For those interested: Earlier this month I sent out a message asking for suggestions on how to help an impoverished local person become a fulltime bird guide/naturalist for our project (see original message below). Thank you for all of the wonderful suggestions! Some of you suggested you would be interested in donating to such a cause if we had an account set up for such. I just wanted to pass along that we have set up an account where such donations can be deposited through La MICA Biological Station (501c3 nonprofit status in progress). If interested in donating any amount please visit www.lamica.org/Donate.html. If you would like to donate an amount over $500 please email us for additional instructions. We hope to raise about $3000 per year so even small donations will go alog way. We will be happy to share any publications resulting from this work with donors. Thank you! Julie ___________________________ Original Message...
Hello - I am the director of La MICA Biological Station (http://www.lamica.org/) located in central Panama. We have a local person, Santana, who is an amazing birder. He worked with George Angehr several years ago as a local guide and since then has been really interested in birds. He still has the book and binoculars that Angehr left him and for the last 15 or so years has been documenting, recording, and looking for birds. For the past several years he has worked as the janitor at our school so he can support his 2 kids. He makes about $200-$250 a month at the school. We rarely can hire him as a guide because he is only available on the weekends, but I had a group this past week that utilized him as a guide because he had the week off. Santana is simply incredible. He has personally documented 375 species (www.lamica.org/species.html) locally and learned the calls, plus memorized the whole book so he instantly shows a guest the picture and common name in English. Furthermore, he has taught himself how to type and keep good notes. Obviously Santana would be a huge asset to La MICA as a guide. If we could match his earnings at the school he would immediately become a naturalist for us, available to guide tour for guests, help students, or collect data (he also knows the frogs and many of the other local plants and animals) when we have no visitors. He leaving the school would open that position up for someone who does not have additional skills like Santana does. I have been thinking about this for the past couple of days and wondering how we may be able to secure the $2500-$3000 a year to hire him on a baseline salary. I wonder if any organizations may be interested in funding such a project (perhaps in exchange for free guide when visiting). Could some organization benefit from the data he could collect and would be willing to help with the wages in exchange for the opportunity to help him publish his data? Perhaps you know of someone who may be better suited to provide suggestions. Obviously we are not talking about a huge amount of money so even a few small contributions (www.lamica.org/Donate.html) would accummulate quickly and reach the goal. I very much welcome any suggestions or ideas! Thank you!! Julie Julie M. Ray, MSc, PhD Director La MICA Biological Station US Address: Julie Ray, 12458 132nd Street, Chippewa Falls, WI 54729Fundación Centro de Investigación Biológica El Copé, S.A. (Panama) El Cope-La Pintada. Provincia de Cocle. Republica de Panama http//www.lamica.org
