An aerial view of the Crater Mountain Wildlife Management Area. Photo courtesy of Arlyne Johnson At this Ubaigubi village meeting, residents discuss management of the conservation area. Photo courtesy of Jamie James

Crater Mountain Wildlife Management Area, Papua New Guinea The Crater Mountain Wildlife Conservation Area, established in 1994, encompasses 2600 square kilometers of rain forest in Papua New Guinea, covering an area about the size of Rhode Island. It includes primary wet forest at lower elevations and scrub and grasslands higher in the mountains. Crater Mountain harbors more than 220 bird species, and 49 of these occur nowhere else. It also has 84 mammals, of which 15 are endemic to the country. The area is home to birds of paradise, dwarf cassowaries, hornbills, forest dragons (a large lizard), the New Guinea harpy eagle, and tree kangaroos. Several groups of indigenous peoples live in the Crater Mountain area. The Gimi farm small patches of land at higher elevations, clearing new plots in the forest every few years. In contrast, the Pawaian people live a mostly nomadic life in the lowland forests, usually traveling in groups of twenty or so. The Gimi and the Pawaians own the land. In the late 1970s, birds of paradise, whose brilliant feathers are used in cultural rituals, were becoming rare, partly because of a growing trade in their feathers. But industrial logging, mining, and oil drilling were also threatening the future of the forests. 1 of 3