the WWF, moved into the area and surveyed about 950 km of transect. WCS further surveyed the North Sector in 2005. The Dian Fossey Gorilla fund conducted the first surveys of the southern sector of the park for over a decade in 2005, and documented a gorilla population more widespread than previously detected from previous studies. WCS surveyed an additional block in the South Sector in 2006. These surveys, combined revealed that Maiko is highly threatened yet supports an important reservoir of endemic and rare species. A more recent survey focussed on the forests west and south of the park in 2010 revealed that threats had intensified since 2005 and also documented the extinction of one of the new gorilla subpopulations documented in the 2005 surveys. All observations point out to the intense hunting pressure caused by miners and the widespread use of guns as serious threats to the remaining animal populations. A new approach to conservation has been the implementation of compensation measures for Simbas willing to leave the Park. In 2010, FFI initiated the construction of health centers and schools in villages falling inside the zone of influence of the Simbas. The same year FZS launched an ambitious project aiming at turning the Simbas problem around by recruiting some of them as park rangers and allowing a de facto social reintegration which would directly benefit nature conservation in Maiko. References External links Protected Planet Fauna Flora International Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International Frankfurt Zoological Society Jane Goodall Institute Conservation International National parks of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Protected areas established in 1970 1970 establishments in Africa Northeastern Congolian lowland forests