The Nature Conservancy in Colorado - Colorado: Tanzania Conservation Connections

Get Involved

Join the Conservancy's online community and you can follow Colorado staff and trustees as they explore new places, receive email you want and build your own personalized nature page!

Into Africa

Learn about The Nature Conservancy's projects in Africa, from the acacia-studded savannas of Kenya to the lush flooded grasslands of Tanzania and Zambia.

Colorado has more in common with Tanzaina than you'd think: Learn how grasslands conservation takes shape around the world.

The Nature Conservancy in Colorado is exporting our skills and knowledge abroad – to benefit conservation programs in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

In the months ahead, we’ll bring you stories and photos from Colorado Conservancy staff who are working to make a difference abroad – and returning with new insights on how to more effectively accomplish conservation at home.

Frogard Ryan: From Colorado to Tanzania

Frogard Ryan, the Conservancy’s Eastern Colorado Program director, recently spent two months in the east African country of Tanzania, working with a local land trust to help it build a foundation for an effective conservation program.

Nature.org: What was the nature of your work in Tanzania?

Frogard Ryan: My work involved being a coach and mentor to the Tanzania Land Conservation Trust as they build the foundation of their program. I worked with its executive director to set up a board of trustees, cultivate support for the group’s mission and develop fundraising plans.

I facilitated stronger relationships with other African conservation groups, landowners and ranchers and recommended a strengthened peer to peer network with partners such as the Kenya Conservation Trust. I also organized several rancher exchanges while there.

Nature.org: What were the main accomplishments of your work?

Frogard Ryan: I divide my work in Tanzania into three parts: a steep learning curve upon arrival, side by side work with our partner organization while there, and lastly the knowledge gained that I am carrying back home. Our work in Africa relies on strong partnerships and needs to take into account the daily needs of the African people.

In Tanzania, the trust runs the 45,000-acre Manyara Ranch in a main migration corridor and near several national parks. The trust’s goals at the ranch are to conserve the wildlife habitat – for elephants, lions and wildebeests, for example – and to serve the neighboring pastoral communities that depend on the ranch for water and forage for their livestock. Lastly, the ranch needs to become a viable business model.

My number one priority was to help the land trust set up its management and become sustainable, and now that I’ve been there, I can be a better ambassador for its work.

Nature.org: How did the work you did in Tanzania relate to – or inform – your work here in Colorado?

Frogard Ryan: I’m now sharing my African experiences with some of the ranchers and communities I work with here in eastern Colorado. A lot of people here are intensely curious about Africa, how it manages its wildlife and what it means to work there.

I recently gave a presentation to the Colorado Cattle Women about this. I’ve spoken with donors who are seeking projects with the most chance of success. In Africa and here, working ranches need to be economically viable and we need to seek conservation partnerships that help the ranchers, the communities and the wildlife.

Nature.org: Any other interesting observations from your time in Tanzania?

Frogard Ryan: Two things: The Tanzanian people are amazing! And, on my commute to work, seeing elephants in the wild, just moving about, is a sight I will never forget.