First Quarter report from the Mara Hyena Project, 31 March, 2024
Submitted by Kay E. Holekamp, Project Director Department of Integrative Biology, Michigan State University
Research activity
Greater Mara Monitoring Framework
In 2024, the MHP is continuing our ongoing collaboration with the One Mara Research Hub (OMRH) and various other conservation groups, the Narok County Government (NCG), Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Wildlife Research and Training Institutes (WRTI), Masai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association (MMWCA) and local community members in a large multi- stakeholder project called the Greater Mara Monitoring Framework (GMMF). This project which was completed in May 2023, transitioned under the stewardship of Dr. Holly Dublin and Dr. Jake Wall to the GMMF Interim Task Team comprising NCG, MMWCA, WRTI, and KCWS. In a large collaborative effort involving the above mentioned groups from Kenya and their Tanzanian Serengeti counterparts, the GMMF is contributing to a report for the Tanzania-Kenya
Cross-border Management Meeting in early 2024. The goal of this team is to develop a long- term monitoring process and build institutional support to provide evidence-based support for management and policy decisions that will ensure the sustainable use and preservation of the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. Towards this goal co-directors of the MHP, Zach Laubach and Lily Johnson-Ulrich attended the Greater Serengeti-Mara Conservation Society Zoom meeting on 20 February 2024. Following the meeting, we produced data summaries supporting the environmental monitoring indicators that were requested from the Mara Hyena Project (MHP) and that will be presented in a smaller Tanzania-Kenya Cross-border Management Meeting. This meeting will be attended by about 45 senior managers and directors who between them are responsible for the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem (i.e., TANAPA, TAWA, WD, TAWIRI, KWS, Narok Governor). The main point of the smaller Tanzania-Kenya Cross-border Management Meeting is to enable frank and open discussions about issues directly related to the threats and
conservation of the entire ecosystem. The format is a flat round-table discussion to facilitate candid dialogue between managers on either side of the border that rarely have a chance to discuss management strategies for the whole ecosystem. The discussions are focused on a few specific themes each year. Here we include the figures that we generated to help inform the strategic planning moving forward. Given that we have consistently collected standardized data
since the 1980s, our project represents one of the longest-running sources of these types of data from this area and provides an invaluable resource for the kinds of long-term data and longitudinal analyses required to effectively monitor and manage wildlife populations in this region.
Submitted by Kay E. Holekamp, Project Director Department of Integrative Biology, Michigan State University
Research activity
Greater Mara Monitoring Framework
In 2024, the MHP is continuing our ongoing collaboration with the One Mara Research Hub (OMRH) and various other conservation groups, the Narok County Government (NCG), Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Wildlife Research and Training Institutes (WRTI), Masai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association (MMWCA) and local community members in a large multi- stakeholder project called the Greater Mara Monitoring Framework (GMMF). This project which was completed in May 2023, transitioned under the stewardship of Dr. Holly Dublin and Dr. Jake Wall to the GMMF Interim Task Team comprising NCG, MMWCA, WRTI, and KCWS. In a large collaborative effort involving the above mentioned groups from Kenya and their Tanzanian Serengeti counterparts, the GMMF is contributing to a report for the Tanzania-Kenya
Cross-border Management Meeting in early 2024. The goal of this team is to develop a long- term monitoring process and build institutional support to provide evidence-based support for management and policy decisions that will ensure the sustainable use and preservation of the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. Towards this goal co-directors of the MHP, Zach Laubach and Lily Johnson-Ulrich attended the Greater Serengeti-Mara Conservation Society Zoom meeting on 20 February 2024. Following the meeting, we produced data summaries supporting the environmental monitoring indicators that were requested from the Mara Hyena Project (MHP) and that will be presented in a smaller Tanzania-Kenya Cross-border Management Meeting. This meeting will be attended by about 45 senior managers and directors who between them are responsible for the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem (i.e., TANAPA, TAWA, WD, TAWIRI, KWS, Narok Governor). The main point of the smaller Tanzania-Kenya Cross-border Management Meeting is to enable frank and open discussions about issues directly related to the threats and
conservation of the entire ecosystem. The format is a flat round-table discussion to facilitate candid dialogue between managers on either side of the border that rarely have a chance to discuss management strategies for the whole ecosystem. The discussions are focused on a few specific themes each year. Here we include the figures that we generated to help inform the strategic planning moving forward. Given that we have consistently collected standardized data
since the 1980s, our project represents one of the longest-running sources of these types of data from this area and provides an invaluable resource for the kinds of long-term data and longitudinal analyses required to effectively monitor and manage wildlife populations in this region.