Development Outreach Network Society (DONetS) in Peren district is a recently established organization working in the remote area of Ngaulong land in a tri-state border area of Nagaland, Manipur and Assam. Contiguous to the Intangki National Forest of Nagaland, the three villages Old Ngaulong, New Ngaulong and Bamsiakeloa have jointly formed an appx 4500 ha of Dawkling Forest as a Community Conseravtion Area. The indigenous Zeme people of the three villages depend on the forest and the landscape for their daily needs and have initiated various efforts to safeguard and conserve it. Local resolutions include hunting ban, prohibiting commercial logging and plantation of native species such as Cane.Through DONetS efforts, Informal observations and reports of some key and diverse forest species such as the Great Hornbill, Chinese Pangolin, Tiger, Hoolock Gibbon, Red Serow, and the Clouded Leopard, has generated interest in the community to conserve their landscape. One such observation reported has been the rapid loss of the forest canopy, and through several consultation the community confirms its contribution to the habitat loss of the charismatic Hoolock Gibbon in the area, leaving it vulnerable to local extinction. Therefore, the community and DONetS have now considered a species-centric approach to landscape management and restoration, beginning with the Western Hoolock Gibbon.