aripo savannas environmentally sensitive area (esa

Aripo Savannas Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA)

A F R A M E W O R K F O R P A R T I C I P A T O R Y M A N A G E M E N T

L ITERATURE REVIEW This Literature Review of the Ecological and Socio-economic aspects of the Aripo Savanas was prepared as part of the Participatory Management Planning Project for the Aripo Savannas.

May 2007

Literature Review - Aripo Savannas Environmentally Sensitive Area

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Citation: Environmental Management Authority. Aripo Savannas Environmentally Sensitive Area Literature Review to Facilitate the Preparation of Management Plans/ Prepared by the Caribbean Natural Resource Institute, 2007.

Aripo Savannas Environmentally Sensitive Area Literature Review

Prepared by the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI)

May 2007

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CANARI would like to thank Jean Patricia Elie, who authored this literature review. She would like to thank Forestry Division for access to their library and their National Parks section files. This document was used by the authors of the individual plans and is being supplied as a resource document to the Environmental Management Authority.

Cover Photo: Iron rich soil of the Aripo Savannas. Nicole Leotaud


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Since the authoring of the Literature Review in mid-2007, the Aripo

Savannas were declared as an ESA and the functions of the EMA and the Forestry Division were reassigned from the Ministry of Public

Utilities and the Environment to the Ministry of Planning, Housing and the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and Marine

Resources respectively in November 2007.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION 1- INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 6 SECTION 2- DESCRIPTION OF THE SAVANNAS ......................................................................................... 7

2.1. LOCATION, BOUNDARIES AND AREA .......................................................................................................................... 7 2.2. ADMINISTRATION ....................................................................................................................................................... 8

SECTION 3 - CULTURAL RESOURCES .......................................................................................................... 9 3.1. ARCHAEOLOGY, EARLY HISTORY AND INDIGENOUS USAGE ....................................................................................... 9 3.2 MODERN HISTORY - WWII AND THE AMERICAN MILITARY BASE OF FORT READ ...................................................... 12

SECTION 4 - NATURAL RESOURCES OF THE PROPOSED ASESA - ECOSYSTEM TYPE, PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT AND BIOTA .....................................................................................................................13

4.1 OVERVIEW OF THE LITERATURE RELATED TO THE NATURAL RESOURCES OF THE PROPOSED ASESA .......................... 13 4.2 FORMATIVE FACTORS AND ORIGIN OF THE PROPOSED ASESA .............................................................................. 19 4.3 ENVIRONMENT .......................................................................................................................................................... 20 4.4. ECOSYSTEM TYPE ..................................................................................................................................................... 21 4.5. BIODIVERSITY - FLORA AND FAUNA .......................................................................................................................... 23

4.5.1 Flora .............................................................................................................................................................. 23 4.5.2 Fauna ............................................................................................................................................................. 24

SECTION 5 - A SURVEY OF THE PAST AND CONTINUING USAGE OF THE PROPOSED ASESA – LAND USE AND ABUSE ........................................................................................................................................25

5.1. ILLEGAL LAND CLEARANCE FOR AGRICULTURAL (SLASH AND BURN) AND RESIDENTIAL PURPOSES ................................. 26 5.2. UNLAWFUL ENTRY INTO THE ASESA FOR THE ILLEGAL HUNTING, FISHING AND COLLECTING OF FOOD SOURCES. ..... 26 5.3. UNLAWFUL ENTRY INTO THE ASESA FOR THE ILLEGAL REMOVAL AND SALE OF FLORA AND FAUNA AS STOCK FOR PET AND HORTICULTURAL MARKETS ......................................................................................................................................... 26 5.4. UNLAWFUL ENTRY INTO THE ASESA FOR THE DUMPING OF REFUSE AND DERELICTS .................................................. 27 5.5 TIMBER HARVESTING .................................................................................................................................................. 27 5.6. THE AMERICAN MILITARY BASE AT WALLERFIELD ...................................................................................................... 27 5.7. QUARRYING ............................................................................................................................................................ 28 5.8 COLLECTION AND REMOVAL OF MATERIALS FOR CRAFT AND AGRICULTURE................................................................. 28 5.9. EDUCATION, ECOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH, RECREATION AND TOURISM ................................................. 29 5.10 THREATS TO THE ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY OF THE PROPOSED ASESA .................................................................. 33 5.11 THE HUMAN DIMENSION OF BIODIVERSITY ............................................................................................................... 35 5.12 THE HISTORY OF THE PROPOSED ASESA ............................................................................................................ 36

SECTION 6 - HISTORY OF THE MANAGEMENT OF THE PROPOSED ASESA ............................................37 6.1 A REVIEW OF THE MANAGEMENT OF THE PROPOSED ASESA ............................................................................... 37 6.2 EMERGENCE OF THE FORESTRY DIVISION ................................................................................................................... 40 6.3 CHALLENGES TO THE EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF THE PROPOSED ASESA ........................................................... 40

6.3.1 Inadequate staffing and resources ............................................................................................................. 41 6.3.2. Data gaps .................................................................................................................................................... 42 6.3.3. Paradigm shifts ........................................................................................................................................... 42 6.3.4 Legislative gaps and failures ...................................................................................................................... 42

SECTION 7 – REFERENCES .........................................................................................................................43


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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Annual Visitors to the Aripo Savannas .......................................................................................................... 31 Table 2: Birds sighted at the Aripo Savannas over 18 to 23 April 1996 ............................................................. 32

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

AALES Aripo Agricultural Livestock Station

ASESA Aripo Savannas Environmentally Sensitive Area

ASSMC Aripo Savannas Stakeholder Management Committee

BDFFP Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project

CCC Civilian Conservation Corps

CEPNET Caribbean Environmental Programme

e TecK Evolving TecKnologies and Enterprise Development Company Limited

EMA Envrionmental Management Authority

ESA Environmentally Sensitive Area

FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation

GORTT Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago

IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature

LSA Land Settlement Agency

MPUE Ministry of Public Utilities and the Environment

NECC National Environment and Conservation Council

NRWRP National Reforestation and Watershed Rehabilitation Programme

SGRC Sangre Grande Regional Corporation

SIDS Small Island Developing States

STRI Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

STS Sundew Tour-guiding Services

T&TEC Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission

TGR Trinidad Government Railway

ToR Terms of Reference

UNEP United Nations Environmental Programme

U.S. United States

USDA United States Department of Agriculture


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SECTION 1- INTRODUCTION

The Aripo Savannas, located in east-central Trinidad, represents the largest remaining natural savanna ecosystem with endemic flora in Trinidad and Tobago. As such, it takes on special significance. It is also an outstanding representation of a naturally occurring marsh formation consisting of marsh forest, palm-marsh and savanna. It provides a habitat for a number of the country’s rare and threatened species of plants and animals, (Davis et al, 1997); (Biodiversity Clearing House, 2005); (Parks.it., 1995); (WCMC, 2006); (EMA, 2006 a) and (Forestry Division, 1982 in EMA, 2006 a).

In 1980, the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (GORTT), in association with the OAS, developed the Systems Plan of National Parks and other Protected Areas (GORTT, 1980). In this plan, the Aripo Savannas was identified as an area to be designated as a Scientific Reserve, as it was the major remaining natural savanna in the country and supported a unique assemblage of flora, (EMA, 2006 b). In 1987, the Aripo Savannas was declared a Prohibited Area under Legal Notice #113 of 1987 so designated under the Forests Act. Later, in 2004, the EMA began the process of designating the Aripo Savannas as an Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA). In 2006, the draft legal notice was drawn up for the formal designation of the proposed Aripo Savannas Environmentally Sensitive Area (ASESA).

This literature review is in preparation for the participatory management planning for the proposed ASESA. It seeks to review and collate the existing grey and published literature on the ecological and socio-economic aspects of the proposed ASESA, and in so doing, identifies stakeholders as well as gaps in the existing management and planning processes.

The savannas of northern Trinidad have been a striking feature of the geography and natural history of Trinidad. They included the Aripo Savannas in the marsh forest of the northern plain and the O’Meara, Mausica and Piarco savannas which lie farther west on the plain, (Beard 1946, de Verteuil 1858 and Crüger 1858 in de Verteuil 1858). The proposed ASESA contains the only surviving example of these savannas. The ESA Technical Brief, (EMA, 2006 b) highlights its international reputation for its unusual flora in striking vegetation communities. As such, they have been the focus of considerable interest and research dating from the advent of European discovery and settlement in the fifteenth century to today. Consequently, there is a significant body of literature associated with the Aripo Savannas.


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SECTION 2- DESCRIPTION OF THE SAVANNAS

2.1. LOCATION, BOUNDARIES AND AREA The Aripo Savannas lies in north-eastern Trinidad (10° 35´N, 61° 12´W) between Arima and Sangre Grande in a lowland area at an altitude of 35 to 40m, east of the Caroni Plain. It is generally flat with a very gentle gradient rising to the north towards the Valencia town site. It lies on old alluvial terraces, believed to be of Pleistocene age, that fan out from the foothills of the Northern Range. The proposed ASESA lies within the Long Stretch Reserve. It is directly east of Waller Field and south of the township of Valencia. It is located in the North Central Conservancy and is within the Sangre Grande Regional Corporation (SGRC), the designated local government body, (Laughlin, 2004). It is in close proximity to the communities of Valencia with a population of 8,173; Turure, 1,730; Guiaco 3,043; Cumuto, 3,625; and the town of Sangre Grande, 18,157, (Central Statistical Office, 2000). The area is entirely State-owned.

Forestry Division, (National Parks Section, n.d.), records indicate that a survey of the Long Stretch Forest containing the proposed ASESA was undertaken between 1916 and 1930 and boundary pillars were subsequently erected in 1931. The report of this survey was not available. However, the plan of the Long Stretch Reserve surveyed during the years 1929 to 1932 is readily available from the Lands and Surveys Division.1

In preparation for the ESA designation, the area of the Aripo Savannas and its existing boundaries were defined by a survey done in 2004 by Ivan Laughlin at the request of the Ministry of Public Utilities and the Environment, (MPUE). Laughlin’s survey identified the total area of the proposed ASESA as 1,800 hectares (4,448 acres). The boundaries he identified were on the west of the Aripo River and the Valencia River; on the east the Eastern Main Road between Valencia and Sangre Grande (the Long Stretch); and on the south the Trinidad Government Railway (TGR) Reserve (the old railway line). The triangular form of the Reserve had the township of Valencia at its northern apex; the villages of Cumuto and Damarie forming the southern base terminal points, with Cumuto to the west and Damarie to the east. Laughlin also identified the squatter regularisation and relocation process as well as the possible alignment of the e TecK proposed Connector Road between Wallerfield and the Long Stretch as major threats to the security of the proposed ASESA, (Laughlin, 2004). His recommendations, regarding the issue of squatting, suggested the following options:

• generate small squatter regularisation settlements in the vicinity of Cumuto and Damarie and a larger one south of Valencia;

• establish one squatter regularisation settlement in the existing squatted area to the south of Valencia and have all squatters relocated to this area;

• arrange with the Land Settlement Agency (LSA) to have all squatters relocated to their settlements outside of the reserve.

1 Lands and Surveys Division Registry. QA 143 - Plan of the Long Stretch Reserve surveyed during the years 1929, 1030, 1931 and 1932 by W. E. Reece.


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These recommendations echoed the suggestion made by the Working Group on the Management of the Aripo Savannas to redefine the boundaries in the north of the proposed ASESA so as to accommodate the squatter settlement of Kangalee that was unlikely to be relocated. This area could possibly accommodate squatters from Turure. The Working Group considered that redefining the northern boundary in this way would allow some control over squatting and could contribute to the more effective management of the squatting issue in the proposed ESA, (Working Group on the Management of the Aripo Savannas, 2003).

In delineating the boundaries for the Notice, the EMA appeared to have considered some of these recommendations regarding squatter regularisation and relocation. A 12-hectare parcel of land was excised at the apex of the triangle in the northernmost area of the proposed ASESA, south of the township of Valencia to deal with the squatting area of Kangalee and the boundaries adjusted accordingly, (EMA 2006 a and EMA 2006 b). They are the Long Stretch of the Eastern Main Road between Valencia and Sangre Grande to the east, the Aripo River, a cut survey line and the Cumuto Main Road to the west, the town of Valencia to the north and the course of the abandoned TGR to the south. The total area of the designated proposed ASESA is 1,788 hectares. This is inclusive of 250 hectares of savannas, (National Parks Section, 2003).2

Many observers, (Forestry Division 1982, Oatham 2002, EMA 2006 b and Gill 2000) have noted that a significant area, as yet unquantified, of the original Aripo Savannas has already been lost primarily through environmental degradation brought about by a variety of factors, chief among which are infrastructural development (railways, roads, pipeline and drainage canals), quarrying, clearances for housing and agricultural purposes as well as uncontrolled timber harvesting in the Long Stretch area prior to this area being declared a forest reserve in 1934. This underlines the need for the designation of the ESA.

