Northern Jaguar Project Inc.

“Form 990 is reviewed in-depth by the board president and treasurer. Copies are distributed to remaining board members soliciting comments and feedback prior to filing.”

“After disclosure of a financial interest by a member of the board or staff, the interested person shall leave the board or committee meeting while the financial interest is discussed and voted upon. The remaining board or committee members shall decide if a conflict of interest exists. If it does, the chairperson of the board or committee shall, if appropriate, appoint a disinterested person or committee to investigate alternatives to the proposed transaction or arrangement. The interested person shall be prohibited from participating in deliberations and decisions about the transaction. Periodic reviews of this policy ensure that njp operates in a manner consistent with its tax-exempt purposes.”

“When determining compensation for management, which includes the two staff positions of coordinator and reserve manager, the board uses compensation surveys to approve the level of compensation and has the employee sign a written employment contract. Compensation for the coordinator was last reviewed in 2012, and the reserve manager's compensation was determined when hired in 2015.”

“The organization makes its governing documents and financial statements available to the public upon request. Form 990 is also available via guidestar.”

“Northern jaguar project - statement of program accomplishments october 2015 to september 2016 wildlife monitoring the 55,000-acre northern jaguar reserve features an unparalleled mix of natural communities and is the centerpiece of our ongoing work to protect, maintain, and improve quality wildlife habitat. This region has high conservation value because it is remote and supports low human population densities, is situated along the largest free-flowing river in northwest mexico, and because it includes extensive riparian woodlands. The northern jaguar reserve is the only conservation reserve in the world that protects large areas of foothills thornscrub, a vegetation community that covers a broad transition zone between tropical and temperate environments. Two jaguar guardians and a resident cowboy patrolled the reserve to deter poachers, inventoried the ecological health of the land and water, and maintained an array of motion-triggered cameras as a non-invasive method of wildlife observation. This year saw the return of two reserve biologists who lead the upcoming generation of mexican jaguar experts and are well versed in regional biodiversity and conservation issues. They are responsible for training local people in camera maintenance, outreach among the ranching community, utilizing their expertise to minimize conflicts, and furthering scientific research goals. Our cameras have photographed a total of 50 individual jaguars on the reserve and neighboring viviendo con felinos ranches, with more than 700 jaguar images to date. This year, we collected photographs of six individual jaguars. The male jaguar "elvis" was first photographed on the reserve in 2013. He was not seen again, and all assumptions were that he was a dispersing juvenile who had to find territory outside the scope of our cameras. He returned in december 2015, for the first time in two and a half years, and has since made appearances on the reserve and viviendo con felinos ranches. The female jaguar "suki" was first photographed a handful of times in 2012. The next time she appeared was a single photo in 2015. In 2016, suki was seen throughout the year on four ranches enrolled in viviendo con felinos. In july 2016, she appeared traveling with her five-month-old cub on one of the viviendo con felinos ranches. Cub photos are exceedingly rare, since they do not move away from their den often in the first year. We have only had four cub photos in the last decade of camera monitoring. This shows we are moving in the right direction, providing the safe haven that wildlife in this region so desperately needs. Our jaguar guardians visited the viviendo con felinos ranches each month to make sure agreements were honored, maintain cameras, retrieve photographs, and deliver feline photo awards. Twelve participating ranches had a total of 610 feline photographs. Jaguars were recorded on three ranches, and mountain lions and bobcats on every ranch. Ocelots were documented on 11 viviendo con felinos ranches, with a total number that more than doubles any previous year's documentation.”

“Community outreach it is an ongoing challenge to unseat long-held intolerances toward predators, and our community outreach is essential for the survivability of the northern jaguar population. Our viviendo con felinos project extended protections for jaguars and other felines on 12 ranches, where we have made a long-term commitment to build trust and reduce conflicts with a segment of the community most hostile toward carnivores. We signed agreements with participating ranchers that prohibit hunting, trapping, and the use of poison. We provided monetary awards for feline photographs to promote the presence of living wildlife and worked closely with ranchers to restore essential habitat for the area's four large felines - jaguar, ocelot, mountain lion, and bobcat. We believe viviendo con felinos is the best solution to minimize human-wildlife conflicts. Along with water restoration projects on three ranches and community meetings to discuss causes and solutions to cattle losses, viviendo con felinos distributed $30,000 in feline photo awards this year, which helped support ranchers' livelihoods to meet day-to-day needs. We prioritized youth involvement this year in communities nearest to the reserve, knowing that this younger generation will inherit ranch responsibilities and benefits from a greater understanding of local ecosystems. We organized workshops with elementary and high school students, a spring ecology week, and summer camp. We formed a youth eco-club that planted trees, painted three wildlife murals, and participated in hands-on learning on environmental themes. Reserve infrastructure and restoration we employed a fulltime reserve manager responsible for insuring the efficient management of all aspects of the reserve and planning/performing infrastructure maintenance and development. A crew of cowboys assisted him each month. Infrastructure work included efficient and reliable systems for solar power at two locations. We delivered a solar refrigerator to our primary camp in the reserve's interior to increase the length of time field staff can stay without food provisions spoiling. We improved water storage at basecamps by building two 10,000-gallon water tanks. Cowboys repaired fences to keep trespassing cows out and repaired the road to minimize erosion. With basic infrastructure improvements completed, we brought a handful of visitors to experience this dramatic landscape and its wild nature firsthand. We continued to remove buffelgrass in target areas of heavy infestation. Buffelgrass is a highly invasive species that threatens the ecological health of the reserve through fire and replacement of native vegetation. We plan to repeat this work over a multi-year period to achieve a high kill rate, restore native species, and best support jaguar recovery.”

“Stewardship and long-term management fund we continued to grow our stewardship and long-term management fund to guarantee the reserve's future through sustainable management and restoration. With more than one-third of our $1 million goal in hand, this fund will eventually create a permanent source of annual funding to cover the costs of basic protection and ensure proper guardianship of the reserve in perpetuity. Building our stewardship fund will continue to be a priority for additional funding in the years ahead. Grassroots leadership working to realize lasting change for large carnivores takes time and perseverance, and njp continued to establish linkages between citizen groups, government agencies, universities, research scientists, and ranchers. With our inclusion on the 2016 top-rated nonprofits list, njp received a five-star rating from greatnonprofits for a seventh year in a row. Our small overhead, combined with our experienced, volunteer board of directors, means that every contribution is well stewarded to directly support jaguar conservation. The steady increase in the size of the protected area, whether through direct purchase or rancher agreements, is the strongest evidence of our capacity to protect, safeguard, and strengthen the northern jaguar population.”