Cuc Phuong Report — page 4
  Conservation Awareness Program
CAP Initiates Baseline Surveys to Evaluate Program Success
   Efforts are underway to conduct a second round of baseline surveys for the Conservation Awareness Program in Yen Thuy District prior to beginning there. The baseline surveys will measure the level of knowledge and awareness of students about nature, the environment, and the park in order to provide a basis for determining change over the first year of the program. An initial survey was conducted in Nho Quan district in 1996 prior to the program's initiation. However the survey was not intended as a means of measuring the education program's success because the program had not yet been developed fully at that time.
   In the Yen Thuy survey, 40 randomly selected children from two class levels were interviewed by questionnaire and their answers graded based on the level of knowledge indicated from the answers given. Two years were selected in order to determine the natural level of increased awareness over a year without the influence of the education program. Although the sample size was small, the baseline survey should provide a rough indication of how well the program is contributing to increasing local awareness when the schools are surveyed again in 2001. The surveys will also enable the project to perfect a model for use with programs at other parks and protected areas in Vietnam.



Staff Training Workshops

The Conservation Awareness Program has developed a staff of experts with more than three years experience running the community-based program at Cuc Phuong. Presently, the program is active in three districts with over 8,900 student participants.



Tree planting at the Center   
The Flora of Cuc Phuong: In December, Mr. Tran Quang Chuc, head of the park's Botanical Gardens, held a workshop on “The Flora of Cuc Phuong” for park and project staff. The workshop involved discussion on the native flora of Cuc Phuong, values associated with different plant species, and some relationships between animals and plants. Ten park staff and 15 project staff attended the workshop.

Husbandry and Veterinarian Care of Wildlife: Veterinarian Ule Streicher of Cuc Phuong’s Endangered Primate Rescue Center (EPRC) hosted a workshop for animal keepers and staff of rescue centers. Project leader Huong Van Nguyen, responsible for animal care on the project's Owston’s palm civet and turtle species conservation programs attended the four day workshop.

Conservation and the Environment: The project held its usual monthly workshops on Conservation and the Environment during which staff members research and present talks on key conservation and environmental issues based on news articles acquired from national newspapers and periodicals. The workshops are meant to give project staff experience in presentation delivery, as well as increase their knowledge of conservation and environmental issues relevant to Vietnam.