Brad Rutherford is the executive director of the International Snow Leopard Trust, which works to conserve the endangered snow leopard in Central Asia by addressing the needs of local communities and the mountain ecosystemswhere they live.

Monday, 18 Aug 2003

SEATTLE, Wash.

I begin this weekly diary somewhat skeptical that readers of Grist will be interested in my “typical week.” Yet the commitment and generosity of people determined to save snow leopards and the environment often surprise me, so I will persevere.

It’s no easy trick to save snow leopards from Seattle, approximately 5,000 miles from the nearest wild one. The International Snow Leopard Trust was founded here in 1981 and has benefited from a close working relationship with Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo and generous community members. The Seattle office leads our education and fundraising efforts but the bulk of our staff and resources are in the field. Fifteen of our 19 staff are based where the cats live, in Central Asia.

Today, like most days, I start off by checking my email — 49 messages this morning, which is not bad. With the time difference between here and Central Asia, most of my colleagues have finished their day’s work and are home in bed by the time I fire up my computer each morning.

Most of the emails are either from staff members or partner organizations, or they involve my work to raise funds for our programs. Communicating with our great field staff and partner organizations is always the most fun part for me. I look forward to hearing about how our programs are going or getting news of an exciting research find. Working on the fundraising is what keeps the programs going and invariably requires most of my attention. The good news is that the collaborative approach we are taking to snow leopard conservation is showing great results, which makes fundraising a bit easier. Today’s batch of emails also has several concerning last week’s release of the Snow Leopard Survival Strategy.

You can’t get a snow leopard to change its spots.

Photo: ISLT.

The strategy, a blueprint for how we can save the snow leopard in the wild, is the result of two years of collaboration between more than 65 scientists and conservationists worldwide. Everyone stays connected via an email discussion group and a website, and I find the spirit of collaboration truly inspiring. The network met here in Seattle last year during the height of tensions in Central Asia — conflicts between Pakistan and India, between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, between the U.S. and much of the region — and yet at no time during the week was any of that tension exhibited among the participants. The group is doing a great job of working together to save snow leopards and we are hoping the release of the report will lead to more effective conservation programs, more folks being educated about the plight of the endangered cat, and more money to support our work.

I was reminded how far we have to go in terms of educating folks about snow leopards this weekend. I was at the Danskin Triathlon cheering on my wife (way to go, Jillian!) and was talking to another man whose wife was also racing. The conversation turned to jobs and I mentioned that I am helping to save snow leopards. His response was, “I didn’t know there were snow leopards in the United States.” (For those of you who are new to snow leopard conservation and are interested in learning more about them, our website has lots of good information.)

Meanwhile, here’s a quick overview: The snow leopard has been listed as endangered by the World Conservation Union since 1972 and scientists estimate that there are between 3,500 and 7,000 cats remaining in the wild — roughly the same as the tiger, which is also endangered. The good news is the release of the Snow Leopard Survival Strategy did result in a special on National Geographic Today, BBC coverage, and several print stories, so we are making progress.

One of the good things that came across in the National Geographic story is the fact that our efforts to protect snow leopards involve working with local communities to create programs that, while focused on protecting snow leopards, also help improve the quality of life for the people who share the land with the cats. As the week goes on, I’ll write more about some of the programs we have developed that are saving snow leopards and raising incomes for project participants. Now, though, I better get to some of those fundraising emails that I need to answer if we want to save these animals.

Tuesday, 19 Aug 2003

SEATTLE, Wash.

In our conservation projects, we try to work with local communities to protect the environment while at the same time improving people’s quality of life. We are developing a preliminary proposal for the Aga Khan Foundation for a poverty alleviation program. I received emails this morning with comments and advice on the proposal from two of our staff, Charu Mishra in India and Javed Khan in Pakistan. They are playing a leading role in designing and implementing successful, field-tested projects. Poverty alleviation and snow leopard conservation might not seem like a natural combination, but focusing on income generation as a part of a conservation program is a path that has proven successful for us.

Leopard-spotting.

Photo: ISLT.

This is not an issue or approach that is only relevant to snow leopards. Wolves and ranchers, cougars and suburbanites, elephants and farmers, grizzlies and cattlemen — interactions between people and wildlife are almost always characterized as conflicts. As the number of people on this planet continues to climb, there is no doubt that encounters between people and wildlife will also continue to increase. And unless we can find new ways to look at these interactions in terms other than conflict, we are going to continue to see declines in animals that need large territories. We are learning that the issues facing wolf reintroductions in the U.S. are very similar to the issues facing snow leopards in the mountains of Central Asia. Can we learn from each other?

Ranchers and herders are worried about losing livestock to wolves and snow leopards that will, when they have the chance, take livestock. This is especially true when their natural food sources have been hunted out or pushed out by the domestic livestock. Retribution killing by herders is one of the top two threats to snow leopards in most of the species’ range. As conservationists concerned with protecting snow leopards, ignoring or discounting the concerns of herders would be condemning a project to failure.

