The yellow-naped amazon parrot is critically endangered

This $201,500 Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service, under the Latin America and Caribbean Regional program (CFDA 15.640), will support conservation efforts for the critically endangered yellow-naped Amazon parrot in eastern El Salvador. Key objectives include:

• Protecting parrot nests through community-based monitoring and conservation incentive payments in the San Miguel and Usulután departments.
• Engaging local community members in a ranger program and youth environmental education curriculum.
• Restoring riparian habitats and protecting forests through partnerships with private reserve owners and landowners.
• Implementing educational outreach and docent-led programs in urban parks in San Salvador to raise awareness about the value of the parrot.

The award will be used to measure outcomes such as number of successful parrot fledgings, community members trained in parrot monitoring/protection, additional acres of protected/restored forests, and participation in community ranger and youth education programs. The goal is to avert local extinctions of the parrot and create economic and educational opportunities for local communities in El Salvador.

In the dry forests of EL salvador, the species faces grave threats due to the loss of habitat and intense poaching pressure. We propose to address these threats by supporting local communities in nest protection through monitoring and conservation incentive payments in eastern EL salvador s SAN miguel and usultlan departments, where its subpopulations currently receive no conservation interventions. We will also seek to find opportunities for local community members through a community ranger program and by engaging youth in a year-long junior ranger environmental education curriculum. We will also work with private reserve owners and landowner partners to restore riparian habitats and protect forests in the same geography of eastern EL salvador. Finally, we will work with partners in SAN salvador to implement educational outreach about the value of the parrots and by offering docent-led educational visits to urban parks where this species inhabits. We will measure our success at protecting parrots and forests based on the number of successful fledgings, the number of community members trained in parrot monitoring and protection methods, and by the number of additional acres of forest under restoration or protection. To measure our success at engaging the community, we will also measure youth participation in our junior ranger and community ranger programs. We will also measure the number of people engaged in our awareness campaign in the capital city and evaluate the impact of docent-led educational programs through pre and post surveys during park hikes. By addressing threats to the YNA parrot in EL salvador, we can avert local extinctions and improve the well-being of local communities through economic and educational opportunities.