2.2. ADMINISTRATION The Aripo Savannas Scientific Reserve is administered by the National Parks Section of the Forestry Division of the Ministry of Public Utilities and the Environment.

2 No annual reports available after 2003.


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SECTION 3 - CULTURAL RESOURCES

3.1. ARCHAEOLOGY, EARLY HISTORY AND INDIGENOUS USAGE Thompson, (1959) observed that both the names, Aripo and Savanna are of indigenous origin and date back to the pre-Columbian period, (Thompson, 1959). This is borne out by unpublished data collated by the Archaeological Centre in UWI, (nd. a). Oviedo y Valdes, (circa 1545 in: Pérez de Tudela Bueso, 1959) quotes early contemporary explorers who noted that savanna and its variants: savana and sabana were of Taino origin3 and was used throughout the Caribbean and Venezuela to describe large areas of grasslands, outstanding examples of which were noted in Cuba, Trinidad and Venezuela.

A survey of some of the earliest maps of Trinidad (Crame 1777, de Churruca 1792, Mallet 1797, Basanta 1838) reveals that the place name, Aripo, occurs only in the northeast of Trinidad. There are the Heights of Aripo and the Aripo Massif. These form part of the Northern Range and include El Cerro del Aripo, the highest point in Trinidad and Tobago as well as the Aripo Caves. There is also the Aripo Valley, a valley in the Northern Range immediately to the east of the Arima Valley4 and the Aripo River, which flows from the Aripo Massif, through the Aripo Valley and eventually joins the Caroni River. The Aripo Savannas is an area of lowlands bounded on the west partially by the Aripo River. There was also the Punta de Aripo that is today called Manzanilla Point. The derivation and ethnic origin of Aripo have not been definitively established, (Thompson, 1959). However, at contact and for much of the early historic period, an indigenous ethnic group known as the Nepuyo5 who belonged to the Carib-language group, settled and controlled the northeast of Trinidad, (Boomert 2004 and Carmichael and Wise n.d.). It is quite possible, therefore, that Aripo is of Nepuyo origin.

Both names, Aripo and Savanna, appear in very early records and maps of Trinidad. Sabana Grande is identified by Mallet’s 1797 map, (Mallet, 1802). Crame’s map of 1777 identifies an Aripo River in Caroni, (Crame, 1777). Mallet’s map and description of Trinidad in 1797 gives a more accurate and extensive course of this river and identifies further indigenous place names. Later explorers and visitors (Caulin 1779, Basanta 1838

3 The Taino are the pre-Columbian indigenous inhabitants of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles and some of the Lesser Antilles. It is generally accepted that the seafaring Taino are part of the wider Arawakan family that originated from South America and migrated northwards to the Greater Antilles. Their language is a member of the Maipurean linguistic family which ranges from South America across the Caribbean and which is thought to be part of the larger Amerindian language family. The Taino Chiefdoms of Hispaniola represent the highest social and cultural development of the Arawakan peoples in the insular Caribbean. An easy introduction to Tainan culture is Sven Loven, Origins of Tainan Culture, West Indies. Goteborg, 1935. 4 When facing north, the Aripo Valley lies to the east of the Arima Valley. 5 The Nepuyo (or Nepoio) were a Carib-language people distributed in two subgroups: northeastern Trinidad, and south of the Orinoco mainstream where their chief Carapana had his village. Today a remnant reportedly lives in the middle Orinoco, but their language does not survive. Like the Aruaca, they had friendly relations with the Spanish, and supplied them with cassava in exchange for iron tools. Hierreyma, known popularly today as Hyarima, was a Nepuyo. Our Indigenous Peoples Day, October 14, is the anniversary of the day his forces and the Dutch sacked St Joseph in 1637 - St Calixtus day. The indigenous people relocated to Arima in 1786 were nominally Nepuyo.


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de Verteuil 1858 and Kingsley 1874) further recorded the Aripo Caves, El Cerro de Aripo, Aripo Savanna, Aripo Village, Aripo Road, and Punto de Aripo.6

The savannas of Trinidad were conspicuous landscape features admired by many early chroniclers including the aforementioned Oviedo y Valdes as well as Velasco. Velasco records the reports by early Spanish explorers (c. 1570) that noted that “the land is good and fertile and there are many savannas and rivers”, (Velasco, 1894). Other sixteenth century observers speculated on their suitability for cattle breeding7 and further considered that Trinidad was suitable for the establishment of ranching activities because it possessed “great plains of savannas for the breeding of livestock”.8 Later in the Mission Period, the first mission founded was that of Savana Grande which was located “on a large savanna more than four leagues east of Mount Naparima”.9

A survey of the Archaeological Site Inventory, (Archaeology Centre, UWI, n.d. b) for Trinidad indicates that there is no archaeological data on the proposed ASESA. Despite the observation that the naming of the savannas indicates indigenous knowledge of the area in the archaeological period, there has been no archaeological assessment or investigation of the site. In Trinidad, because of limited resources, the process of identifying and investigating archaeological sites is a reactive one, (Harris 2007 and Laurence 2007). Most commonly, it is initiated as a result of reported accidental finds. In a few cases, as in St. Joseph, site investigation and assessment is initiated as a result of compelling historical data. The Archaeological Site Inventory, (Archaeology Centre, UWI, n.d. b) lists 137 known archaeological sites in Trinidad. Most of these were originally identified as the result of reports of chance discoveries caused by natural or human activities rather than planned site surveys and excavations according to Boomert and Harris, (1988). There have not been any reported finds in the proposed ASESA and, as is discussed in the following section, because the site did not have the resource capacity in the archaeological period to support settlement sites, it is unlikely to be assessed as a possible archaeological site.

The Archaeological Site Inventory lists only two known sites in the vicinity of the proposed ASESA: an Archaic specific activity site in the Arena Reservoir and a Ceramic settlement site off the Arena Road, (Archaeology Centre, UWI, n.d. b).

• Arena Reservoir [Caroni-10]. Loc: Northern Basin, interior. Complex: Banwarian, Archaic. Type: individual find. Function: specific activity site. Discovery: Wehekind, 1936. Collection: National Museum, T&T. (circa 6000-3000 BCE);

• Arena Road [St. George East-170]. Loc: Northern Basin, interior. Complex: Palo Seco, Ceramic. Type: pottery deposit. Function: settlement site. c.300-700 A.D Discovery: Rouse & Goggin, 1953. Collection: Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, Conn. USA.

6 now Manzanilla Point 7 Archivo General de Indias, Patronato, Legajo 18-6-9. 13.5.1554 8 Archivo General de Indias, Patronato, Legajo 18-3-9. 13.4.1554 9 Archivo General de Indias, Audiencia de Santo Domingo, Legajo 641, 14.3.1688.


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At this time, there is no available archaeological data to indicate whether or not there was indigenous settlement or activity within or in the vicinity of the Aripo Savannas during the archaeological (pre-Columbian) and proto-historical (Historic-Amerindian) periods.10

However, the historical data is more revealing. Observations of sixteenth century explorers including Raleigh and Dudley (Dudley in: Warner 1899, Raleigh in: Schomburgk 1848, Boomert 2000 and Newson 1976) attest to indigenous settlement across the island with a concentration of settlements in the south, southwest, west and southeast of the island. The oldest known archaeological sites11 in Trinidad are all in the south and south west of the island as Trinidad was most probably first settled by Warao from the Orinoco Delta region. The south and southwest are easily accessible from the Mainland. In the pre-Columbian and early Historic era, these areas were also very resource-rich and allowed rapid and easy communication with related indigenous communities in the Venezuelan Mainland, (Newson, 1976).

There is also archaeological and historical evidence for significant indigenous settlement in Northern Trinidad. Newsom, (1976) observes that these settlements are concentrated in the fertile and resource-rich foothills and valleys of the Northern Range. Pottery deposits dating from circa 300 AD, (Archaeology Centre, UWI, n.d. b) have been found in settlement sites including St Joseph. Sixteenth century Spanish settlers, such as Antonio Sedeño and Antonio de Berrio,12 noted well-developed and populous settlements in the north-western peninsula, e.g. Mucurapo, as well as in the foothills of the northern range from Santa Cruz to Caura. These areas are very different to the Aripo Savannas, the inhospitable aspect of which would most probably have precluded indigenous settlement. For this reason as well as the absence of accidental finds, no archaeological survey of the Aripo Savannas has ever been carried out.

In the Historic period, the only known indigenous settlements in the vicinity of the proposed ASESA included a village of free and runaway Nepoio and Arawaks in the Heights of Arima (circa late sixteenth to mid seventeenth century) recorded in the seventeenth century, (Boomert 2004, Carmichael and Wise n.d. and Newsom 1976) and made famous as the base of the Nepoio warchief, Hierryma,13 as well as the ill-fated and short-lived Mission of San Francisco de los Arenales, established in 1687 in Arena in close vicinity to the Aripo and Arena rivers and the proposed ASESA, (Newsom, 1976 and Buissink, 1938).

Indigenous peoples may not have settled in the proposed ASESA but there is the strong possibility that they may have used the area in the archaeological and early historical period as a source of food or other materials. These would have included the fruit and leaves of the moriche palm Mauritia setigera, (Henderson et al., 1995) and other resources, including small game, particularly the small brocket deer, Mazama americana trinitatis, which was a major indigenous food source in the archaeological and historical period, (Boomert 2000 and Newsom 1976). Birds, as a source of feathers would have

10 pers.comm.Peter Harris, TTAV; Arie Boomert, Univ. of Leyden. Report from Dr. Basil Reid, Archaeology Centre, UWI. 11 The Banwari Site in South Trinidad c. 5000+ BCE is the oldest known settlement site in Trinidad as well as in the insular Caribbean. 12 Antonio Sedeño. Archivo General de Indias, Patronato 18-3-9. Reported in 1532 that he had pacified the Indian provinces in the foothills of the Northern Range where many caciques have their seats and lands. In 1592, Domingo de Vera y Ibargoyen, on behalf of Antonio de Berrio, founded the first Spanish town, St. Joseph, on the site of an Indigenous settlement ruled by the cacique Goanagoanare 13 Commonly known as Hyarima and considered a national hero by the Santa Rosa Carib Community.


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included the red-bellied macaw, Ara manilata, the feathers of which would have been highly prized by indigenous peoples. Henderson et al., (1995) note that the moriche palm, which grows so profusely both in the proposed ASESA and the Nariva Swamp, was and continues to be a source of food and shelter for the indigenous peoples of South America and there is historical evidence for indigenous familiarity with and use of the Nariva Swamp, (Newsom, 1976 and Buissink, 1938). De Civrieux, (1970) an ethnographer working among the Warao of the Orinoco Delta, noted that they value these palms very highly and use them as a source of food, shelter and weaving materials as well as the source of an ash, which is said to give superhuman strength. The palm fruit is edible with a high Vitamin C content. It can be eaten raw and is also used to make a fermented drink. Oil, high in Vitamin A, is extracted from the pulp and is sometimes used to treat burns. The seed is also rich in edible oil. The probability of indigenous use of these resources of the Aripo Savannas would have increased in the historical period with the establishment of the indigenous villages in Arena and Heights of Arima.

Boomert, (2000) discussion of archaeological pottery complexes highlights another possible indigenous link to the proposed ASESA. The Cedenoid-Saladoid pottery complex14 is characterised by a distinctive temper known as caraipé temper. Caraipé is the ash of the siliceous bark of various tree species belonging to the Chrysobalanaceae family, notably the Caraipé tree, (Licania apetala). The bark is burned, resulting in the removal of most organic components and afterwards pounded. Although not a very well known species, the caraipé tree formerly occurred in savanna habitats in Trinidad’s northern basin, (Boomert, 1983).15 As a result, in the archaeological literature, Caraipé temper is often associated with a pattern of resource acquisition from the savannas of the Northern Basin, which may have included the proposed ASESA.

3.2 MODERN HISTORY - WWII AND THE AMERICAN MILITARY BASE OF FORT READ In 1940, the Long Stretch Reserve, then 1,660 hectares, was leased to the United States of America. Fort Read, a military base, was constructed there, (Indopedia, 2002). It was the site of probably the largest and busiest system of airfields in the world. One hundred and thirty thousand men of the US Army Air Corps were based at Wallerfield at a time when Trinidad’s population was only 450,000. Fort Read was the staging area for the protection of the Vichy French pro-German Martinique. Later in 1945, it also became the major terminus for shuttling troops to the War in the Pacific. After the war the site was abandoned. It was formally returned to GORTT in 1956. Fort Read had a significant cultural and socio-economic impact on the surrounding area, particularly Arima.

