July 1, 2005: Headlines: COS - Palau: Biology: Wildlife: Nature Conservancy: Los Alamos Monitor: Peace Corps Volunteer Julian Dendy is helping manage projects to assess the plant and insect diversity on Babeldaob Island (in Palau) with the Nature Conservancy

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Palau: January 23, 2005: Index: PCOL Exclusive: Palau : July 1, 2005: Headlines: COS - Palau: Biology: Wildlife: Nature Conservancy: Los Alamos Monitor: Peace Corps Volunteer Julian Dendy is helping manage projects to assess the plant and insect diversity on Babeldaob Island (in Palau) with the Nature Conservancy

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-151-196-245-37.balt.east.verizon.net - 151.196.245.37) on Friday, July 01, 2005 - 11:18 am: Edit Post

Peace Corps Volunteer Julian Dendy is helping manage projects to assess the plant and insect diversity on Babeldaob Island (in Palau) with the Nature Conservancy

Peace Corps Volunteer Julian Dendy is helping manage projects to assess the plant and insect diversity on Babeldaob Island (in Palau) with the Nature Conservancy

"One of the biggest perks of my time here in Palau was that I was able to travel to Australia to learn about saltwater crocodile management techniques," he said in an e-mail interview. "I learned about how they harvest crocodile eggs from the wild in the Northern Territory and once I actually had to jump out of a helicopter onto a crocodile nest - with an oar in hand just in case the mother happened to be nearby."

Peace Corps Volunteer Julian Dendy is helping manage projects to assess the plant and insect diversity on Babeldaob Island (in Palau) with the Nature Conservancy

One for the road: LA native takes science out of the lab

KELLY LeVAN, lacommunity@lamonitor.com, Monitor Community Editor

Caption: The photo above is of a stamp set issued by the government of Palau depicting mushrooms of Palau. photo credit

REPUBLIC OF PALAU - No one's going to say he spends too much time at the office.

Los Alamos native, and University of New Mexico-trained biologist, Julian Dendy's desk alternately is a rain forest in Panama, a national park in Costa Rica or the Republic of Palau's Jellyfish Lake. Instead of crunching numbers, he counts bird species. Rather than commute on the highway, he bikes across the island.

The 28-year-old, currently in his second year with the Peace Corps, said he joined in order to contribute to conservation efforts to preserve neotropical rain forests. However, his involvement, like his interests, extends well beyond the millions of acres of richly diverse, endangered land.

"One of the biggest perks of my time here in Palau was that I was able to travel to Australia to learn about saltwater crocodile management techniques," he said in an e-mail interview. "I learned about how they harvest crocodile eggs from the wild in the Northern Territory and once I actually had to jump out of a helicopter onto a crocodile nest - with an oar in hand just in case the mother happened to be nearby."

Currently, he said he is helping manage projects to assess the plant and insect diversity on Babeldaob Island (in Palau) with the Nature Conservancy. He is working with one of his counterparts to establish a management program for Palau's saltwater crocodile population and with the Coral Reef Research Foundation once a month to monitor the physical characteristics and population of jellyfish in Palau's famous Jellyfish Lake.

That's not all. Dendy is one of the founding board members of Native Future, a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation of the land and heritage of the Wounaan Indians, whose village of Rio Hondo, Panama, Dendy lived in for several months.

Through Native Future, three Wounaan leaders will visit Santa Fe in July for the documentary film premiere of "The Wounaan - Echoes of the Future: A People's Struggle to Save Their Culture, Their Rain Forest, Their Destiny!" July 7 at La Fonda Hotel and for the International Folk Art Market, held July 5-15, where basket sales will benefit the tribe.

Staying in a remote Wounaan village gave Dendy and his site mate, Duke University student Zachary McNish, a chance to see, every day, a landscape and culture unmarred by Western influence.

"(McNish) had worked his previous two years in Panama at an outreach center that teaches rural farmers permaculture techniques, such as how to make organic fertilizer, how to use green manures, farm planning, organic pest control and low-cost irrigation technology," Dendy said.

"Most of the time I was learning as much from him as the people in my village were, and I would just get sweaty, dirty and sunburnt helping to set up house or school gardens, or the community demonstration farm."

He said he learned about the common plants and trees in the rain forest there, in particular the ones used to make dyes or are used for house or canoe building, and in his free time would birdwatch - he counted about 300 species while he was in Rio Hondo.

He acquired a third language as well, picking up the indigenous tongue of the Wounaans. He was already fluent in English and Spanish.

In Costa Rica, where, Dendy's mother, Leslie Dendy - a biology professor at UNM-Los Alamos - said her son originally traveled to as an exchange student, part of his Spanish studies at UNM, Julian resided with a local host family while taking classes in tropical biology and Spanish for a semester at the University of Costa Rica in San Jose.

His parents expected him home after three months, but "I stuck around for about a year," he said, "and worked as a naturalist guide at an ecolodge (and) as a volunteer with the national park system on Cocos Island."

Even after his many worldly experiences, Dendy said Los Alamos was the best place in the world to grow up.

"Los Alamos (is) very safe, it has a beautiful environment and distinct seasons, it offers a lot of outdoor activities, it has good schools and organized sports and it's filled with smart, interesting people," Dendy said. "The best thing about it for me was that, due to the location and terrain, there were always new places to go exploring. Even after having lived there for 18 years, I can still go back knowing that there are places there I haven't seen. It's always surprising me."

He added, "I don't know when I'm coming home for sure, (but) home will always mean Los Alamos, New Mexico, to me. I could easily live anywhere in New Mexico, but my strongest ties are to the Atomic City."

Dendy, who admits he only thinks, at most, a few months ahead of time, is not sure where his next stop will be.

"I have a lot of ideas, though," he said.

Contact Amy O'Connor at (801) 533-8375 or amyoconnor@earthlink.net for more information about Native Future and upcoming events in Santa Fe.






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American Taboo: A Peace Corps Tragedy Date: June 20 2005 No: 661 American Taboo: A Peace Corps Tragedy
Returned Volunteers met with author Philip Weiss in Baltimore on June 18 to discuss the murder of Peace Corps Volunteer Deborah Gardner. Weiss was a member of a panel that included three psychiatrists and a criminal attorney. Meanwhile, the Seattle U.S. Attorney's office announced that Dennis Priven cannot be retried for the murder. "We do not believe this case can be prosecuted by anyone, not only us, but in any other jurisdiction in the United States." Read background on the case here.

June 16, 2005: Special Events Date: June 16 2005 No: 654 June 16, 2005: Special Events
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RPCVs: Post your stories or press releases here for inclusion next week.

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June 6: PC suspends Uzbekistan program Date: June 7 2005 No: 640 June 6: PC suspends Uzbekistan program
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Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000  strong Date: April 2 2005 No: 543 Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong
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Story Source: Los Alamos Monitor

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Palau; Biology; Wildlife; Nature Conservancy; Stamps

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