Hurriyet, Turkey
May 16 2009

Bird sanctuary as price for peace?

KARS – As debate continues about opening the border between Turkey and
Armenia, which would be a great step toward normalizing relations
between the two countries, scientists are concerned about the area’s
untouched wildlife. Increased traffic across the border opening may
bring more danger for this major migratory bird habitat and its
globally endangered bird species

With the final scoops of earth shoveled away, the last ties are
severed between a lake island and the mainland, breaking new ground
in the struggle to protect wildlife along the border between Turkey
and Armenia.

The group of men and women gathered here are members of the Kuzey
DoÄ?a Society, a non-governmental organization that has been
working to preserve habitats of birds living on Kuyucuk Lake in
northeastern Kars province near the border. As political negotiations
continue on the reopening of the border, experts agree many steps
remain before the area’s wildlife is protected from the anticipated
increase in border traffic.

"Today, it sounds like Turkey is backing away from the Armenian
border, which is unfortunate from a peace-movement perspective, but
from our selfish Kuyucuk perspective, it might help us," said Sean
Anderson, a restoration ecologist and an assistant professor at the
California State University at Channel Islands who has been coming to
the area twice a year for the past three years to work on the Kuyucuk
Project. "It might give us a few more years to put things in order
before the road is heavily traveled, so that would be good."

Dr. Ã?aÄ?an Å?ekercioÄ?lu, a senior research
scientist at Stanford University’s Center for Conservation Biology,
and the president of Kuzey Doga, agrees. "The opening of the border is
a political decision," he said. "However, as nature conservationists,
we are trying to save the [Kuyucuk] lake as much as possible before
the border opens."

Å?ekercioÄ?lu explained that an old dirt road used to run
from the town of Akyaka on the Armenian border to the area that was
recently turned into an island.

"It used to disturb the ecology of the lake by running through it," he
said.

"We took away 50 meters from each side of the road to create the
island," which is intended as a safe haven for birds.

The project is a collaboration between Kuzey DoÄ?a, the Kars
Governor’s Office, the Kars Environment and Forestry Municipal
Directorate, the Kars Special Provincial Administration and the people
of Kuyucuk village. Biologist Emrah Ã?oban, the science
coordinator for Kuzey DoÄ?a, said the organization has received
a lot of help and support from Kars Governor Mehmet Ufuk Erden. "Erden
prefers to work with experts. He is very idealistic," said
Ã?oban.

Overgrazing disturbs bird

The new island sanctuary will protect rare birds in the region,
Å?ekercioÄ?lu said. "For example, there are nine or 10
white-headed ducks in Kuyucuk. They belong to an endangered species;
their numbers are few in the world," he said.

"They live in smaller, marshy places. The fact that it is an island
means it is a place where birds can grow and take shelter."

The idea for the island has been discussed for more than a year, said
Anderson, who calls it "the first actual ecological restoration in
eastern Turkey." According to Anderson, there was "massive
overgrazing" in the area that the affected bird habitat. "The north
part was cut off from the main lake, making it easy for it to go
stagnant," he said.

"Making it into an island improves the water quality of the lake." The
island location will also keep predators away from the birds’ eggs,
Anderson said: "It is unlikely a fox or a cat would swim to the
island."

Growing traffic problem

The dirt road that ran to Akyaka through Kuyucuk was replaced some
time ago with a larger asphalt highway that still cuts Kuyucuk Lake
into two. The presence of this asphalt road, Å?ekercioÄ?lu
says, threatens the rare migratory birds that stop off at the lake in
certain seasons, as well as the birds that have chosen it as their
year-round home.

"The traffic will increase with the opening of the border,"
Å?ekercioÄ?lu said. "Cars crash into birds; gasoline or
motor oil that leaks from cars flows into the lake with the first
rain. This becomes a bigger problem when there are more cars."

In a survey about road kill that he conducted in the United States,
Anderson found that in areas with moderate traffic, collisions with
cars were the No. 1 cause of death for wildlife. Traffic also impacts
the environment negatively by creating pollution. "Every time you
brake, some copper is released from your brakes to the road," Anderson
said.

"The first rain rinses that into the lake. And the nitrogen oxide from
exhaust gas acts like nitrogen fertilizer, causing weeds to grow near
the road."

The American scientist said, "If we manage it right, more traffic
brings the opportunity to educate more people, but if it is not done
right, it will mean more plastic bags and more ripped truck tires left
alongside the road."

On the positive side, Anderson said, the Kuyucuk locals are not
interested in hunting birds Ä? but the new people an open border
would bring might be. "I am not saying they will, but I have seen that
happen many, many times," he said.

Asked if the road to Akyaka could pass further from the lake,
Å?ekercioÄ?lu said: "The road may pass two or three
kilometers farther north. There are a number of dirt roads to the
north that could be paved; they lead to the same destination."

A lack of data has prevented scientists from determining just how much
the increased traffic would affect wildlife in the lake. "No research
was made for the longest time. We did the first bird count on Kuyucuk
Lake on Sept. 24, 2004," said Å?ekercioÄ?lu. "At that
time, there were around 40,000 birds. The very next year, their number
had gone down to less than 10,000."

Since there is no data from before 2004, Å?ekercioÄ?lu
said, scientists cannot be sure whether the high number seen that year
was due to a record number of migrating birds, or whether there has
been a drop in the region’s bird population.

In addition to increased traffic, opening the border could bring more
development to the region, including around the lake,
Å?ekercioÄ?lu said. The lake is on the Ramsar List of
Wetlands of International Importance, designating it as an area that
needs to be preserved.

But the Ramsar Area Status does not include any enforcement;
responsibility to protect the area rests with the government. "It is
under conservation status for being a wetland,"
Å?ekercioÄ?lu said. "What is important is that the
conservation status continues." The island also received Wildlife
Development Area status from the Turkish government on Sept. 7, 2005.

What makes Kuyucuk such a rare gem is that eastern Anatolia is located
on the major migratory routes of birds from around the world. "We have
been banding birds since 2005, and we found out that a duck that was
banded in Kars in 2007 was killed by a French hunter in Kazakhstan in
2008," Å?ekercioÄ?lu said. "So these birds deal with many
problems around the world.

That is why it is important to provide them with a sanctuary in
Kuyucuk."Another species that will be negatively affected by the
opening of the Armenia-Turkey border is the endangered Egyptian
vulture.

The Kuzey DoÄ?a team has realized that these rare birds have
made their home in the 88-kilometer-long Arpaçay Canyon. "It is
a military zone and people cannot access it," said
Å?ekercioÄ?lu.

"So it is a well-preserved area." Anderson said similar situations
have occurred in California where wildlife flourishes in a military
zone.

But as is the case with the birds in Kuyucuk, there is no data
available about the number of vultures living in the area during the
earlier period when the border was open.

"However, common sense and the precautionary principle dictate that as
a place becomes more populated, the number of vultures living in the
area will decrease," Å?ekercioÄ?lu said. "They are very
sensitive to disturbances. They abandon their nests, never to return,
if people approach closer than 100 meters. We need to think about the
worst-case scenario because [the vultures] are globally endangered."