14 Pottery complex circa fourteenth to seventeenth centuries and associated with late pre-Columbian settlement as well as the Mission period (seventeenth century)in the post-Contact era. 15 Also pers.comm. Peter Harris


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SECTION 4 - NATURAL RESOURCES OF THE PROPOSED ASESA - ECOSYSTEM TYPE, PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT AND BIOTA

4.1 OVERVIEW OF THE LITERATURE RELATED TO THE NATURAL RESOURCES OF THE PROPOSED ASESA There is an extraordinary body of literature covering almost every aspect of the natural resources of the proposed ASESA. It is truly one of the most intensively and commonly studied areas of natural ecosystems in Trinidad and Tobago. This alone justifies its present designation as a Scientific Reserve and highlights the role it has played in stimulating local and international researchers in their biological and ecological studies, (Oatham, 2002).

The literature, both published and unpublished, varies immensely in quality and content. It includes light-hearted accounts of recreational visits, informative birding reports, observations, reports and studies produced by conservation-oriented amateurs and/or professional individuals and associations such as the Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalists Club, the Trinidad and Tobago Orchid Society, the Biological Society, scientific studies at undergraduate,16 postgraduate and professional level, management and administrative reports and reference texts including floras and field guides. There is also collateral literature relevant to the policies and management of the proposed ASESA as well as various documents, which pertain to the existing legislative and policy framework for the area. There are also ongoing studies, the results of which are not yet available to be included in this review but are noted here, as they will ultimately contribute to the increase in knowledge of the proposed ASESA. The most relevant of these is the Floral Inventory (excluding mosses and lichens) of Trinidad and Tobago, which is currently being carried out by the National Herbarium17 in conjunction with Oxford University, England. This three-year study of the Floral Diversity of Trinidad and Tobago is part of the UK-based Darwin Initiative and will seek to produce comprehensive vegetation maps of the island.18

Information is also available on websites. The most significant of these to the management of the proposed ASESA are associated with the various Conventions and Protocols to which GORTT is signatory. This includes the Convention on Biological Diversity for which the Trinidad and Tobago Biodiversity Clearing House Website was developed in 2005 by MPUE in fulfilment of Article 18(3) of the Convention on Biological Diversity ratified by GORTT on 01 August 1996. There is also the very comprehensive website of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), which is the world’s largest and most important conservation network. A related website monitors Centres of Plant Diversity and Endemism in the Caribbean. There is also the website of the Caribbean Environmental Programme (CEPNET), allied to the United Nations

16 Unfortunately, while various aspects of the ASESA are popular topics for undergraduate research reports at UWI, St. Augustine, the research reports are not recorded or kept on file by the relevant departments. It was impossible to get a sense of how often the ASESA has been studied or which aspects of the ASESA have been studied. 17 Pers.comm. Shoba Maharaj/Yasmin Comeau, National Herbarium, UWI, St. Augustine. January 2007 18 The Darwin Initiative <http://www.darwin.gov.uk>


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Environmental Programme (UNEP) and brought into being in 1981 under the Caribbean Action Plan. It helps to monitor the SPAW Protocol19 and provides updated status reports on protected area systems in the wider Caribbean Region through easily accessed country reports. There are also the websites of international environmental projects, the results of which may have some bearing on the understanding and management of the proposed ASESA. One such is the website of the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP) operated cooperatively by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and the National Institute for Amazonian Research in Brazil. The website of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) provides resource materials relevant to Biodiversity Conservation developed by the FAO Conservation, Research and Education Service.20 Relevant and useful electronic journals include Ecology and Society (formerly known as Conservation Ecology).21 There is also the website of the Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalist Club22 as well as the Trinidad and Tobago Orchid Society Database of Native Orchid Species.23

The following general observations emerge from an initial overview of this body of literature:

1. The proposed ASESA and particularly the savanna ecosystem, has the distinction of being one of the most intensively studied areas in the neotropics, (Oatham, 2002). Many international and local scientists have studied aspects of the savannas. The area is also historically important for its role in stimulating local and international research in biological and ecological studies.

2. There is a strong and very well developed national tradition in natural history with a noticeable emphasis on floral studies to the detriment of faunal studies. To a large extent, this is a consequence of the agricultural basis of the economy of Colonial Trinidad and was fostered through the influence of the Botanic Gardens established in 1818. An Agricultural Society was founded in 1891 during the administration of Governor Broome. Its objectives were the encouragement of all things connected to agriculture and the printing and circulation of papers of agricultural interest, (Carmichael, 1976). This was the origin of the Bulletins of the Department of Agriculture and the Imperial Institute, which covered a wide range of specific native flora including cacti and native timbers. Despite this, the only existing general Flora in English in the nineteenth century was the West Indian work of Grisebach, (1859-1864). The first Flora-writing project for Trinidad was initiated in 1928 by Williams, then Deputy Director of Agriculture, (Williams and Cheesman, 1928). This was rapidly followed by a series of specific floras

19 SPAW Protocol is the Protocol concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife to the Cartagena Convention (the SPAW Protocol), which was ratified by GORTT on 10 August 1999 20 Case Studies on Natural Resource Management and the Environment. Available from: United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (Online) Retrieved from:www.fao.org. Accessed: March 2007. 21 Ecology and Society Journal (Online). Retrieved from: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/. Accessed March 2007 22 Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalists Club (Online). Retrieved from: www.wow.net/ttfnc. Accessed: April 2007. 23 Trinidad and Tobago Orchid Society - Database of Native Orchid Species (Online). Retrieved from: www.ttorchids.net/database.index. Accessed: April 2007


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including ‘Trees of Trinidad and Tobago’, (Marshall, 1934 a), ‘Verbenaceae and Avicenniaceae of Trinidad and Tobago’, (Moldenke, 1939) and ‘Useful and Ornamental Plants of Trinidad and Tobago’, (Williams and Williams Jnr., 1941) indicating the growth of significant national capacity in scientific (particularly biological/ ecological) knowledge and expertise. This is still the case today as evidenced by the continued generation of local publications such as, ‘The Palm Book of Trinidad and Tobago including the Lesser Antilles’, (Comeau et al., 2003).

3. The literature reveals the presence of a mature national intelligentsia that bear the following cautiously identified characteristics: middle and upper class, well-educated, well-read and informed about environmental issues, no gender bias, supportive of habitat and species conservation practices, both well-informed and capable amateurs as well as skilled professionals, associated with groups such as the Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalists Club, Friends of the Botanic Gardens, Horticultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago, the Trinidad and Tobago Orchid Society. It is worth noting that the Field Naturalists Club, established in 1891, as well as the Horticultural Society which grew out of the Agricultural Society, also established in 1891, were both started by scientists and professionals working in the relevant areas.

4. In the context of the previously made points, it is particularly striking that much of the scientific literature directly associated with the proposed ASESA ecosystem is curiously one-dimensional and often lacking a critical and analytical component. A lot of information about the proposed ASESA ecosystems has been generated but this has not necessarily widened or deepened our understanding of the ecological processes that underpin the unique ecosystems of the proposed ASESA or contributed to improving the management of the area. Exhaustive floral and faunal lists have been compiled but relatively few life histories, phenological or ecological studies of individual species or associations24 have been attempted. Endangered, threatened and endemic species have been identified and lists compiled but updates on their status and distribution have not been forthcoming and relevant scientific studies have not been attempted. The major threats to the area are well known, but very few studies25 are available that have actually attempted to assess, predict or quantify the impact of these threats on the proposed ASESA. It is an oft-repeated statement that a significant area of the proposed ASESA has been lost through environmental degradation, yet there are no studies that have attempted to quantify the degree of this degradation or to determine the exact nature and dynamics of such degradation. The vast number of studies on the proposed ASESA is disproportionately focussed on the savanna component, with remarkably few, if any, being carried out on the palm marsh and marsh forest communities. Whole ecosystem studies, comparable to Beard’s 1946 study are absent while micro-ecological studies are rare, (Leotaud, 1992) and there are few comparative studies or long term studies of any kind.

5. There is a body of literature based on early ecological and conservation science on which the basic management principles of the Aripo Savannas were originally founded. Since then ecological science has undergone many significant shifts in emphases and perspective. In particular, a shift has occurred from the equilibrium

24 An exception is the observation of an intriguing association recorded by Hayes, (1998). 25 A short term study on the effects of fire on the open savannas was carried out by Schwab, (1988).


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paradigm to one that recognises the dynamic, non-equilibrium nature of ecosystems. Ecosystems are no longer perceived as static entities in equilibrium but instead are now understood as complex systems that are dynamic and unpredictable across time and space. Revised thinking about the dynamics of ecological systems has important implications for the management of the area. Current policies and plans are predicated on equilibrium assumptions. Management planning for effective biodiversity conservation must be rooted in well-researched and current conservation science. It is essential that current ecological knowledge and thinking be translated into information useful to managers and planners of the proposed ASESA. The classic studies of Marshall, 1934 a, Beard, 1946, Panton, 1953 and Richardson, 1963 on which our present understanding of the area is built are now more than 40 years old. These studies influenced management policies and plans. The management planning process currently being carried out in preparation for the implementation of the proposed ASESA creates the ideal opportunity to revisit these studies in the light of current ecological and conservation knowledge and to widen their scope to include the area in its entirety.

The earliest published description of the savannas of Trinidad including those of the proposed ASESA ecosystem in the modern era26 is to be found in ‘Botany: Outline of the Flora of Trinidad’ which was written by Herman Crüger, then curator of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Trinidad. It was included as an appendix in ‘Trinidad: Its Geography, Natural Resources, Administration, Present Conditions and Prospects.’ by Sir Louis de Verteuil. The first edition appeared in 1858 then was later revised and reprinted in 1884. In addition to Crüger’s appendix, de Verteuil gave a complete geographical account of Trinidad, including the fauna and flora as well as a brief summary of the island’s history.

Crüger identified four different classes of natural savannas one of which was the Aripo Savanna. He observed that the savanna of Aripo differs from the other classes of savannas. It is in the interior, is subject to periodical but partial inundations, and covered with grasses and herbs altogether different, and, to the naturalist, of a much higher interest than the former specimens. He identified large orchids, with red, white and yellow flowers; grasses; and as great scientific interest, melastomaceous plants of various genera (Arthrostema spp. and Osbeckia spp.), utricularias, droseras, rare and various grasses, and cyperoids of small sizes and fine kinds, with a species of Cassytha; in the water, Ceratophyllum and bog mosses. He also noted groves of moriche and cabbage palms growing here and there, in great luxuriance in the more inundated spots.

De Verteuil, (1858) briefly describes the soil of the savannas as coarse unproductive clay and a layer of white sand. He goes on to comment that the land in this eastern area of the Northern Plain is the “the worst land in the Colony”.

Subsequent to Crüger and de Verteuil, (1858) the proposed ASESA ecosystems continued to be the focus of a number of published scientific studies including Meyers, (1933); Marshall, (1934 b); Beard, (1946, 1953 and 1955); Panton, (1953); Richardson, (1963); as well as numerous unpublished reports and studies including Schwab, (1988). With the

26 The use of the term ‘modern era’ is entirely arbitrary and is intended to distinguish between the early historical literature generated by explorers and Colonial geographers and the later literature emerging from a locally based intelligentsia.


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exception of Schwab, all these authors occupied key positions in the Colonial Administration either in the Botanic Gardens, the Agricultural Committee/ Department of Agriculture or the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, the forerunner of the University of the West Indies. Most of them had been trained at Kew Gardens. The pioneering studies of Beard, Panton and Richardson have been seminal to our understanding of the proposed ASESA and subsequent researchers have built upon the foundation that they established.

Meyers, (1933) in a comparison of Guiana and Trinidad savannas, considered that the vegetation of the Aripo Savannas was reminiscent of, though drier than, the wet savannas of Guiana and the Orinoco Delta. He noted the abundance and variety of sedges (Rhynchospora spp.) on the open savanna and the characteristic moriche palms (Mauritia setigera) standing out in the island. Among the sedge and grass he reported terrestrial orchids, bladderworts and sundews, and in parts, a straggling tangle of Cassytha americana Nees. Small islets invariably contained Clusia nemorosa Mey. and when a little larger, Symphonia globulifera L.f., Byrsonima crassifolia (L.) and a Bactris palm were found in drier parts. Beneath the Mauritia palms was coarse Scleria, interspersed with a few melastomes. These larger islands were ringed with Chrysobalanus icaco.L. var.pellocarpa.

Marshall, (1934 b) considered the Aripo Savannas to be an edaphic climax and classified the vegetation as herbaceous swamp with the savannas as a separate and distinct unit. He refers to the unique flora of the area but does not give any details or extensive lists.

