April 2020 | SMITHSONIAN 35says: “What has really brought mountain gorillas
back from the brink of extinction is community en-
gagement and cooperation.”
Not long ago, people in communities adjacent to
the parks tended to view the mountain gorillas as
competitors. People were grazing cattle and hunting
for bush meat in the parks, and sometimes facilitated
the capture of baby gorillas in exchange for cash. Pro-
tecting the gorillas meant protecting the parks, which
seemed to threaten the livelihoods of local residents.
A conservation initiative set to work raising aware-
ness of the potential economic value of the mountainBYLINESToronto-based Neal Ever Osborne photographed
grizzly bears for the November 2017 issue.
Mark Jenkins explored Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias
National Park in the May 2018 issue.