Shrubland in the Salina Reserve

Originally deeded to the National Trust by the Cayman Islands Government, the Salina Reserve has always had a less-than-ideal northern boundary, because of a privately owned piece of land situated almost entirely inside the Reserve. It divided the dry shrubland in that area, which is key habitat for the Grand Cayman Blue Iguana.

This parcel has now been purchased by the Trust and has become an integral part of the Salina Reserve.

“The importance of this land goes beyond the direct conservation value of the 23 acres involved” says Fred Burton, Director of the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme. “The purchase has unlocked a previously blocked fragment of habitat, which together with the new parcel now almost doubles the area of shrubland available here for the Blue Iguanas to recolonize.”

The European Union grant to the Trust is part of a project “Management of Protected Areas to Support Sustainable Economies,” shared with the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the British Virgin Islands. In Grand Cayman it is being implemented jointly by the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme, the National Trust, and the Department of Environment. The grant includes some funds for land purchase for Blue Iguana habitat, in addition to development of nature tourism and education infrastructure and programmes in the new Colliers Wilderness Reserve, which is also becoming a key home to the Blue Iguanas.

The Head of Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Jamaica commented that the EU was pleased to be able to contribute to the preservation of the Blue Iguana, an interesting and threatened species, through the extension of its habitat. “Biodiversity is essential for the survival of mankind“, he said “ Each of us have to do what we can to ensure that species, such as the Blue Iguana, survive and are there for our children and grandchildren.  This is a practical example of the support that the EU gives and I would like to congratulate the Cayman Islands National Trust for their hard work that has brought this extension of the Salina Reserve.”

In a fortunate coincidence of timing, the landowners approached the Trust with a view to selling, near the time that the Trust took receipt of the first tranche of the EU grant. With support from the project’s Technical Assistant (based in TCI) and the EU Delegation in Kingston, Jamaica, the necessary procedures and approvals were completed in good time, and the purchase documents were signed on 14^th September, 2011

Then Juanita suddenly left her normal territory. Days later we found her in a nearby soil patch, covering over a new nest! It’s quite likely some of the larger youngsters we released last year may have also nested, maybe just an egg apiece because they are still so small, but Juanita will probably have laid eight eggs or more.

Juanita guarding her nest site

Hopefully this year’s rains, which have broken now, came in time to keep her eggs hydrated. Our camp site has withstood some stormy weather and we’re getting ready for the second iguana release to the Colliers Wildness, which will probably happen in August. It’s a rhythm we are getting used to – as we release the group of two year olds to the wild, this year’s hatchlings will be emerging from the incubators, and our head-starting cages will be occupied almost as soon as they are vacated.

Daniel Hamilton

Daniel Hamilton was 21 years old. He was pursuing a Bachelor of Science Degree in Wildlife at Purdue University, Indiana. He spoke of a lifelong fascination with reptiles, and how when first saw Blue Iguanas at an exhibit in the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, he knew he wanted to play some part in their rescue.

Daniel’s volunteer application was outstanding – he had done fieldwork with salamanders in state forests in Indiana, had learned techniques like radio tracking, tagging and navigation, and his enthusiasm sparkled in his communications as he prepared to come to Grand Cayman.

In his short time with us, Daniel launched himself wholeheartedly into the work of the Programme, first at the captive breeding facility in the QE II Botanic Park, then in the Salina Reserve inland from the Queen’s Highway, and finally in the new Reserve in Colliers, East End. There, he and two other international volunteers were preparing for this year’s release of Blue Iguanas, scheduled to take place in July.

The staff and current volunteers with the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme, and the Council and staff of the National Trust for the Cayman Islands are deeply shocked and saddened by Daniel’s unexpected passing, and extend their heart-felt sympathy and condolences to his family and friends. Thanks and recognition are also extended to the emergency services who did everything possible to save Daniel.

The community’s expressions of sympathy are sincerely appreciated. We invite anyone who wishes to send condolences to email birpvols@gmail.com or post on the Blue Iguana Recovery Program’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Blue-Iguana-Recovery-Programme/183865225017 , and the BIRP will arrange for these thoughts to reach Daniel’s family

Tickets from Bon Vivant (Governors Square, Grand Cayman) or online at www.caymanislands.ky/cookout

(CNS): A charity wine, dinner and auction next week during Cayman Cookout will benefit the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme (BIRP) and a culinary school scholarship programme, which will help an aspiring Caymanian chef. Sponsored by the National Trust for the Cayman Islands and Jacques Scott Limited, the event will be held on Thursday, 13 January, at 7:00pm at 7 Prime Cuts and Sunsets at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman. BIRP grew from a small project started within the National Trust for the Cayman Islands in 1990. A breath away from extinction the Grand Cayman Blue Iguana became the most endangered Iguana on Earth.

In 2002 there were an estimated number of 10 to 25 wild blue iguanas in existence and by 2005 the breed considered functionally extinct. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of BIRP, there are now approximately 500 iguanas in the wild, a number that with adequate funding will continue to grow, preserving these “blue dragons” for generations to come.

This is the third consecutive year that the Jacques Scott Wine Auction and Dinner has benefited the local National Trust. Last year the Wine Auction raised over US$20,000 and the proceeds benefited the restoration of the Eldermire House, a National Trust historic property in Cayman Brac.

“The National Trust is pleased to be working with Jacques Scott and The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman again this year for Cayman Cookout,” said Frank Balderamos, General Manager of the National Trust for the Cayman Islands. “We are extremely thankful for the exposure this event generates and hope that it is successful again this year.”