Beard’s paper, (1946) ‘The Natural Vegetation of Trinidad’ introduced a new system for the classification of the plant communities that is still used today. It was based on the understanding of communities as a physiognomic unit containing a number of floristic associations united by a common structure and life form. Each formation could either be climatic or edaphic depending on the interplay of the environmental factors of climate, topography and soil. Formations were said to be climatic when climate is of greater preponderance and edaphic when topographical and soil factors exert a predominant influence. Beard fully characterised the ecosystems of the Aripo Savannas. To this day, he remains the only researcher who has studied the marsh formation of the area in its entirety.

In Beard’s classification, the area was very readily identified as an edaphic marsh formation consisting of marsh forest, which dominates most of the land area, savanna, found in patches scattered throughout the marsh forest and palm marsh, associated with the savannas, either fringing them or found in isolated islands (palm islands) within them. He noted that this marsh formation was very specialised and in Trinidad, was confined only to an area of a few square miles in the vicinity of the Long Stretch at Valencia. In describing the distribution of the subsystems in the marsh formation, he observed that “here and there in the midst of the marsh forest occur patches, often of some size, of savanna, indicating places where drainage conditions are too adverse for forest. The formation palm swamp is found fringing these savannas and forming islands in their midst: it is thus an intermediate stage between marsh forest and savanna. The fringing belt is usually about a chain wide and the ‘island’ may cover several acres”. He described very comprehensively the vegetation associated with each of these ecosystems.

Marsh formations, he noted, were of local occurrence and occupied the centres of Pleistocene alluvial terraces mainly in the northern plain. They invariably developed on


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flat areas with impermeable subsoil. The upper horizon to which roots are confined is completely dried out in the dry season and waterlogged in the wet. One of the striking features he noted on examination of the soils of the proposed ASESA was that the roots of the palms penetrated deeply into the claypan, whereas tree roots did not. He observed that unlike tree roots, the palm roots were thick and coarse. He theorised that they “may be provided with aerenchyma which would enable them to tolerate such badly aerated subsoil”. He concluded that ‘the root question’ appeared to decide the unusual abundance of palms in the proposed ASESA. Beard, (1946) also asserted that “areas on which the vegetation has been destroyed begin to reconstruct the climax as soon as the destructive factor is removed or ceases to operate. The time taken for the complete process will vary according to the duration and violence of the disturbance and according to habitat factors”.

Beard, like Crüger and Marshall before him, emphasised the natural origin of the savannas and totally discarded the possibility that fires have contributed to their origin. He further stated that the Aripo Savannas “possess the richest and most endemic flora of any of the savannas. Transition to woodland is very abrupt. The savannas are bordered with palm marsh merging into marsh forests and there are palm marsh ‘islands’; within the savannas”. Beard’s noted 10 savannas, numbered I to X. His observations of the savannas were limited to savanna III due to wartime restrictions.

Prior to Panton, (1953) most researchers spent very little effort in characterizing the soils of the proposed ASESA even though they recognised that the soils had a significant impact on the vegetation and ecosystem of the proposed ASESA. De Verteuil, (1858) briefly described the soil of the savannas as coarse unproductive clay and a layer of white sand.

Chenery, (1949) confined his observations to Savanna IV where he identified Aripo savanna fine sand. Beard, (1953) recognised a single soil type beneath the savannas and their surrounding forest. He observed that it was “an exceedingly stiff, very fine clay containing almost no sand”. He described the surface horizon as “a pale gray, silty clay, which merges at a depth between six and 36 inches. with a brilliantly crimson and orange mottled, whitish clay which is impermeable”. He made no measurements of the clay particle size. Panton, however, did a detailed study of the soils of the proposed ASESA and recognised four slightly different profiles that he identified as Type A - Aripo fine sand on fine sandy-clay, closely related to Piarco Fine Sand; B - Aripo fine sand or silt on silty clay reminiscent of Long Stretch fine sandy-clay; C - Aripo fine sand or sand on sandy to gravelly clay reminiscent of Valencia fine sand. Types A, B and C were found in the savannas and Type T is a transitional type which predominated on the fringes of the forests and islands.

Panton further observed that all profiles were acid throughout (pH 4.8-5.5) and soil fertility was at a minimum. Panton also found earthworms in the transitional soils near the forests and islands but stressed their absence on the open savannas, an observation challenged by Richardson who observed that earthworm activity was affected by the season, that in the wet season, they came up to the surface.

Richardson’s paper, though published in 1963, was based on observations conducted in 1959-1960 on savannas I to IV, the four major open savanna areas in the proposed ASESA. His stated intentions in writing this paper was to prepare a complete record of the flora of the open savannas and their immediate vicinity, to determine the most important plant species of the open savannas and to establish any habitat differences which might influence the vegetation on the open savannas. He identified 59 families


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represented by a total of 243 species and provided notes on shrubs as well as information on the frequency, density and cover estimates of shrubs for each of the four major open savannas. He recognised that the most successful plants of the open savannas were xerophytes.

In order to assess ecosystem change, Richardson, whose observations were carried out on savannas I, II, III and IV, did attempt a temporal comparison with Beard’s earlier savanna observations in 1946 which were confined mainly to Savanna III because of wartime restrictions. Though he noted some differences, he was not convinced that these were due to real changes. He concluded that the vegetation in 1960 in Savanna III was not significantly different to that described by Beard in his earlier studies. However, he also noted the possibility that better drainage and increased burning may have had and continue to have some influence on the vegetation. In addition, he observed the emergence of degraded areas in the trackside.

Richardson noted that the open savannas were increasing in total area at the expense of the surrounding seasonal swamp forest and ascribed this increase to the increased frequency of burning. From his observations, he postulated that the depth of the claypan and the microtopography may have a considerable influence on habitat and therefore vegetation in the open savanna areas. In addition, he measured the relationship between claypan depth and microtopography and noted that this was affected by rainfall.

Schwab’s 1988 study was conducted from 1985 to 1987 and focussed on the flora and fauna of the open savannas with particular reference to phenology, effects of fires and soil characteristics. She compiled a comprehensive checklist of the flora of the open savanna. This included 428 vascular plants. Schwab, (1988) compared species and frequency to a 1959 study and found that it was comparable with few exceptions. Prior to Schwab’s faunal work, no comprehensive studies of the fauna of the proposed ASESA had been undertaken. The only fauna noted by previous researchers in the proposed ASESA were termites in Adamson, (1937 and 1940) and earthworms in Panton (1953); Richardson (1963) and this latter only in passing in the discussion of soil conditions in the site. Schwab’s faunal list noted 78 insect species, 8 amphibians, 26 reptiles, 132 birds and 25 mammals. Schwab’s work underlined the wealth of the biota that exists in the Aripo Savannas. She also observed the effects of one early and one mid season fire on the savanna vegetation. She noted that some opportunistic species invaded burnt sites only, suggesting that recurrent fires may temporarily change the floral composition of the open savannas. However, she also observed that the adaptations to drought exhibited by plants in the site also conferred fire resistance.

4.2 FORMATIVE FACTORS AND ORIGIN OF THE PROPOSED ASESA In its introduction to the overview of the proposed ASESA, the ESA Technical Brief describes tropical savannas or grasslands as a climax transitional ecosystem including moisture, nutrients, fire and grazing as its major elements, (EMA, 2006 b). All modern Aripo Savannas’ researchers, (Crüger in de Verteuil 1858, Meyers 1933, Marshall 1934 b, Beard 1946, 1953 and 1955, Panton 1953, Schwab 1988 and Richardson 1963)27 would disagree strongly with parts of this statement. Grazing has never been of relevance to the area and while fires do occur, their influence is not formative even though

27 Also see www.nmnh.si.edu/botany/projects/cpd/ma/ma-carib.htm#


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in the long term they may have the potential to change the floral composition of the open savannas, (Schwab, 1988). The ESA Technical Brief sourced its information from a study on African savannas that has had a centuries-long association with well-developed pastoral societies. That is not the case with the proposed ASESA.

It has long been accepted that the proposed ASESA is entirely edaphic in origin and is not dependent upon fires for its formation or continued existence. The primary factor is the soil. Crüger (in de Verteuil, 1858), was the first to distinguish between ‘natural’ savannas including those of Aripo, O’Meara and Piarco, where the soils were the critical factor and those savannas, especially on the mountains from St. Joseph to Arima, which owed “their origin to the destruction of forests by fire, in part where the layer of soil was too thin to nourish a fresh generation of trees”, (Crüger in de Verteuil, 1858); Beard (1946 and 1953) was the first to clearly define this concept of a ‘true’ or ‘natural’ savanna, which “is properly of natural origin” and “excludes pastures and other grassland due to man”. He totally dismissed both climate and fire as causative factors for the Aripo Savannas and categorically states that human interference is absent in the area. He noted the connection between savannas and characteristic site features: “The plains savannas of which the Aripo Savannas is an example, all occur on flatland where the soil shows impeded drainage. The ground becomes waterlogged in the wet season, completely dry in the dry season. Owing to the lack of aeration, tree roots are unable to penetrate the clay subsoil. They are subjected to an oscillating water-table and periodic alternations of physiological and actual drought”.

The observations of subsequent researchers that characterised these savannas as usually having sandy topsoils with impervious subsoil horizons confirmed Beard’s findings. This hardpan layer prevents the vertical movement of water. Seasonal, but not necessarily extremely dry, climatic conditions result in actual drought during periods of low rainfall and physiological drought due to impeded drainage and waterlogging during periods of high rainfall. Both situations are inimical to the growth of trees. The only types of vegetation that are able to survive are grasses, sedges and herbs.

Beard, (1945) also noted that these savannas occupy “small fragmental remnants of an ancient land surface formerly similar to and co-extensive with the llanos of Venezuela but now almost eroded away”. He concluded that “the peculiar conditions of the Aripo Savannas result from the great age of the site, senility of the topography and advanced development of ground-water soils”.

4.3 ENVIRONMENT There is concurrence among authors regarding the details of climate and geology, topography and hydrology as they apply to the Aripo Savannas and summaries are given in a wide cross section of the literature including Schwab, (1988) and Oatham, (2002). These have been thoroughly defined and described and are in the public domain. As regards soils, while there is a common understanding and agreement on the basic soil structure and composition, its infertility and unsuitability for agriculture and its formative influence on the unique savanna ecosystem, there appears to be no consensus about the system of soil classification and nomenclature used. This presents serious challenges both for the understanding of the literature as well as the management of soil resources.


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De Verteuil, (1858) described “the soil of the savannahs of Aripo on the right bank of the river Aripo as coarse unproductive clay with a layer of white sand”. He further commented that they were “the worst soils in the Colony”. Beard, (1946) described the soil type as “clays or sands-on-clays with impeded drainage due to shallow clay-pan, iron-pan or bed-rock”. The soils of the Aripo Savannas were thoroughly studied by Panton, (1953) and since then to a lesser degree by many other authors. Panton established that the soils are derived from weathering of the underlying alluvial material. In general, they consist of sandy topsoils with impervious subsoil horizons, which restrict the vertical movement of water. Panton further observed that all profiles were acid throughout (pH 4.8-5.5) and soil fertility was at a minimum. Consequently, they are of little use for agriculture. They support mainly herbaceous species that are tolerant of infertility and alternating periods of waterlogging and desiccation. All authors agree that the soil of the savannas ASESA is the primary factor influencing the unique savanna ecosystem.

A survey of the literature on the proposed ASESA reveals the following additional information. The mineral soils of the Aripo Savannas are Ultisols, an order characterised by clay textured, relatively impermeable subsoils, (Soil Survey Staff 1975, quoted in Schwab, 1988). Some soils in the area have been classified as plinthaquults, (Ahmad and Jones, 1969) sands underlain by a hard clay layer, acid and low in plant available nutrients. Soils in the savannas have also been classified as Typic densiquults as well as Dystric Plinthsols, this latter being a new class of mottled clayey soils that are imperfectly drained and that irreversibly hardens after repeated drying. Further, soils in the Long Stretch have variously been described as Plinthic tropaquults and Dystric Panosols. All these soil types are imperfectly drained.

An analysis of this soil data in the wider context of soil classification literature28 indicates that

1. It is very likely that there are minor variations in soil types across the proposed ASESA. This is worthy of further study.

2. There are at least three different soil classification systems being used simultaneously: an FAO classification, USDA classification and others unknown.

It would be very much to the advantage of users and managers of the proposed ASESA for one soil classification system to be put in place.

4.4. ECOSYSTEM TYPE The Aripo Savannas ecosystem can be considered a unique one. The complex of habitats making up the proposed ASESA possesses characteristics not seen elsewhere in the country. This is coupled with the high density of rare, threatened, and endemic species.

