As we’ve been reporting, mining currently threatens landscapes used by herders and wildlife in the South Gobi, in particular the Tost Mountains surrounding our long-term study. In past entries, we told you how Bayara, our Mongolia Country Director, was leading community meetings in the Tost Township. These meetings resulted in a unified effort by the community to exclude the region from mining. They asked Bayara to help them work on a proposal to declare it a “People’s Protected Area.” Most recently, an international team of staff, led by Bayara, provided the district governor in Gurvantes with a proposed protected area boundary map. This encompassed some of the most critical habitat and corridors for snow leopards that exist in the Tost and Toson Bumba Mountains in addition to some areas far into the surrounding steppe that are important oases for local communities. The application for the protected area has now passed beyond the township level, and also the district level, and was submitted to the Ministry of Mineral Resources in early July. The coordinates for the proposed People’s Protected Area boundary have also been submitted to the appropriate ministries within the federal government. We hope that the proposal will be accepted.