Charu has already created a livestock insurance program in India that has incentives for good herding practices and includes a payment plan that allows herders to receive financial compensation if livestock are lost to predators. The key to the success of the program has been that the herders played a major role in its design and that they actually manage the compensation fund themselves. The program, in operation for two years, is attracting new members and has remained financially viable.

A raw deal: selling bags of wool.

Photo: ISLT.

Another successful win-win program created by Tom McCarthy, the Trust’s conservation director, and Priscilla Allen, a former program manager for ISLT, is Snow Leopard Enterprises. Started in Mongolia in 1998, Priscilla and her coworker Bayara interviewed hundreds of herders to find out their concerns and needs. After drinking gallons of Mongolian tea, they found out that herders’ main source of income comes from the sale of wool from their herds. Living far from markets, herders were often paid just pennies per pound for their raw wool, highlighting the need for more profitable outlets.

Snow Leopard Enterprises provides equipment and training necessary for participants to produce high-quality handicrafts from the wool of their livestock. The project then purchases these products and sells them on the ISLT website, at special events, and at zoos and specialty stores. The incentive for participants to help protect snow leopards is created both through the opportunity for income earned by sales of the products to the project and through the potential receipt of a bonus if conservation conditions are met.

I love this program because it is saving snow leopards and their habitat while at the same time truly improving the lives of the herders living in the project areas. The other great part about the program is that 95 percent of the participants are women — increasing the chances the money will be used to help families by paying for things like school fees. We have increased sales more than five-fold but we need to repeat that performance in order to expand into all the areas that have critical snow leopard habitat and establish a self-sufficient business. Increasing our marketing and sales is our greatest challenge in the coming months.

Wednesday, 20 Aug 2003

SEATTLE, Wash.

You could help save this leopard by eating chocolate bars.

Photo: ISLT.

When I started working for the International Snow Leopard Trust, I envisioned myself trekking in Nepal and attending international conferences to discuss the biology of high mountain ecosystems. Looking at my schedule for today, I see meetings on chocolate bars, “The Wizard of Oz,” and marketing plans for increasing sales of knit and wool items — all for the good of the snow leopards. Not exactly what I had envisioned, but this is a fundraising day.

We like to think of ourselves as an entrepreneurial nonprofit in that we are open to new ideas for both snow leopard conservation and raising money for our work. The chocolate bars are a good example. Through a friend of a friend we hooked up with the Endangered Species Chocolate Company. After a few conversations, the company decided to launch a new line of chocolate called Baby Bars. Each of the four bars features an endangered animal, and the one featuring a snow leopard is organic milk chocolate and mocha in honor of Seattle, our hometown with a coffee-loving reputation. The more Baby Bars that are sold, the more money we can raise for snow leopard conservation. Today we are exploring ways to help increase sales in order to generate a larger contribution from the company. All marketing ideas are welcome!

Another partnership we have launched this year involves “The Wizard of Oz.” Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre is a beautifully restored 1926 vaudeville palace that is now home to a theatre company. Later this year they are putting on the classic show “The Wizard of Oz.” I know what you are thinking — how does this affect snow leopards? Lions and tigers and snow leopards, oh my? The theatre is giving us a discount on the tickets and we are selling them at just below the full price — netting snow leopard conservation $25 per ticket. We are extremely grateful for the support we are getting from the 5th Ave. and hope that folks will enjoy seeing a great show, saving a few dollars, and at the same time helping to protect snow leopards.

As I walked into our office this morning, I was confronted with a mountain of wool products that have arrived from Mongolia. These are the Snow Leopard Enterprises products I mentioned yesterday. The basic mantra is the more we sell, the more snow leopards we save — and we have a lot of selling to do. Some of the issues we’ll be discussing at today’s marketing meeting are the pricing of products for the two big events we will be selling at over the next several weekends — Tibet Fest and Bumbershoot. Does anyone out there know if pricing items at $7.99 versus $8.00 really makes a difference? This is just one of the growing number of sales and marketing issues we are facing as the program grows. It is a good problem to have, but we are really in need of a volunteer who can help us solve some of these basic nuts-and-bolts marketing issues. We are a bit nervous about selling at these big events as it is our first venture into this type of market and we are hoping for good results.

I have to admit I find it a bit ironic that I use the skills and experience from my six years in sales with Procter & Gamble as much or more than my grad school degree or experience with nonprofits. I still think one of the reasons I was hired to work for ISLT was that during the interview we joked that if I was successful selling shampoo for P&G despite my baldness, I could certainly sell snow leopard conservation. I guess we’ll find out which is the tougher sell.

Thursday, 21 Aug 2003

SEATTLE, Wash.

I just heard from Tom McCarthy, our conservation director, and Jennifer Snell-Rullman, our program coordinator for Snow Leopard Enterprises. They are wrapping up a five-week trip that took them to Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.

Tom makes a new friend in Central Asia.

Photo: ISLT.

Tom has been with us for coming up on three years now and has worked in snow leopard conservation for more than 10 years. He was the first and so far only researcher to use a satellite collar to track the movements of a snow leopard. He is also the current chair of the Snow Leopard Network, which is a great group that is keeping our efforts to save these cats coordinated. Jennifer has been working with big cats and conservation for the last eight years and joined us in June. She has the major task of keeping Snow Leopard Enterprises committed to its conservation goals while at the same time growing sales.