The pioneering work of Beard (1946) on the vegetation of Trinidad remains the most comprehensive survey of the island’s ecosystems and continues to be foundational to the resource planning, environmental conservation and ecological research in this country. His classification of the Aripo Savannas ecosystem as an edaphic marsh savanna formation

28 See Central Experimental Station, Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Marine Resources, 2006. www.procicaribe.org/networks/clawrenet; www.fao.org/ag/agI/agII/wrb; cals.arizona.edu/OAL/soils/fao.html and Office of Arid Lands Studies, University of Arizona, USA, www.arid.arizona.edu.


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comprising three different vegetation communities each having distinct characteristics: marsh forest, palm marsh, and savanna is still used today and is well described in much of the literature related to the area, (EMA 2006 b, Oatham 2002 and Leotaud 1992). Recently, ‘intermittent open water’ and ‘trackside’ were added to the ecosystem types found, (EMA 2006 b, Oatham 2002 and Leotaud 1992). These represent secondary or regenerating versions of the original ecosystem types that have been degraded to different degrees. Beard also described, in the most comprehensive terms, the vegetation of all three of the original ecosystems.

The studies carried out by Richardson (1963) and Schwab (1985) both concentrated on the vegetation of the Open Savanna ecosystem and have allowed some limited comparative assessment of change since Beard’s original observations were done. Richardson noted minor changes including the appearance of a small number of herbaceous plants not mentioned by previous authors. He concluded that the differences observed did not reflect real changes in the vegetation. However he considered that the possibility remained that better drainage and increased burning may be influencing the vegetation as it exists today especially on Savannas I, II and IV.

Oatham (2002) compared air photos of the proposed ASESA taken in 1969 and 1994 to assess the status of the ecosystems. He concluded that the status of the savanna ecosystems changed between 1969 and 1994 as savannas IX and X in the north of the Reserve were heavily disturbed. He estimated that this represented five percent of the Savanna ecosystem in the proposed ASESA. He also noted with concern that the status of the marsh forest and palm swamp in the proposed ASESA had deteriorated greatly from 1969 to 1994. Extensive fires had disturbed much of the forest and quarrying and clearing for agriculture had destroyed some areas. These areas have probably changed significantly since that time primarily as a result of continued timber harvesting and fire.

Apart from Oatham’s photographic status assessment, no significant study on the present status of the proposed ASESA ecosystems has been carried out. As a result, it is difficult to quantify the extent to which these ecosystems have been compromised or destroyed. No comprehensive inventory of the palm marsh and marsh forest ecosystems has been carried out since Beard’s original work in 1946 and 1955. However, a three-year project to carry out a floral inventory of Trinidad and Tobago is currently being carried out by staff of the National Herbarium at UWI, St. Augustine, in conjunction with Oxford University, England. Hopefully the data collected in this project that relates to the proposed ASESA can be collated so as to update the information available on the area.

Beard’s work on the classification of the Aripo Savannas ecosystems has never been revisited. However, Stan Temple29 and his doctoral student, Howard Nelson (2004) have questioned the applicability and relevance of Beard’s studies for contemporary ecological research and ecosystem management. They believe that Beard’s classification does not provide an adequate framework for conservation and management of natural areas. Nelson’s study was restricted to forest ecosystems but he considers that Beard’s system of ecosystem classification is purely descriptive and does not formally link species composition with underlying ecological factors in a predictive framework. It also understates the patchiness and dynamic nature of ecosystems and ignores the spatio-temporal variability of the ecological factors and disturbance regimes shaping these communities. He further notes that Beard’s model is based upon an equilibrium model of

29 pers.comm. via email.


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community dynamics when in reality, non-equilibrial processes shape species-area relationships. Temple also advocates a reclassification of Trinidad’s ecosystems according to criteria such as biodiversity that are more in line with current conservation agendas.

4.5. BIODIVERSITY - FLORA AND FAUNA The primary ecosystem types found in the proposed ASESA are palm marsh, marsh forest, and savanna. There are also secondary or regenerating versions of the original ecosystem types that have been degraded to different degrees and are classed as Intermittent Open Water and Trackside, (EMA, 2006 b). The flora of the original ecosystems has been thoroughly and repeatedly characterised. Most faunal species have been identified but there is still a lot of work to be done. The microbe population is undercharacterised, (Oatham, 2002).

4.5.1 Flora

The Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Management Planning for the Aripo Savannas, (EMA, 2006 c) notes that the proposed ASESA has long been identified as an ecosystem of unique biological diversity and worthy of national protection within a system of protected areas for Trinidad and Tobago. Its savanna vegetation is also of national significance due to the presence of endemic species of flora and of rare orchids as well as the most outstanding stands of moriche palms (Mauritia setigera) in the country.

The flora of the original proposed ASESA ecosystems has been thoroughly characterised by various authors including Beard (1946), Richardson (1963), Baksh-Comeau and Quesnel, (2004). A total of 457 plant species have been recorded of which 39 are restricted to the Aripo Savannas, 16 to 20 are rare or threatened and two are endemic, Rhynchospora aripoensis and Xyris grisebachii, (Beard, 1946). These endemics are herbs and grasses that are found in the open savanna and have evolved in isolation from similar ecosystem types elsewhere in Trinidad and overseas. In addition, specific floral families of the proposed ASESA have been included in larger published collections. These include palms in Bailey, (1947), Comeau et al., (2003), Henderson et al., (1995), Aechmea spp. in Bert and Luther, (2005), pitcher plants in Macpherson, (2006), orchids in Quesnel et al., (1984) and the Sobralia pages, by Rach, (2000).

The vegetation of the proposed ASESA inhabits three very distinctive and nationally restricted ecosystems, (Beard 1946, Oatham 2002 and EMA 2006 b). The savannas represent the largest remaining example of its type in Trinidad. Beard observed that the palm marsh and marsh forest ecosystems are restricted to the area and are not found elsewhere in Trinidad. Oatham, (2002) further notes that the palm marsh and marsh forest ecosystems, though very limited in their range in Trinidad, are well represented by very similar habitats in South America. However, they do represent the edge of the range for a number of mainly South American species such as the moriche palm. This probably means that their genetic variability is valuable to the overall conservation of the species especially in the face of possible global climate change. The only endemic species of vascular plant recorded, (EMA 2006 a and Oatham 2002) for the marsh forest of the proposed ASESA is the Trinidad podocarp (Podocarpus trinitensis). The distribution and status of this species is not known and the proposed ASESA may be the only protected area in the country in which it is represented.


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4.5.2 Fauna

The mammals and reptiles of the Aripo Savannas are not completely known but are not thought to include any rare or endemic species, (Oatham, 2002). Faunal lists have been compiled by Hislop, (1985) and Schwab, (1988) who listed 78 insects, eight amphibians, 26 reptiles, 132 birds and 25 mammals. Because of the restricted nature of the ecosystems in the proposed ASESA, there are species of animals that are found only in those habitats and so the area is one of the few places in the country in which they are found. Examples of these species are the moriche oriole (Icterus chrysocephalus) and the red-bellied macaw (Ara manilata). Invertebrate species are relatively well known and certain groups have been surveyed extensively. These include the Odonata – dragonflies, mosquitoes, butterflies and grasshoppers. Several endemics have been found.

In addition to compiling faunal lists, some faunal observations and studies have been done. These include Adamson (1937 and 1940) on termites, Alkins et al., 1981 on aquatic fauna, Arman-Khan, (1989) on grasshoppers and groundhoppers, Kunz and McCracken, (1993) and Goodwin and Greenhall, (1961) on bats, Phillip (nd.) on fishes and Hayes (1998) who notes an example of kleptoparasitism observed in the Aripo Savannas. There are also very comprehensive bird guides including Murphy, (2005) and ffrench, (2004) that include species found in the area. Finally, bird watching reports are a very useful source of data on native bird species. Many of these reports are posted and archived on the Internet and are listed under internet based resources in Section 7.


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SECTION 5 - A SURVEY OF THE PAST AND CONTINUING USAGE OF THE PROPOSED ASESA – LAND USE AND ABUSE

“The biological resources of Trinidad and Tobago are of great importance to all sectors of society playing a critical role at both national and local levels. Rural communities often depend on the variety of wild fauna and flora for their existence through hunting, fishing, craft, tour guiding and other nature-based activities. The natural attributes of Trinidad and Tobago are the foundation of ecotourism.” This statement from the First National Report to the Secretariat for the Convention on Biological Diversity is applicable to the Aripo Savannas, known nationally and internationally as one of the outstanding centres of biological diversity and scientific investigation in Trinidad and Tobago as well as an ecotourism destination. It is particularly applicable as the proposed ASESA is also being used by the surrounding rural and/or squatting communities for their existence through illegal hunting, squatting and illegal slash and burn agriculture. The poor, especially the rural poor, have very utilitarian views of nature, (Nelson, 2004). Their primary concern is for increased access to natural resources and they would prefer deregulated access to these resources.

A small but significant body of materials produced by administrative and management groups associated with the Aripo Savannas, records the use and/ or abuse of the resources of the proposed ASESA. These materials include among others, the Working Files and Reports of the Forestry Division, MPUE, the ESA Technical Brief for the proposed ASESA prepared by the EMA, (2006 b) the minutes of the meetings of the Aripo Savannas Stakeholders Management Committee, (ASSMC, 2006 a) the Final Report of the Working Group on the Management of the Aripo Savannas, the Aripo Savannas Stakeholder Consultation Issues Document, (Oatham, 2002) the ASESA Management and Development Plan: New Zoning Recommendations, (Gill, 2000) and as well the 1982 Management and Development Plan for the Aripo Savannas Scientific Reserve, (Forestry Division, 1982).

The ESA Technical Brief highlights the fact that the proposed ASESA is used by a number of stakeholders who, often illegally, “tap the ecosystem’s faunal and floral resources”, (EMA, 2006 b). There was consensus among these reports that “the lack of legal designation and management structure and weak enforcement of land use and occupation laws has led to the present state of unplanned development, proliferation of squatting (both agricultural and residential), unlawful entry for dumping refuse and removal of Forest produce and resources. This situation is exacerbated by the absence of public education, poor governance and decision-making procedures and lack of resources to implement a now outdated management plan”.

Many of these documents also highlight, both explicitly and implicitly, the inability of the Forestry Division “to adequately fulfil its mandate to protect the Aripo Savannas from fires, illegal human settlement, illegal entry into prohibited areas and other illegal human impacts which has lead to the environmental deterioration of the Savannas”.30

The following list is compiled from the above-mentioned literature and records the ways, legal and illegal, that the resources of the proposed ASESA have been tapped. Unfortunately, very little quantitative data was available in the source materials.

30 The Final Report of the Working Group of the Management of the Aripo Savannas. 2003


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Therefore, it is difficult to assess the scope, extent and financial value of each of the activities listed.

5.1. ILLEGAL LAND CLEARANCE FOR AGRICULTURAL (SLASH AND BURN) AND RESIDENTIAL PURPOSES Residential and agricultural squatting is highlighted in all the literature as the most difficult and urgent management issue in the proposed ASESA. In 2003,31 it was estimated that approximately 375 hectares of land within the savannas is squatted upon. This includes 150 hectares at Turure, 200 hectares at Kangalee and 25 hectares at Cumuto. However, as late as April 2006, (ASSMC, 2006 b) members of the Aripo Savannas Stakeholder Management Committee (ASSMC) noted increased squatting in the northern and southern boundaries of the proposed ESA. Despite successful legal action in 1998 against 42 squatters, no action has been taken and the problem remains. The LSA is working with the ASSMC and Forestry Division to address this situation but as it remains unresolved. Despite the fact that land capability studies indicate that the area is unsuitable for agriculture especially because of its extremely low fertility, land clearance in the proposed ASESA for short-term agriculture and animal husbandry continues. In 1966, a pig farming project on 60 hectares in the southern sector of the proposed ASESA was initiated. However, it was stopped after public criticism.

5.2. UNLAWFUL ENTRY INTO THE ASESA FOR THE ILLEGAL HUNTING, FISHING AND COLLECTING OF FOOD SOURCES. From time immemorial, the Aripo Savannas has been a source of food, primarily small game including the small brocket deer, Mazama americana trinitatis, and the armadillo, Dasypus novencintus as well as birds and freshwater fish. Despite legal restrictions linked to the designation of the proposed ASESA as a protected area and scientific reserve, unlawful entry into the area for hunting small game (wild meat), most commonly agouti, deer, lappe and tatu (armadillo), as well as the use of fires to flush out game, continues. This is a very lucrative activity as wild meat commands a significant price on the local market.

