YUS Conservation Area is a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

on the

Huon Peninsula Huon Peninsula is a large rugged peninsula on the island of New Guinea in Morobe Province, eastern Papua New Guinea. It is named after French explorer Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec. The peninsula is dominated by the steep Saruwaged and Finist ...

Morobe Province Morobe is a province on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. The provincial capital and largest city is Lae. The province covers 33,705 km2, with a population of 674,810 (2011 census), and since the division of Southern Highlands Province ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. It was established in 2009 as Papua New Guinea's first conservation area, and named after the Yopno, Uruwa and Som rivers that flow through it. The 760 km² area of tropical forests is stretching from

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...

s off the northern coast to the 4,000-metre peaks of the western Saruwaged Mountains. It is a critical habitat for the endangered

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Matschie's tree-kangaroo Matschie's tree-kangaroo (''Dendrolagus matschiei''), also known as the Huon tree-kangaroo is a tree-kangaroo native to the Huon Peninsula of northeastern New Guinea island, within the nation of Papua New Guinea. Under the IUCN classification, Ma ...

.Wildlife Extra: Papua New Guinea declares first National Conservation Area to protect tree kangaroos
retrieved 19 May 2010 While the land remains under local customary ownership, villagers from 35 villages have formally committed to prohibit all hunting, logging and mining within the land that has been pledged to the conservation area.

Flora and fauna

The YUS area provides habitat for 268 species of bird, 44 species of mammal and 26 species of frog. Birds include the

palm cockatoo The palm cockatoo (''Probosciger aterrimus''), also known as the goliath cockatoo or great black cockatoo, is a large, smoky-grey/black Psittaciformes, parrot of the cockatoo family native to New Guinea, the Aru Islands Regency, Aru Islands and ...

, dwarf cassowary, Pesquet's parrot, emperor bird-of-paradise, Wahnes's parotia and Huon astrapia. Mammals include the common spotted cuscus,

striped possum The striped possum or common striped possum (''Dactylopsila trivirgata'') is a member of the marsupial family Petauridae. It is found mainly in New Guinea. The species is black with three white stripes running head to tail, and its head has whi ...

, small dorcopsis, Brown's pademelon and mountain cuscus.

Conservation

To establish the YUS Conservation Area, Woodland Park Zoo's Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program (TKCP) has worked with local landowners and the PNG government for more than 12 years. TKCP was supported by

Conservation International Conservation International (CI) is an American nonprofit environmental organization headquartered in Crystal City, Virginia, in Arlington County, Virginia. CI's work focuses on science, policy and partnership with businesses, governments and co ...

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

, and BMU (German Ministry for Environment) through KfW (German Development Bank) as part of the International Climate Change Initiative. A team of 12 rangers has been established in 2012, that help to map and patrol the area.Woodland Park Zoo
"Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program - Annual Report 2013"
/ref>

References

{{reflist

External links

Website about YUS
by Woodland Park Zoo
Map of YUS Conservation Area
Protected areas of Papua New Guinea Protected areas established in 2008 Morobe Province

Flora and fauna

Conservation

See also

References

External links