Paul Butler, Rare’s Vice President of Global Programs, blogs about Cheryl Calaustro who got the word out about her campaign via the media, appearing on a multitude of TV and radio programs. Cheryl lit up the TV screens in her native Guam talking about her Pride campaign and the endemic Guam Rail. Read more about her campaign!

Cheryl with the endemic Guam Rail, the flightless bird that her campaign focused on.

Cheryl Calaustro, from Guam, works with the Guam Department of Agriculture. Her Go Native, Protect Our Island of Guam” campaign focused on the Guam Rail, a flightless bird endemic to Guam. Guam is one of those classic examples of where an invasive species has devastated natural ecosystems and left the forests of the island silent.

Vince Stricherz, birding expert, writes, “Birds typically make up a small part of the life of a forest, but they are important for pollination, spreading seeds around the forest and controlling insects that feed on plants. Guam, an island 30 miles long and five to 15 miles wide about 3,800 miles west of Hawaii, lost most of its native birds after the brown tree snake was introduced by accident from the Admiralty Islands following World War II. The snake has few predators on Guam, so its population density is quite high — estimated at more than 3,000 per square mile — and some individuals there grow to an unusual size of 10 feet long. Before introduction of the brown tree snake, Guam had 12 species of native forest birds. Today 10 of those are extinct on Guam, and the other two species have fewer than 200 individuals. Though Guam has some non-native bird populations, few other birds moved in when native species died out, and none of them live in the forest. That leaves few birds to consume tree seeds and then drop them away from the trees”.

Guam, a small Island with vast forests and grassland.

Much work and considerable emphasis has been placed on the snake, and awareness levels on the island are high. In her pre-project survey, Cheryl found that 54 percent of respondents were aware of the threats posed by the Brown Tree Snake, but only 5 percent were aware that feral cats posed threats too. Cats are especially problematic for the flightless Guam Rail or Koko, which thanks to a successful captive breeding program escaped extinction and is the subject of a re-introduction program.

Koko, Cheryl’s mascot helped her get the word out about the endemic Guam Rail.
Few respondents knew about how they could help or about feline neutering (23 percent). Bringing awareness to this issue was to become the focus of Cheryl’s campaign. In addition to the usual Pride campaign collateral, Cheryl utilized the mass media. Her campaign appeared on 10 TV programs, four radio programs, and in the press frequently.

She spoke to more than 6,500 young people and even developed a Guam Rail facebook page to reach the island’s youth. She spoke excitedly about her program, but also noted that while knowledge and attitudes have indeed changed, the questionnaire survey results were not as high as she had hoped. She wondered if communities were receiving confused messages, as her campaign was running simultaneously with another Pride campaign. Cheryl showed a fabulous video of kids singing a song, that moved those listening to her presentation and concluded with the words that “success comes in all shapes and sizes, and is not always reflected in statistics”. Cheryl remains committed to building upon her work and will “keep on trying”….

Last up was Tublai from Palau – an island archipelago that ranks right up there on my personal list of the most beautiful places on Earth.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 4th, 2009 at 4:10 pm and is filed under Pride. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.