By CHRIS FILARDI The highest point in the Solomon Islands, more than 8,000 feet above Henderson Field. The uplands of Guadalcanal are a spectacularly mysterious place that few have ever visited. These forests are part of the largest remaining contiguous tract of wet forest left in the insular tropical Pacific. Photo by Chris Filardi Three short…

By CHRIS FILARDI The capital city of the Solomon Islands, Honiara, really ticks to a different clock. For all its hustle and bustle, rattling trucks, scampering feet, laughter and clamor, Honiara is on Solomon time. As hard as you may try to keep a tight schedule, time in the Solomons tends to open up and swallow…

By CHRIS FILARDI Approaching Kolombangara Island. Photo by Chris Filardi Sunday, Oct. 10 I awoke in the Solomon Airlines Twin Otter yesterday afternoon and looked groggily out the window. Below sprawled a bewildering array of islands, reefs and tropical ocean blues. On the short one-hour flight between Guadalcanal and my destination in the New Georgia Islands,…

By CHRIS FILARDI Kolombangara white-eyes. Photo by Andrew Cox Tuesday, Oct. 12 After 12 hours of walking, climbing and crawling through tangles of huge roots, fern trees and bamboo, our full team has reached and settled into our high camp. We are perched in a small cleft at 1,600 meters elevation on the flanks of Veve,…

By CHRIS FILARDI Kolombangara peregrine country. Photo by Patrick Pikacha Friday, Oct. 15 Waking at 1,600 meters in the Solomons is like waking in the clouds. Cloud days begin with a vigil of sorts: a slow and deliberate ascent up a ladderlike trail through the tangles to a perch that hangs out into the gloaming heart…

By CHRIS FILARDI Photo by Fred Oliver We left Kolombangara on our first clear morning. By midday, gushing rain transformed the lower-elevation forests into torrents of braided streams that formed and reticulated as we wandered, obliterating all signs of our passage. What little there was of a trail was gone, turned streambed. So we just went…

CAF Co-founder and President Richard Rice was recently interviewed by Daniel Botkin for his Renegade Naturalist Radio series. The two discussed the Conservation Agreement Fund’s unique approach to conservation and land protection, through conservation agreements. Listen to or Download the podcast (Duration: 17:20 — 12.0MB). Right click the link and select “Save As” to download View the…

Property and Environment Research Center Blog It is officially summer and that means PERC is welcoming dozens of visiting fellows ranging from scholars and students to journalists and entrepreneurs. Last week we welcomed Richard Rice, the co-founder and president of the Conservation Agreement Fund—a nonprofit whose mission is to protect globally significant areas through incentive-based conservation agreements.…