5.3. UNLAWFUL ENTRY INTO THE ASESA FOR THE ILLEGAL REMOVAL AND SALE OF FLORA AND FAUNA AS STOCK FOR PET AND HORTICULTURAL MARKETS In the archaeological and historical period, trapping and removal of birds, particularly the red-bellied macaw, occurred on a regular basis. Indigenous peoples kept birds as pets but also used bird feathers as decorative and symbolic artefacts. The brilliantly coloured feathers of the red-bellied macaw would have been particularly attractive.

In modern times, floral and faunal species are illegally collected both for sale and private collections. Floral species particularly orchids are popular choices with collectors. Intact

31 ibid.


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specimens as well as parts of plants are removed. Fauna collected include reptiles and birds, both of which are popular with the pet market.

5.4. UNLAWFUL ENTRY INTO THE ASESA FOR THE DUMPING OF REFUSE AND DERELICTS The proposed ASESA has been used as a graveyard for the skeletal remains of stolen and discarded motor vehicles as well as the dumping of refuse and derelicts, (Oatham 2002 and Gill 2000).

5.5 TIMBER HARVESTING Past forestry practices within the Long Stretch Reserve, of which the savannas form a part, have removed most of the commercially valuable timber, (EMA, 2006 b). The area was originally part of the extensive Valencia forest. This area experienced uncontrolled timber harvesting for most of the 1930s. This led to its designation as the Long Stretch Forest Reserve in 1934. Management plans for the controlled harvesting of timber were prepared in 1935 and presumably, harvesting continued until 1940 when Wallerfield including the proposed ASESA was leased to the U.S. government or military purposes. However the uncontrolled timber harvesting resulted in the over-exploitation and loss of most of the commercially valuable timber in this reserve leaving the area unsuitable for further timber extraction. This included Terminalia amazonia (white olivier), Virola surinamensis (cajuca), Brysonima coriacea (serrette), Protium insignie (gommier), Sterculia caribaea (mahoe) and Calophylum lucidum (galba). Galba was heavily harvested for timber, firewood and wood for charcoal burning, handicraft and rods. Wooden stakes for agriculture are still harvested and sold to small farmers. In 1994, the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) cleared an area of forest (100m x 6km) along the southern boundary of the Reserve. Total royalties amounted to $92,500.

5.6. THE AMERICAN MILITARY BASE AT WALLERFIELD In 1940, a total of 1,660 hectares of the Cumuto Reserve in north central Trinidad including Wallerfield and the proposed ASESA, were leased to the U.S. government as part of the ‘Destroyers for Bases’ exchange negotiated between the British and the U.S. governments at the start of World War II.32 It became the site of the Air Force base, Fort Read. The U.S. military constructed culverts and drainage channels, roads, runways and buildings in the Aripo Savannas including a bunker complex to the south of the reserve. Its complex of runways was considered to be the largest in the Americas outside the continental United States.33 During this period, the course of the Aripo River was moved eastwards to facilitate the construction of some of these runways. Also at this time, the El Mamoo Forest became part of the Wallerfield area.

32 This was part of the ‘Destroyers for Bases’ exchange negotiated between the British and American Governments at the start of World War II. More information may be found at www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/Guard-US/ch14.htm 33 See www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/Guard-US/ch14.htm


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The military base was closed in 1956 and the land was officially returned to the GORTT in 1978. However, Oatham, (2002) notes that the disturbance due to construction was of relatively low density. However, the construction of drainage ditches in a partial attempt to drain the savanna ecosystem has the potential to cause greater ecological change over a larger area and a longer period of time.

5.7. QUARRYING The Aripo Savannas comprise the largest remaining natural savanna fanning out from the foothills of the Northern Range as old alluvial terraces. These terraces consist of layers of sands, gravels and clays that have been mined extensively for the local construction industry, (Forestry Division, 1982). Since 1961, eight quarrying licences were given for the extraction of sand and gravel. Though these licences allowed for extraction only until January 1976, operations continued beyond that date.

In 1982, the Management Plan for the proposed ASESA, (Forestry Division, 1982) noted that six companies were known to be operating on 162 hectares of the area with royalties being accepted by the government for the gravel on a load basis. In 1979, K.P. Quarry began operations on 40 acres in the northern part of the proposed ASESA on a one-year lease, (Forestry Division, n.d.). The area affected included the extreme north of the area near the Valencia town site as well as the southwest part of the reserve, to the north of savanna I and immediately east of the Aripo River.

Seventeen years later, in 1996, after strong public pressure, they eventually ceased operations and left the proposed ASESA. In this seventeen-year period, K.P. quarried approximately 150 acres of the area. The areas quarried were subjected to intense excavation and wash plant activities and their original ecology irreparably destroyed. Comparison of air photos of the Aripo Savannas taken in 1969 and 1994 showed that an area in the south-western part of the proposed ASESA, to the north of Savanna I and immediately to the east of the Aripo River was destroyed by quarrying. In these areas the marsh forest has been totally destroyed and regeneration is poor. Quarrying has disturbed approximately two to five percent of marsh forest and palm swamp in the proposed ASESA. In addition the EMA notes the continued quarrying for sand and gravel that takes place along the adjacent Aripo River, (EMA, 2006 b).

5.8 COLLECTION AND REMOVAL OF MATERIALS FOR CRAFT AND AGRICULTURE Materials that are traditionally collected and removed for craft purposes include Euterpe precatoria (manac), Jessenia oligocarpa (palma real), and Manicaria plukenetii (timite). The proposed ASESA has also traditionally provided the villagers in the vicinity of the proposed ASESA with small wood for fuel and stakes for agricultural crops, (Oatham, 2002). Though the need for wood for fuel is no longer as prevalent as it once was, a small group of gardeners remains dependent on the area for wooden stakes. However, the extraction of forest products such as wooden stakes, lianas, timite and carat leaves, is permitted under the administration of the Forestry Division.


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5.9. EDUCATION, ECOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH, RECREATION AND TOURISM The proposed ASESA is a centre for scientific study and research. This is borne out by the large number of research reports and scientific papers that have been produced on the proposed ASESA as well as the many international research programmes in which the staff of the proposed ASESA are invited to participate.34 It is also a very popular destination for educational field trips as well as various forms of ecotourism such as bird watching and recreational tours. Field trips focusing on orchid and exotic plant observation and identification are conducted.

The earliest published description of the savannas of Trinidad including the proposed ASESA ecosystem is to be found in ‘Botany: Outline of the Flora of Trinidad’ which was written by Herman Crüger, then curator of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Trinidad. It was included as an appendix in ‘Trinidad: Its Geography, Natural Resources, Administration, Present Conditions and Prospects’ by Sir Louis de Verteuil, (1858). The publication of this book in England in 1858 and its subsequent distribution in England and throughout the Colonies, triggered a surge of interest in the Aripo Savannas, similar to, though far less overwhelming than the interest in South America stimulated by the writings of Alexander von Humboldt. This surge of interest manifested itself in two ways: eco-tourism with a focus on the exotic flora and fauna of the proposed ASESA; and the observation and scientific study of the ecosystem itself.

One of the earliest and best known examples of an ecotourist was Charles Kingsley, (1874) who recorded his 1871 visit to Trinidad and the West Indies in ‘At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies’. Having read de Verteuil’s book and Crüger description of the proposed ASESA, he was determined to visit there. On at last viewing the savannas, he was filled with awe and admiration at the sight of a wood of moriche palms, which he likened to “a Greek temple”. He gazed his fill at the orchid covered savannas and ecstatically quoted Crüger’s description of the savannas, (Kingsley, 1874). He then “set hastily to work to collect plants, as many as the lateness of the hour and the scalding heat would allow”. While collecting his plants he also took time to observe that the soil was a poor sandy clay, treacherous and often impassable for horses, being half dried above and wet beneath, to observe the unique features of the many unusual plant species in the savanna and to ponder the origins of the savannas.

These two activities: scientific research and ecotourism, with its occupational hazard of specimen removal, continues to this day. Regrettably, like Charles Kingsley, our early ecotourist, modern ecotourists are not above collecting samples themselves.35

In the proposed ASESA, the most common forms of ecotourism are birdwatching and field trips focussed on the observation of the unique flora and fauna of the proposed ASESA, this latter being particularly popular within the local natural history community and schools. There are also general interpretative tours facilitated by Sundew Tour-guiding Services (STS). All visitors to the proposed ASESA are required to apply for a permit to enter the Reserve, (EMA, 2006 b).36 This permit system allows the numbers and frequency of visits

34 e.g. Institute of Bird Population: MoSI (Monitoreo de sobervivencia invernal) program – Monitoring overwintering survival of migrant birds at the Aripo Savanna. <http://www.birdpop.org/programs.htm.> Forestry Working Files on the Aripo Savannas – undated request and research proposal. 35 pers.comm. Forestry Tour Guide 36 Also pers.comm.. Thomas Gill of Sundew Tour-guiding Services .


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to be recorded and monitored. Collated data presented in the Annual Reports of the Forestry Division for the years 1998 to 2003, (Forestry Division, 2003)37 reveal that guided interpretative tours were regularly provided to schools, community groups, tourists as well as natural history societies including the Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalist Club, Trinidad and Tobago Orchid Society and Horticultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago. The number of visitors over this period was as follows:

37 No published annual reports are available after 2003. Annual Administrative Reports for the period October 2003 to September 2004.


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Table 1: Annual Visitors to the Aripo Savannas

Year No. of visitors

1998 80

1999 373

2000 500

2001 216

2002 291

200338 467

In 2003, the most recent year for which collated data is available, by comparison, the number of visitors to Fort George was 55,000, 14,000 at Cleaver Woods, 25,000 at the Caroni Swamp and 112,072 at San Fernando Hill Natural Landmark.39

Birdwatching fieldtrips are probably the most common form of ecotourism associated with the proposed ASESA and yet the majority of bird watching tours generate no income for the proposed ASESA as they hardly ever actually enter the area but stay on the outskirts. Most bird watching tours are organised by foreign tour groups and guides.40 The exception to this is the locally based Paria Springs41 and the Asa Wright Nature Centre as well as the tours led by STS. Foreign-based tours most commonly use Pax Guest House at Mt. St. Benedict or Asa Wright Lodge in Arima, while in Trinidad and Blue Waters Inn in Tobago. The standard birdwatching route includes the Asa Wright Centre, the Oilbird Caves, the road from Arima to Blanchisseuse through the Arima Valley, the Trincity Sewage Ponds, the Aripo Livestock Station, the Aripo Savanna, the abandoned United States Airfield at Wallerfield, Arena Forest and most recently, Waterloo. The tours also routinely include the Caroni and Nariva Swamps, the Pointe a Pierre Wildfowl Trust and in Tobago, the central highlands, mangrove swamps and Little Tobago Island.42

While these bird watching tours do not contribute economically to the proposed ASESA, they do not generate any negative impacts and the birding reports generated from these tours, which are normally posted and archived on the net,43 while they vary in

38 It is interesting to note that the Annual Report for 2003-2004 for the proposed ASESA produced by the Forestry Division, National Parks Section states that “visitors to the Aripo Scientific Reserve numbered 3000,” which is clearly at odds with the collated data presented in the overall Annual Report of Forestry Division, MPUE. 39 Data for ASESA based on the number of permits issued. Annual Reports, FD, MPUE. No collated data available after 2003. 40 <http://www.eagle_eye.com/locations/t&t.htm> Eagle Eye Tours; <http://www.limosaholidays.co.uk> <http://www.birdventures.com/Trips/trintobo4.htm> <http://www.adventurecanada.com/pdfs/Smalltrips.pdf> <http://www.fatbirder.com/links_geo/america_central/trinidad_and_tobago.html> 41 <http://www.pariasprings.com> 42 Information collated from birdwatching tour sites cited previously 43< http://maybank.tripod.com/SouthAmerica/TT-Index.htm> site maintained by Blake Maybank, [email protected]. www.travellingbirder.com/tripreports/trip_reports_Trinidad%20and%20Tobago.php


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presentation and degree of detail, are a very useful way of monitoring bird species in the proposed ASESA. The following excerpts are taken from two archived reports Lockwood, (1996) and Hayes, (2000) as well as an undated report reproduced in the ESA Technical Brief for the proposed ASESA, (EMA, 2006, b).

In this excerpt from Lockwood (1996), a record is taken of the sightings of 170 bird species at different venues around northern Trinidad including the Aripo Agricultural Livestock Station (AALES), Wallerfield, the proposed ASESA and the Arena Forest. This bird-watching trip was arranged through the Asa Wright Nature Centre with a driver and guide, Roodal Ramlal who is described as an ‘excellent birder’. The birds sighted at the Aripo Savannas are:

Table 2: Birds sighted at the Aripo Savannas over 18 to 23 April 1996

Species Where Observed

Cattle egret common at Caroni and on the Aripo Savannas

Pearl kite Two on the Aripo Savannas, 20th April

Plumbeous kite One on the Aripo Savannas, one at Wallerfield and two at Arena Forest attacking white hawks, on the 20th April

Zone-tailed hawk One in the Arima valley and Aripo Savannas on the 20th April and one at Asa Wright on the 21st.

