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Beier and his wife attend the funeral of the late
Asantehene Opuku Ware in April 2000
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Paul Beier, a 1999-2000 participant in the African Regional
Research Program, took a year-long sabbatical from Northern
Arizona University's School of Forestry to research tropical
bird diversity in the major forest zones of Ghana. The patches
of forest where the scholar conducted his research are referred
to as forest fragments, important for wildlife ecologists
because as the world's forests continue to disappear, they
become refuges for tropical biodiversity. His Fulbright research
project, the first of its kind conducted in West Africa, improves
the world's knowledge of bird diversity in the major forest
zones of Ghana, links wildlife survival with specific styles
of forest management and identifies which bird species are
most sensitive to fragmentation. Beier anticipates that "such
data would have immediate application to management and would
form a springboard for future research projects." This kind
of research may help determine which type of forest patch
is most valuable for conservation purposes and which simple
management actions might better protect a forest fragment's
endangered plant and animal populations.
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A Ghanaian girl carries water
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Beier worked with colleagues at the Forestry Research Institute
of Ghana (FORIG) and at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science
and Technology (UST) in Kumasi to observe and count the tropical
bird population in 40 forest patches. He was met with gracious
hospitality on the part of his host country colleagues. Although
he worked mostly with colleagues from FORIG on this project,
while in Ghana he started a second project, collaborating
with UST faculty, Nature Conservation Research Centre (a Ghanaian
NGO), and EarthWatch International to assist local communities
in their effort to establish a community-based hippopotamus
sanctuary. Beier's many contributions to his host institutions
include textbooks, journals, recordings of tropical birds
and the training required to identify birds by song.
With regard to the challenges of living and working in the
third world, he explains, "Perhaps the most valuable lesson
is that people who seem to be 'desperately surviving' (and
who are indeed desperate in many respects) have lives filled
with a rich variety of grand plans and trivial pursuits, hold
religious and aesthetic values that far transcend the struggle
to survive and in a few minutes acquaintance can be enjoying
a good belly laugh" with a stranger. Despite weekly power
outages and a phone system that he calls laughable, Beier
found the Fulbright experience in Ghana extremely rich and
states that he "would not trade it for anything."
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The reception Beier received each time he approached
a Ghanaian elementary school!
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In addition to the personal growth that comes from adapting
to a new environment and culture, Beier adds that, "as an
ecologist and conservation biologist, I have benefited greatly
from the opportunity to learn about a completely different
ecosystem, and to experience the challenges of conserving
tropical forests (which harbor most of the worlds biological
diversity). No amount of reading can substitute for such firsthand
experience."
