For the last five years, the Boise, Idaho, based Peregrine Fund has collaborated with researchers in Africa on a pilot project called the African Raptor Databank, allowing users to upload data about raptors in real time. The data gathered by the pilot program has already significantly slowed the decline of six vulture species in Africa by up to 90 percent and led to a global response to vulture declines.
Now The Peregrine Fund is expanding the databank worldwide. Dubbed the Global Raptor Impact Network (GRIN), the tool will enable scientists around the world to keep up with the incredible rate of change to our planet and the increasing number of species in need of urgent conservation action. “The data will reveal declines as they occur and predict trouble spots before they happen instead of years after the fact,” says Dr. Richard Watson, President and CEO of The Peregrine Fund. “GRIN will prioritize conservation actions on behalf of formerly little-known or completely unrecognized species.”
With support from the Murdock Trust, GRIN will soon be available to biologists and experienced bird watchers around the world. They can connect to GRIN via an app on their smartphones and tablets, or through The Peregrine Fund’s GRIN website, to instantly upload data as it is collected for the 500+ species of raptors around the world. The ultimate goal is to prevent future extinction of raptor species.
Founded in 1975, the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust provides grants to organizations and universities in the Northwest. The Trust continued its commitment to conserve and protect the diverse collection of species that make their home in the Pacific Northwest, as well as around the globe, with a $350,000 grant to The Peregrine Fund in support of the nonprofit’s innovative raptor research program. More info at Peregrinefund.org. //