Ruddy ground dove common (~10/day) at Asa Wright and Aripo Savannas

Short-tailed swift ~ 20 over Aripo Savannas on the 20th

Southern rough-winged swallow Two at the Aripo Savannas on the 20th

Yellow-rumped cacique ~ 20 around the Aripo Savannas

In addition 18 species were sighted at the Aripo Agricultural Livestock Station (AALES), nine in the Arena forest and 10 in Wallerfield, (Lockwood, 1996).

The report by Hayes (2000) is more anecdotal and less detailed but still identifies the bird species observed on 07 September 2000.

“Speeding eastward we soon arrived at the Aripo Savannas, where we spent our last hour of daylight and picked up nine new species. A few Red-bellied Macaws flew overhead, as expected. A Bat Falcon perched cooperatively but Sulphury Flycatchers eluded us until just before sunset, when our hopes of seeing White Hawk, Southern Beardless Tyrannulet and Tropical Parula – all easy birds – sank with the sun. And somehow Bryan and I had missed White-bearded Manakin, one of the most common species of forest birds, of which only a female was seen by Martyn.” (Hayes, 2000)

The following bird watching report is reproduced from the ESA Technical Brief for the proposed ASESA, (EMA, 2006 b). While the date and origin of the report was omitted in the ESA Brief, the report is included to highlight the usefulness of such reports in identifying changes in the bird populations in the proposed ASESA:

“From central Trinidad, early morning at Waller Field disused airfield on 16th Sept produced single White Winged Becard (Pachyramphus polychopterus) and Streaked Xenops (Xenops rutilans). Also present were at least 10 each of both Black Throated


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Mango (Anthracothorax nigricollis) and Ruby Topaz Hummingbird (Chrysolampis mosquitus) - species which traditionally would have moved to the mainland by mid-September. However local birders should be aware that this site is now becoming severely degraded - bush clearance work is not restricted to one area and key indicator species including red-bellied macaws, Sulphury and Bran-colored Flycatchers were neither seen nor heard.” (EMA 2006)

5.10 THREATS TO THE ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY OF THE PROPOSED ASESA The major threats to the proposed ASESA ecosystems have been identified by a wide cross section of stakeholders, (Forestry Division 1982, Forestry Division 2001, Forestry Division n.d., EMA 2006 b, EMA 2006 c, Working Group on the Management of the Aripo Savannas 2003, Oatham 2002 and Gill 2000. These threats include residential growth in population centres in close vicinity to the proposed ASESA, squatting for residential and agricultural purposes, illegal hunting and fishing, quarrying, fires, construction activities including buildings, roads, laying of pipelines44 and drainage channels.

In the case of residential growth, the literature focuses chiefly on illegal residential activity, i.e. squatting and its adverse effects, not only because of its immediate and obvious threat to the integrity of the proposed ASESA but also because there are clearly defined legal approaches to this problem. However, it has tended to ignore the rapid and continuing ‘legal’ growth of existing population centres in close vicinity to the proposed ASESA and to overlook the long-term and more insidious effects on the proposed ASESA of this population increase. The 1982 Management and Development Plan for the proposed ASESA noted with some concern that:

“Projected growth from the Sangre Grande area as well as new housing developments in Valencia will require careful planning and control to avoid infringement on the Aripo Savannas areas”, (Forestry Division, 1982).

The desired ‘careful planning and control’ was never put in place. Data provided by the 2000 census indicate that the population centres identified in the 1982 Plan have grown significantly, (Central Statistical Office, 2000): Valencia from 1,439 to 8,173, Guiaco from 1,058 to 3,043, Cumuto from 1,239 to 3,625, and Sangre Grande from 5,944 to 18,157. These named population centres have increased from a total of 9,670 to 32,998, an increase of 241 percent. This data does not include additional settlements that have developed in this area subsequent to the 1982 Management Plan.

The history, (Forestry Division, 1982) of the proposed ASESA also highlights activities, the impacts of which continue into the present. These included:

• the significant building and modification of Wallerfield during the period when it was leased to the U.S. government as a military base. This has left huge paved areas as well as drainage canals and culverts scattered across the landscape;

44 e.g. in 1977, permission was given to WASA to clear forests in the vicinity of the ASESA in a 30 metre-wide swathe in an east-west direction for the laying of pipelines, (Forestry Division, n.d. and Forestry Division, 1982)


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• the proposed ASESA was originally located within the larger Valencia Forest Reserve which itself has been heavily impacted upon by uncontrolled timber harvesting, quarrying and squatting right up to the Eastern Main Road (the Long Stretch), which is the eastern boundary of the Savannas;

• the major fires of 1935, 1987 and 1996 which caused extensive damage to the savannas.

Laughlin, (2004) has also identified the Squatter Regularisation and Relocation process as well as the possible alignment of the e TecK proposed Connector Road between Wallerfield and the Long Stretch as major threats to the security of the proposed ASESA.

In addition to the above-mentioned, the EMA, (2006 b) has itself identified the following threats:

• the development of an industrial park (e TecK) and a university (University of Trinidad and Tobago, UTT);

• the extension of the road network in the area by the Ministry of Works and Transport using the railway line that is the southern boundary of the Reserves;

• a town-planning initiative by international consultants;

• all the above may additionally put other lands in the area under additional pressures for support facilities including formal and informal housing and amenities.

The EMA has recognised that these various scenarios “will isolate the savannas in a sea of development and may affect its survival in the long term” for the primary reason that they will bring about fragmentation of the ASESA ecosystems, (EMA, 2006 b). The ESA Technical Brief, (EMA 2006 b) has identified the seriously adverse consequences of such fragmentation including:

• greater access by humans into the ecosystem, leading to increased subsistence logging, hunting and resource gathering with the possibility of increased human-induced fires;

• creation of gaps between forest blocks that reduce the movement of species as well as the genetic flow between isolated populations of species;

• increases the vulnerability of the ecosystem to invasive species.

These effects are borne out by the initial observations of the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP)45, initiated in 1979 between the Smithsonian Tropical Research Unit and the Brazilian Institute for Research in the Amazon. This project seeks to determine the ecological consequences of habitat fragmentation in Amazonian Rainforests and to disseminate the findings so as to foster effective conservation and rational use of forest

45 <http://pdbff.inpa.gov.br/index.html>; also archived at http://www.mnh.si.edu/biodiversity/bdffp.htm; http://ravenel.si.edu/bcn/issue/latest.cfm#erode> Biological Conservation Newsletter, 266, Feb. 2007.


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resources both in South America and in other tropical regions. Their initial findings of the effects of fragmentation on Amazonian rainforests additional to the above-mentioned include:

• substantial loss of forest biomass mainly due to sharply elevated tree mortality; • enhanced vulnerability of large trees; • biomass losses from elevated tree mortality are not offset by increased secondary

growth; • fragmentation lead to substantial changes in floristic composition with disturbance

species increasing at the expense of old-growth species; • the abiotic and biotic environments are sometimes significantly altered by edge

effects; • second-order effects of isolation are emerging e.g. ecological processes such as

decomposition, pollination and seed dispersal are being affected, often adversely;

• faunal responses to forest fragmentation are variable, but in general terms, species composition of most animal groups are changing, (Laurance, 2007).

Researchers have also found that in general terms fragmentation of forests by human encroachment leads to degradation of the remaining forest much more rapidly than previously thought with significant changes in centuries-old forest ecosystems occurring within just decades of fragmentation.

5.11 THE HUMAN DIMENSION OF BIODIVERSITY One of the most important insights from current developments in ecology is that human disturbances are now among the most important factors shaping ecosystem change. This is amply borne out by the history of the proposed ASESA. Classical ecology locates humans outside ecological systems and as a result many management approaches focus on removing humans from the ecosystem so as to allow the ecosystem to correct itself. However, it is increasingly recognised that humans are an integral component of most ecosystems. Thus strategies for biodiversity conservation cannot afford to overlook the active role of humans as primary agents of flux in ecosystems. As such, the role of humans must be considered as an integral component in ecological and environmental processes (Shindler and Cheek, 1999). Nelson (2004) in discussing ecologically-based management models of tropical forest ecosystems in Trinidad, notes that ‘the ultimate impact of these models on the future of the island’s forests depends upon how they affect the behaviour of human beings, arguably the primary factor currently affecting the density, distribution and relative abundance of species in these ecological communities’.

Human induced land-use change currently has the largest effect on biodiversity. Other human-induced changes such as climate change are poised to have an even greater influence in the future especially in countries such as Trinidad that are classed as Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Therefore research cannot only be restricted to pristine (pre-human) areas but must also focus on the altered ecosystems that are being managed today. Wallington et al. reminds natural resource managers that effective conservation of biological diversity will therefore require an ongoing dialogue between research and management in the context of human-modified landscapes, Wallington et al., (2005).


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Management of any natural resource is ultimately aimed at increasing the value of a resource to humans; thus, any management process should consider how stakeholders value the resource and what knowledge they can contribute. All users of a resource are key stakeholders in the management of that resource and must be part of the decision-making process. There may be conflicts. Oatham, (2002) reminds us that natural resource conflicts are usually the result of disagreements and disputes over access to and use of natural resources. They often emerge because people have different uses for the resources or want to manage them in different ways. This decision-making process might be further improved by including more open discussion of differences in stakeholder values with the goal of developing some objectives, perhaps very broad, with which most stakeholders can agree. Shindler and Cheek, (1999) also notes that interactions between ordinary citizens and public agencies are more effective when:

1. they are open and inclusive; 2. they are built on skilled leadership and interactive forums; 3. they include innovative and flexible methods; 4. involvement is early and continuous; 5. efforts result in action; 6. they seek to build trust among participants.

In addition to strengthening interactions, resource managers need to find ways to incorporate the non-scientific knowledge and data that stakeholders possess into an ongoing adaptive management process according to Johnson, (1999).

5.12 THE HISTORY OF THE PROPOSED ASESA Ecosystems are complex and dynamic, and change in composition and structure can be expected over time. These changes may be gradual as succession proceeds or rapid, as a result of disturbance or changed management. In general, the structure, composition and dynamics of an ecosystem in any particular place are contingent on its history in terms of its development, past disturbances, species arrivals and extinctions, management plans and policies, (Wallington et al., 2005). By knowing and understanding the history of the proposed ASESA, we may be better able to understand and predict future responses to management. Despite the large volume of literature related to the proposed ASESA that has been reviewed in this paper, our knowledge of its history remains incomplete.


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SECTION 6 - HISTORY OF THE MANAGEMENT OF THE PROPOSED ASESA

6.1 A REVIEW OF THE MANAGEMENT OF THE PROPOSED ASESA There are few primary source documents for information relating to the management of the proposed ASESA. These include the Policy for the Establishment and Management of a National Parks System in Trinidad and Tobago (Forestry Division, 1979). Proposed Legislation for a System of National Parks and Equivalent Reserves in Trinidad and Tobago (Wade and Bickram, 1981), the Management and Development Plan for the Aripo Savannas Scientific Reserve (1982), (Forestry Division, 1982), Annual Reports of the Forestry Division, MPUE, as well as the minutes of the Aripo Savannas Stakeholders Management Committee. Secondary sources include the ESA Technical Brief, (EMA, 2006 b) the Aripo Savannas Stakeholder Consultation Issues Document, (Oatham, 2002) and the Final Report of the Working Group on the Management of the Aripo Savannas, (2003). In addition, Hart’s 1891 Report on Forest Conservation provides useful background to understanding the evolution of forest reserves which have played a critical part in the management of the proposed ASESA.

The infertility of the soils of the proposed ASESA and its unsuitability for agriculture or residential settlement would have almost certainly ensured that the proposed ASESA was never privately acquired for development as an agricultural estate as was most other lands in the surrounding areas. Instead, as Oatham (2002) points out, it would have remained as Crown or State Lands, (Oatham, 2002). This is borne out by Collens’, (1886) anecdotal description of his journey to the East Coast (Bande de L’Est) from Arima in which he describes this area as Crown Lands bounded by cocoa forests.

In the late 19th century, Trinidad’s colonial administration expressed increasing interest in forest reservation in response to public concerns over forest clearance. This resulted in the Hart Report of 1891 which recommended a permanent scheme of forest conservation. In 1901, as a consequence of this report, large areas of Crown Lands were designated as forest reserves and managed initially for their indirect environmental effects, e.g. prevention of flooding and erosion. Forest reserves had a certain amount of protection under the law in that they could not be cleared for agriculture and must remain under forest or natural vegetation, (Oatham, 2002).