These are the two who, in collaboration with our staff in the field, are really making our programs successful. Maybe one day they can write one of these dairies and tell you what it is like to be presented a boiled sheep head in honor of your arrival to a village or describe for you the complex taste of fermented mare’s milk.

This trip was focused on a design workshop to develop and refine the Snow Leopard Enterprises product line. To make sure the products fit our target market, they brought together Kyrgyz and Mongolian designers to meet and work with U.S. marketers. The workshop just ended but the early feedback indicates that it was a great success. The true measure, however, will be in next year’s sales figures. Our staff will now take the new designs and train the herders to make them; they’ll also place orders for the products that will be picked up this spring. Having the herders produce products during the winter months was one of their suggestions due to the herders’ heavy workload from spring through fall.

Jennifer knows her big cats.

Photo: ISLT.

The travel that Tom and Jen do might sound fun and exotic, and there are times that it is, but by the end of the trip they are very ready to get home. While on the road they are basically working from morning until late in the evening seven days a week. Their commitment to the cause and the programs is amazing.

Now that I’ve culled through my email, the big focus for me today is the first meeting of our Development/Strategic Planning Committee. The group is made up of me and several of our board members and our goal is to develop a clear vision for where the Trust would like to be in 2010. In addition we’ll be working on a parallel fundraising strategy that will help us generate the needed resources to meet our goals. I like the idea of linking the fundraising with the vision exercise because the two really can’t be separated. A great vision with no resources doesn’t get you very far, and it is almost impossible to raise funds unless you can clearly articulate what you plan to do with any money you raise.

This is a big task but we have already started some of the steps, such as inventorying our strengths, analyzing the funds needed to reverse the current decline in snow leopard populations, and describing the programs and staff we’d have in place if we were to have those funds. Today’s meeting will hopefully refine that work and build on it with the goal of having a draft strategic plan and fundraising strategy for the full board this fall. Should be interesting.

Friday, 22 Aug 2003

SEATTLE, Wash.

Fridays are great days, not just because they mean tomorrow is the weekend and I get to chase my two-year-old daughter all over the place, but because I work from my home office. This lets me avoid the long commute into our Seattle office and provides a little quieter environment to mull over strategy and take care of any writing projects. After yesterday’s kickoff meeting of our Development/Strategic Planning Committee, this is especially helpful.

Not the last snow leopard — yet.

Photo: ISLT.

For more than 20 years the Trust has been working to save the snow leopard through a variety of very effective, targeted projects. Over those years the Trust has grown from an all-volunteer operation to one with 19 staff (15 in the field) and an annual budget of about $500,000. The Trust has a lot of accomplishments that it is justifiably proud of, but the bottom line is that the wild snow leopard population is still in decline.

The possibility of losing these cats forever is real and would be a terrible loss. George Schaller captured it best when he wrote, “when the last snow leopard has stalked among the crags … a spark of life will be gone, turning the mountains into stones of silence.” The most frustrating thing about this is that it doesn’t have to happen.

As part of our preparations for our strategic planning process, we had a good discussion about what’s needed to turn things around for the snow leopard. We agreed that there are a number of factors that make saving these amazing cats an achievable goal.

• The snow leopard lives in a region that is not densely populated, which means the areas of overlap and conflict with humans are more manageable.

So what is our limiting factor? Money. As part of our preparations for the strategic planning process, I estimated we need about $3 million a year for 15 years in order to reverse the decline we are currently seeing in snow leopard populations. A total of $45 million — an investment that could save the indicator species of the mountains of Central Asia.

Please forgive a little rant, but when I think about what we spend money on in other areas it can get a little frustrating. A few days ago I looked up some of the costs of a few big-ticket defense items. One F-117 Night Hawk fighter is $122 million. Ten M1 Abrams tanks would buy the security of the snow leopard — and the military has thousands. What could be done in conservation with the $1 billion we spent each week of the Iraq war? Just the spare change from some of these expenditures could reverse our current trend of losing snow leopards and move them off the endangered species list. Doesn’t that $45 million look like a good investment? Can we do a Grist reader vote on whether folks want one more jet fighter or want to prevent the extinction of the snow leopard?

It does get frustrating at times when you see some of the things we spend money on, but in all honestly I am convinced we will save the snow leopard. The more I work on this, the more certain I am we will succeed. We have great people working on the issue, our programs are succeeding, there is excellent collaboration among those involved, and the situation on the ground provides an environment that makes success possible.

So with the help of Grist, National Geographic, and others, we will continue to tell the story of the snow leopards and the work being done to save them. And as our audience grows, we will raise the funds needed to accomplish our goal of growing the snow leopard population to a level where it will no longer be considered endangered.

Thanks for the opportunity to “talk at you” these past few days. Please feel free to send me an email or give me a call at 206.632.2421 if you’d like me to provide more information on our programs.