruins, and collection of xate palm from the area’s forests. BFREE decided to engage Trio residents in rain forest conservation by providing alternative, eco-friendly livelihoods. This was the best hope to stem the tide of natural resource exploitation.
Although he lacked any formal preparation, William was intrigued by the job opportunity as a BFREE bird technician. The project’s goal is to enhance and upgrade survey and monitoring of neotropical migratory and resident birds in the Blade Reserve, providing baseline data that can contribute to regional bird conservation and sound management. The project also uses a science-based environmental education program to build community awareness of the Maya Mountains and is providing alternative livelihoods and community improvement.
Over the past three years, William and his fellow field technicians completed training courses on bird ecology and scientific field methods so they could collect bird data through netting and banding and take biological samples. William and other BFREE bird technicians have captured more than 2,100 individual birds so far and have identified 325 different bird species in the Bladen and BFREE reserves. Their data are contributing to the overall management and conservation of bird communities in Belize and across the region.
William has become the lead bird technician and recently was awarded a full scholarship to participate in an international bird banding internship with Park Flight International, working in a number of national parks in Oregon.
Participation in the project changed William’s life. He now sees the environment as something to preserve and protect. He no longer hunts and advocates for others to take care of Belize’s natural resources instead of abusing them. Steady income has enabled him to provide for his family, and his parents and fellow villagers now respect him in ways that were not possible before. His parents are especially proud of his achievements and now see him as a responsible adult. He has become a leader not just in the avian conservation project but also in his village. Schoolchildren and young villagers look up to him as an inspiration and role model.
Most importantly, William is motivated and has dreams for a better future, believing that with education anything is possible. This may well be the key to preserving the rain forests for future generations.
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