The Forest Ordinance of 1916 regulated the management of forests for timber production in forest reserves on Crown Lands although actual timber production did not become significant until the late 1920s. In 1930, uncontrolled harvesting of selected timber began in the Long Stretch Forest of which the proposed ASESA was a part. This led to its declaration as the Long Stretch Forest Reserve on 11 January 1934, under the Forests Act, Chapter 66:01, (EMA, 2006 b) and governed by the Forest Ordinance Chapter 141 of 1916 and by the Crown Lands Forest Produce Rules, (Forestry Division, 1982). Management plans for the controlled harvesting of timber were developed by the Forestry Department in 1935.

In 1940, 1,660 hectares of Wallerfield including the proposed ASESA, were leased to the U.S. government for a military base, Fort Read. The U.S. military constructed an extensive network of roads and runways, buildings and drainage ditches. In 1946, the vegetation


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of the proposed ASESA was classified by Beard. The military base was abandoned in 1945 at the end of the war and closed in 1956 when the land was officially returned to GORTT. During this period no local state agency was assigned the responsibility of managing the area and sectors of the population made the most of this opportunity to illegally access the various resources of the proposed ASESA.

In 1956, the area reverted to the management of the Forestry Division. From this time, Forestry Division allowed the sale of trees using the Open Range System. Most of the valuable timber species were removed from the proposed ASESA prior to 1980. In addition, subsequent fires have retarded the regeneration of these resources overlarge parts of the area, (Oatham, 2002). Consequently, further extraction of timber has not occurred since the early 1980s. Also in this period, eight quarrying licenses were granted for the extraction of sand and gravel from the Reserve. By 1980, it was clear that provisions for the protection of the proposed ASESA were woefully inadequate. In addition, the existing provisions were being implemented very ineffectively by the Forestry Division. Fortunately, in March 1980, the final version of the Policy for the Establishment and Management of a National Parks System in Trinidad and Tobago, (Forestry Division, 1980) was released. It identified the proposed ASESA as an area to be designated as a scientific reserve due to its unique assemblage of flora and the fact that it was the last major remaining natural savanna in the country.

This 1980 Plan was the culmination of a series of actions intended not only to provide more effective environmental protection but also to meet the growing public interest in recreational activities. In 1972, the National Environment and Conservation Council (NECC) was formed to advise of proposed national parks in Trinidad and Tobago. In 1973, the government earmarked three areas to be developed into national parks: Caroni Swamp, Navet Dam and Chaguaramas. In 1974, the NECC proposed a National Parks Service within the Forestry Division to manage a Parks System incorporating a wide variety of sites including inter alia wildlife sanctuaries, nature reserves, historical sites and parks. In 1977, the government established an Inter-Ministerial Committee to make proposals for the creation and management of national parks. The Forestry Division was given the responsibility for managing these parks. In the same year, GORTT formally requested the assistance of the OAS to establish a plan for a system of National Parks and Protected Areas and to prepare a policy from which legislation could be enacted. This resulted in a 3-year project begun in 1978. It was jointly implemented by the OAS and a newly emerging ‘National Parks Section’ in the Forestry Division. This National Parks Section initially consisted of three foresters and a project coordinator. A draft policy was prepared in 1979 and distributed to a wide range of stakeholders including local NGOs, government agencies, interested groups as well as the IUCN Commission on National Parks. The final version of the Plan was produced in 1980.

The National Parks Policy was approved in principle by Cabinet in 1981. It was initially understood that implementation of this Policy would occur under already existing legislation. However new improved legislation was prepared by Wade and Bickram (1981). Unfortunately, this legislation was never approved by Cabinet. While the System Plan was developed on the understanding that it would be managed by the National Parks Section of the Forestry Division, the draft legislation provided for the establishment of an autonomous National Parks Authority on the grounds that it was international best practice and also because it was felt that the past incompetence of the Forestry Division in managing key environmental resources disqualified it from being considered as the manager of the reserve. Many also observed that Forestry would now be managing


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conservation and protection of resources while much of their history was related to the use of these resources.

In 1987, in the absence of new legislation, the National Parks Section of the Forestry Division used the Forests Act46 to allow for the declaration of the proposed ASESA as a Prohibited Area, thus reinforcing the understanding of exclusion as a management principle. The System Plan was followed in 1982 by the Management and Development Plan for the Aripo Savannas Scientific Reserve. However, the present legislative framework does not allow this classification. The currently used name - Aripo Savannas Scientific Reserve, is actually a misnomer with no legal status. The Environmental Management Authority (EMA) is in the process of declaring the area as environmentally sensitive under the Environmentally Sensitive Area Rules 2001 to further enhance the protection of the area.

The 1982 Management Plan called for the creation of the Aripo Savanna Scientific Reserve within the National Park System to be managed to protect the ecosystem of the area and to provide for its scientific and educational use. It identifies four zones for scientific, wilderness, extensive use zones and a zone to provide for the recuperation of sites where serious environmental degradation has taken place. Management programmes call for protection though a variety of mechanisms such as regular patrols, limited access, the detecting and prohibiting of floral and faunal disturbance, fires and the protection of watershed management.

From the very beginning, this Management Plan was heavily criticised because it did not consider the views of the many stakeholders of the proposed ASESA including especially the inhabitants of the villages surrounding the proposed ASESA. In addition, it was felt that the planning was flawed, as the planning team did not carry out an adequately in-depth study of the entire proposed ASESA, (Gill, 2000). Over the 24 years of its existence, the Management Plan was never fully or effectively implemented. In addition, the lack of legal designation as well as ineffective management has led to a steady deterioration of the status of the proposed ASESA. Recognising this, in 2002, Sundew Tour-guiding Services, a community-based organisation (CBO), received a grant from the UNDP/ GEF Small Grants Programme to hold a public consultation on the Aripo Savannas, (Working Group on the Management of the Aripo Savannas, 2003). The consultation was organised jointly with the Forestry Division in May 2002. Stakeholder organisations and individuals attending this consultation were invited by the Director of Forestry to form a Working Group on the Management of the Aripo Savannas. This working group was asked to come up with recommendations that the Forestry Division could implement and to advise on management Issues coming out of the Consultation. The Report of this Working Group was submitted in December 2003.

The members of this Working Committee subsequently formed the core of the ASSMC. This Committee was appointed by the Environmental Management Authority’s Board under the provision of the Environmental Management Act, (2000).

The objectives of the ASSMC are to:

• plan strategically for the implementation of biodiversity related programmes, plans, policies, legislation and management with respect to the ASESA;

46 Forests Act Chapter 66:01 and amendments in Act #23 of 1999 – Legal Notice #113 of 1987


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• coordinate the various stakeholders of the Savannas;

• approve any plans and studies commissioned for the management of the Savannas;

• advise the EMA on matters pertaining to the Aripo Savannas.

6.2 EMERGENCE OF THE FORESTRY DIVISION The reservation of Crown Lands was paralleled by the formation of a management body - a one-man Forestry Branch, (Forestry Division, 2004) of the Crown Lands Department now called the Lands and Surveys Department. In 1918, the Forestry Branch was upgraded to a fully-fledged Forestry Department and separated from the Crown Lands Department. However, it continued to maintain close links with the Crown Lands Department as its primary purpose in these early years was the survey and demarcation of forest reserves with the long-term goal of protection and controlled production of forest resources. In the post-Independence period, the Forestry Department became the Forestry Division. Over the years, it has shifted from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Ministry of the Environment and National Service, back to the Ministry of Agriculture and is currently within the Ministry of Public Utilities and the Environment.

The Forestry Division is made up of two sections: the Wildlife Section and the National Parks Section. The management of the Aripo Savanna Scientific Reserve is under the mandate of the National Park Section.

6.3 CHALLENGES TO THE EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF THE PROPOSED ASESA The Report of the Working Group on the Management of the proposed ASESA, (2003) has noted that the Forestry Division has been unable to adequately fulfil its mandate to protect the Aripo Savannas from fires, illegal human settlement, illegal entry into prohibited areas and other illegal human impacts, which has led to the environmental deterioration of the Savannas. In regard to squatting, the report also recommends that the Forestry Division solicit up-to-date legal advice on the squatting issue for the protection of forest reserves and identify the legal parameters of the Division’s responsibility and concrete actions it can take. It further notes that the Forestry Division is on the frontline of preventing and containing squatting and needs to be more proactive about addressing these various challenges.

The report further notes that problems affecting jurisdiction over the proposed ASESA are seemingly unclear. The Aripo Savannas are located in the North Central Conservancy. The protection and management of the Savannas is therefore the shared responsibility of the Conservancy as well as the National Parks Section of the Forest Division with overlapping responsibility and inadequate coordination between Conservancy and Division.

The Working Files of the Aripo Savannas reveal the following challenges which compromise the ability of the Forestry Division to effectively fulfil their role in the management of the proposed ASESA, including capacity constraints in terms of


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inadequate staffing and resources; lack of up-to-date comprehensive scientific data for planning; paradigm shifts and legislative gaps and failures which will be discussed in detail below.

6.3.1 Inadequate staffing and resources

The 1982 Management and Development Plan for the Aripo Savannas calls for a minimum of 10 staff members including a Reserve Manager, one Park Warden I, one Park Warden II, four Park Wardens III, one Research Assistant, one Interpreter I and one Secretary. In the Annual Report for the Aripo Savannas for 2003/2004, (Forestry Division, 2004 a) the staff included one Forester I, two Forest Rangers II and eight casual workers. The report identifies as constraints the inadequate number of monthly paid staff to patrol the vast area of the proposed ASESA as well as no permanent daily paid staff.

The problem of inadequate staffing has arisen because many posts that have been approved by Cabinet have not yet been activated, (Forestry Division, 2004 b). In addition, necessary posts recommended by Forestry have not yet been approved. The Forestry Division has sought to address this problem by out-sourcing labour. From 1996 to 1999, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) carried out most of the ongoing rehabilitation works in the proposed ASESA. This included cutting and maintaining fire traces, planting tree seedlings, brush cutting, road repair and trail construction. The CCC provided assistance to Forestry with the mapping of squatter locations. Their presence in the ASESA also served as a deterrent to those persons who would illegally enter the Reserve. With the demise of the CCC in early 1999, Forestry Division began working with STS which was formed in 1998 by ex-foresters and members of the Cumuto community with the stated intention to work with Forestry Division to conserve the resources of the Aripo Savannas.

In 1999, Forestry Division sponsored a tour guiding training course for the members of the STS. Since then, STS has operated an informal co-management relationship with Forestry Division and has continued receiving training from the Division. They routinely work with Forestry in the Aripo Savannas. This includes conducting tours through the proposed ASESA, carrying out infrastructural work on the site, including the development and maintenance of nature trails, footbridges, boardwalks and other structures as necessary as well as replanting areas earmarked for rehabilitation. This relationship has endured. STS now contracts labour on behalf of Forestry Division. In 2004, this included members of the National Reforestation and Watershed Rehabilitation Programme (NRWRP). Currently, the human resources available for the management of the proposed ASESA are those supplied by the Forestry Division, that is, manpower and transport for patrols, (Oatham, 2002).

Other resource needs identified include mechanised equipment for the maintenance of trails, communications, and an interpretive centre.

These resource constraints are becoming more compelling as new programmes in private and community forestry are being introduced, while marked expansion in existing programmes such as Parks and Wildlife, Watershed and Wetland Management have taken place without the necessary additional staffing and resources, Forestry Division, n.d.). One approach to the challenge of inadequate human resources is to find opportunities for co-management of the proposed ASESA. However, while Forestry Division is encouraged to pursue the principle of co-management, the mechanism and


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legislation apparently cannot be accommodated by the present Forests legislation. The Working Group on the Management of the ASESA has, however, identified such a mechanism through the Environmental Management Act, (2000).

6.3.2. Data gaps

There is an insufficiency of up-to-date comprehensive scientific data on which to prepare effective management plans. In addition, there is also the need to revisit the various management plans that have been developed.

6.3.3. Paradigm shifts

Forestry Division is becoming more aware of the reality of the shift to a new paradigm, one that speaks of biodiversity conservation, ecosystem management, sustainable development and co-management. Their responsibilities are changing, and the needs of their stakeholders may be changing. It is therefore necessary for them to manage this process of change so as to build confidence and facilitate the emergence of an effective and operational management structure and process.

6.3.4 Legislative gaps and failures

Forestry Officers have identified the absence of clear policy and enforcement of existing legislation as major constraints. In addition, the failures in the legal system regarding the squatting issue in the proposed ASESA has de-motivated some forestry personnel.


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SECTION 7 – REFERENCES

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