From the Cabinet decision, to negotiating the lease agreement, to signing the lease, has taken time, and admittedly the process hasn’t been material for compelling news. But the lease has now been signed, and registered, and the National Trust for the Cayman Islands is the lessee of 190 acres of Crown land in the East Interior of Grand Cayman, for the next 99 years at least. It’s a hugely significant step forward, both for conservation of the Grand Cayman Blue Iguana, and for its habitat – Grand Cayman’s unique xerophytic shrubland environment.

The Blue Iguana Reserve is closely intertwined with a European Union grant to the National Trust, which (among other things) will pay to build a visitor centre in or next to the protected area. We already have a design for the visitor centre, thanks to Trevor Baxter (Rutkowsi Baxter Houghton) and with ongoing assistance from the structural engineers, Halcrow Yolles. What we don’t know yet is exactly where in the Blue Iguana Reserve this will be sited, and that in turn depends on which suitable access route can be secured.

In the meantime, there’s a lot we need to know about the new protected area, and the only way to find out is to spend time out there. Blue Iguana Recovery Programme staff and volunteers are beginning to trace the boundaries of the Reserve, and are recording the natural features and vegetation at a series of pre-set points scattered throughout the area. This fieldwork will be backed by expertise at the Department of Environment, where specialist Jeremy Olynik will be combining the field reports with high resolution aerial photography to create a detailed habitat map.

Will we find ancient surviving Blue Iguanas out there? Unlikely, but still possible! Will we find soil basins where iguanas could nest? Where will there be natural fresh water we can draw on, to cut the need for field staff to carry huge weights of water every day? What and where are the notable natural features that we should consider when planning nature trails?

We hope as we explore we will soon be able to define some optimal areas to release young captive-reared Blue Iguanas. The first release is scheduled for July-August this year.

Most of the Blue Iguana Reserve is potential Blue Iguana habitat in one way or another. The area is dominated by dry shrubland, and lots of it is growing on the sharpest cliff rock. Add in dense stands of spiny “Corato” (Cayman’s unique Agave), Maiden Plum, Manchineel and Lady Hair, and you could be forgiven for thinking the land has been designed to repel humans.

But walking through slowly and safely on a trail, perhaps in the late afternoon sunshine, the beauty of the landscape is undeniable. Thanks to the low vegetation there are long vistas across the landscape, set off by groups of tall, slender Thatch Palms. Closer at hand the terrain looks like an elaborate rock garden, with an astonishingly diverse array of unusual plants, many of them unique to the Cayman Islands and to this specific habitat.

Apart from a small fragment in the QE II Botanic Park, this specific type of environment was almost completely absent from our protected area system, until now.

We envisage this special place will be accessible to all, once we have completed the access, visitor centre and nature trails. And wandering around it all, will be the next generations of young Blue Iguanas. The new Blue Iguana Reserve gives us space to bring this once near-extinct mascot of Grand Cayman back to a population which can sustain itself indefinitely, and a place where we can commune with them and their wild ancestral home.

This article by Fred Burton originally appeared in the Cayman Islands Department of Environment’s on-line journal, “Flicker”.

It is time now to take a detailed look at how all those iguanas are doing. We know they started breeding in the wild in 2006, but how successful has natural breeding been in raising the total wild population even further? Now that we have placed permanent artificial retreats of a wide range of sizes throughout the core release area, what effect has that had on the population density within the protected area? How many of the iguanas have dispersed out of the release area, and how far have they moved? These sorts of questions need some answers, if we are ever to be able to answer the really important question which we should never take for granted. Is our release strategy actually working?

Field gear in preparation for Salina Blues survey

So we are in the final stages of preparation for a major three-week survey, which kicks off on 2^nd March 2010. Matt Goetz and Stacy Whittaker joined us on 27^th February, with Joe Freeman and Carly Easby following the next day. Megan Rasmussen and Crystal Robertson are on their way as I write on 28^th February, and Doug Bell has already been with us for several weeks.

We’ll be forming three survey teams and one “catch-and-tag” team. The survey teams will be stealthily walking every trail in the Salina Reserve, scanning intensely for iguana sightings twice a day six days a week over three weeks, for a total of 18 survey days and 108 individual survey walks. The catch-and-tag team will back them up with focused attention on any un-tagged or elusive iguanas which the survey teams can’t indentify as they pass.

If all goes smoothly, we will complete the survey before the end of March. Then the survey teams head back home, and the number crunching and mapping work begins. By early May the results should be clear enough to guide us in our next big endeavor of the year – the first iguana release into our new Blue Iguana Reserve!

Warden Alberto Estovanovich works on restoring old cages

The Blue Iguana captive facility is now, as we anticipated, packed with more iguanas than ever before. “It’s a good problem to have” we keep saying to each other, as John, Alberto and the Team Blue volunteers scavenge the last of our oldest and most damaged hatchling cages and build anew, to keep pace with emergence of clutch after clutch from the incubators.

Each freshly hatched egg clutch is left undisturbed in the incubation box for three to four days, while each hatchling’s umbilical opening seals over. Then they are cleaned, weighed and measured, and placed in individual cloth bags for transport to the captive facility.

As of the beginning of September we have 94 new baby Blues, and the last few clutches are still hatching. The final count for 2009, depending on hatching success in five remaining incubation boxes, is expected to reach somewhere about 119.

At that stage, not a single cage will be vacant, until December when we have scheduled the next release of captive-reared two-year-olds into the Salina Reserve.