A Researcher's Paradise...

LLC Member, Roger Long, describes El Prado as "uniquely situated for tropical ecological research. On the north bank of the Rio San Martin is Tapajos-Madeiro seasonal rain forest that stretches 100 miles north to the Brazilian border. On the south bank is the seasonally flooded Beni savannah. This ecotone supports huge numbers of birds and other wildlife. The area supports large numbers of jaguars, pink river dolphins, and giant river otters that are increasingly rare in other regions of the tropics.

In the seasonal rain forest, the dry season is very dry, and the humidity is comparable to what it would be during a Midwestern summer, so researchers will not experience a lot of the problems with equipment and cameras that are created by the extreme humidity at other locations in the tropics."

The WWF (World Wildlife Fund for Nature) currently supports the following research projects near El Prado in the Iténez Protected Area:

• Sustainable fisheries management
  
• Responsible tourism that benefits local communities
  
• Sustainable Caiman (Caiman crocodilus yacare) management
  
• Determination of traditional Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) collection areas
  
• Monitoring of the following species: Marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus), River turtle (Podocnemis spp.), Giant river otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), River dolphin (Inia boliviensis), Pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus)