To Russia With Bird Band

The work of Kohl and others in assisting nonmilitary Russian scientists has never received much publicity, even though their patient efforts have long demonstrated the advantages of routine government-to-government cooperation.

These days, Kohl is doing his part to help Russian naturalists, who, like their weapons-research colleagues, have been dramatically affected by the Russian economic downturn. Russian parks and nature preserves are currently receiving just 20 percent of their normal funding, and professional staffs are hard-pressed to protect these areas from poachers and other exploiters. While the United States can't make up the funding shortfall, Kohl and his colleagues are overseeing a U.S.-funded $200,000 grant competition that provides seed money to keep Russian park and wildlife scientists afloat.

Kohl is proud of the work that past grants have enabled. "The bird banding lab in Russia had no money to buy any bands at all," he explains. "All they needed to operate was $4,000 a year. And for that amount, the information that's returned is amazing. These small sums of money can really do a lot of good if they are applied in the right place."

Each summer, the Fish and Wildlife Service sponsors a program that sends several Russian preserve managers to the United States to learn how American wildlife refuges are managed. "We know very much that the Russians value their relationships with us," Kohl says. "They tell us that the ability to come over here on exchanges helps keep them going."

The relationship isn't entirely one-sided, Kohl notes. American scientists recently traveled to Siberia to learn useful ideas for
restoring wild salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest. "We have also learned from their scientific method of doing wildlife surveys," he adds.