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Inspectors of the Annui National Park during the SMART seminar organized by WCS

One year ago WCS introduced SMART at Annui National Park, making this already the sixth  protected area in Amur tiger habitat that is using SMART to help manage anti-poaching work.

Annui National Park was created in 2007 and covers 430,000 hectares of the Annui River drainage. This region represents the northernmost fringes of tiger range in the Sikhote-Alin Mountain System of Russia.

Fall landscape of Annui National Park
photo by V.Gnevashev courtesy of «Zapovednoe Priamurye» website

Several salmon species occur in the Annui River and its tributaries, and the riparian and conifer-deciduous forests in the park provide abundant food for Asian black bears, brown bear, red deer and wild boar. Camera-trap monitoring suggest that there are 12-15 resident Amur tigers in the park.

Amur tiger at the Annui NP from the camera trap set by WCS Russia specialists 
Photo copyright by Annui NP/WCS  

Amur tiger at the Annui NP from the camera trap set by WCS Russia specialists
Photo copyright by Annui NP/WCS  

The variety of landscapes, including remains of the ancient volcanoes, old-growth forests and abundant wildlife, attract not only ecotourists, but also poachers. Because of the dangers to tigers as well as other valuable species in this landscape, Annui NP needs a reliable law enforcement system, which is what the modern GIS based SMART program provides.  

Inspectors of the Annui National Park during the raid on quads
Photo courtesy of  Annui  NP

Rangers that work at SMART program sites document their patrol routes with GPS units and record patrol observations on specially-designed forms (such as data on violations or observed tiger tracks). The patrol routes and data from the forms are stored in a computer database using the SMART software program. These patrol data are then processed into maps, figures, and tables showing patrol efforts and results of individual rangers, patrol teams, or the whole protected area. The maps and figures are included in quarterly patrol reports that are reviewed by site managers and discussed during feedback meetings with rangers to assess past effort, recognize strengths, weaknesses, missed opportunities, and set targets for the next period. 

Poachers vehicle arrested during the Annui NP inspectors raid
Photo courtesy of  Annui  NP

Perhaps most importantly, these meetings demonstrate to rangers that there are people paying attention to what they do, value their contributions and input, and are assessing the relative effectiveness of all teams in their protected area. Combined with a bonus system that provides financial rewards for patrol teams that perform well, these reviews help build morale and foster a healthy sense of competition between teams (based both on their inherent pride in what they do and how results translate directly to bonuses). Together, these steps form an “adaptive patrol management” cycle aimed at achieving step-by-step improvement of patrol quality.

Michiel Hötte, SMART Program Manager (WCS) during the seminar the Annui NP

During the seminar WCS representatives discussed the patrol efforts during the previous quarter and results, such as citations for poaching violations and incidents where rifles were confiscated from poachers. The rangers also documented sign of tigers, such as tracks, excrements, scrapings and kills. 

WCS staff reminded the rangers about the annual Best Ranger Award that our SMART Program partner IFAW established in 2005. The award committee uses SMART data provided by WCS to identify the two best performing rangers in the Amur Tiger habitat. The two winners are announced at the Tiger Day Festival in Vladivostok - a large annual event on the last Sunday of September - and they are awarded a trip to tiger reserves in India. In addition to bonuses that well-performing rangers receive, this award is another effective stimulus for rangers to improve their anti-poaching efforts.  

Information on the seminar was also published on the website of the Joined Administration of Nature Protection Areas of the Khabarovski Krai «Zapovednoe Priamurye»