Cayo Scoop! The Ecology of Cayo Culture

Wondering about what the Scarlet Six Biomonitoring Team?  Here's a great video documentary from Daniel Velazquez about the project. 

"A documentary about the Chiquibul national park in Belize, and the people protecting it from poachers , a look at conservation today with Scarlet Macaw protection, and a short look back on Challilo Dam issue, and environmental destruction, with Sharon Matola, Greg Cho and people in Cayo.  Film is produced by Roni Matinez, Charles Britt and Filmmaker Daniel Velazquez active wildlife conservationist in Belize, this is also a creative art media project, in wish we gave cameras to the protection crew, and they took part in documenting."

"This year was a REAL collaboration between many organizations and individuals to save our dwindling population of scarlet macaws in this little patch of our Jewel.  We now have solid partners and concrete determination.  Over 50 volunteers from Belize, US, Spain, Switzerland, Guatemala and other countries, joined us this year in our stand to protect a declining species in a remote corner of the massive Chiquibul.  Want to join the Scarlet Six Biomonitoring Team in 2014 as we continue our struggle?  We promise you an adventure you will not soon forget.  Thanks a million to the Belize Forest Department, Friends for Conservation and Development - FCD Belize, Blancaneaux Lodge, WCS-Guatemala, Daniel Velazquez, Belize Wildlife & Referral Clinic, LoraKim Joyner, Rainforest Restoration Foundation, Loro Parque Fundacion, Tony Rath Photography and Tony Rath plus the rest of the army of collaborators, volunteers and donors who lent us that helping hand this year."

The Rainforest Restoration Foundation had a fundraiser this weekend at the Tulsa Zoo to help out with the monitoring of the Scarlet Macaws, which is an ongoing project here in the Chiquibul Forest Reserve.  Roni Martinez is the main Belizean contact.  Thanks, Roni!

"The Rainforest Restoration Foundation, a Tulsa-based conservation NGO, is supporting a local initiative to monitor Scarlet Macaw nesting sites in Belize and deter poachers from stealing macaw chicks.  The monitoring program was led by Ronaldi 'Roni' Martinez.  Roni lives in the nearest village, San Antonio. He works as the Conservation Officer for Blancaneaux Lodge, the premier ecotourism resort in the Maya Mountains of Belize.  His son shares his love of birds and Roni wants to make sure that scarlet macaws are around for his children’s children to admire.  Roni hired men from his village and trained them with help from Charles Britt, a wildlife biologist from New Mexico who studies scarlet macaws in the area.  These trained field workers paddle inflatable kayaks up the Chalillo Dam reservoir and into the Macal and Raspaculo rivers which flow into it.  They record Scarlet Macaws sightings and look for nesting trees.  They also search for camps used by wildlife poachers and report those to law enforcement authorities.  They have digital cameras, GPS receivers and a satellite telephone so they can report precise information immediately."