Aripo Savannas Environmentally
Sensitive Area (ESA)
A FRAMEWORK FOR PARTICIPATORY MANAGEMENT
LITERATURE 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
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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Literature Review - Aripo Savannas Environmentally Sensitive Area
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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Literature Review - Aripo Savannas Environmentally Sensitive Area
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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Literature Review - Aripo Savannas Environmentally Sensitive Area
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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Literature Review - Aripo Savannas Environmentally Sensitive Area
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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Literature Review - Aripo Savannas Environmentally Sensitive Area
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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Literature Review - Aripo Savannas Environmentally Sensitive Area
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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Literature Review - Aripo Savannas Environmentally Sensitive Area
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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Literature Review - Aripo Savannas Environmentally Sensitive Area
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.
now Manzanilla Point
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.
6
7
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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.
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
14
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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
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
16
18
The Darwin Initiative <http://www.darwin.gov.uk>
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Literature Review - Aripo Savannas Environmentally Sensitive Area
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
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.
20
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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Literature Review - Aripo Savannas Environmentally Sensitive Area
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, welleducated, 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
25
An exception is the observation of an intriguing association recorded by Hayes, (1998).
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
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.
26
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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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Literature Review - Aripo Savannas Environmentally Sensitive Area
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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Literature Review - Aripo Savannas Environmentally Sensitive Area
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
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.
28
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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 spatiotemporal 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.
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/cmhpg/books/wwii/Guard-US/ch14.htm
33 See www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/Guard-US/ch14.htm
32
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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
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 .
34
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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
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
38
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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 metrewide 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 humaninduced 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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Literature Review - Aripo Savannas Environmentally Sensitive Area
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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Literature Review - Aripo Savannas Environmentally Sensitive Area
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 indepth 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:
•
46
plan strategically for the implementation of biodiversity related programmes,
plans, policies, legislation and management with respect to the ASESA;
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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Trinidad, West Indies.’ Tropical Agriculture, Trinidad. 14 (1937): 141-9.
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Ahmad N. and Jones, R. L. 1969. ‘A plinthaquult of the Aripo Savannas, North Trinidad: I.
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Alkins, M., de Souza, G., Julien, M., Koo, M., Lue Chee Lip, R., and Shahid, S., 1981. ‘A
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Archaeology Centre, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine. nd. a. Amerindian Place
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Archaeology Centre, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine. nd. b. Archaeological
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Arman-Khan, F. 1989. Distribution, Abundance and Life Cycle Strategies of some
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Bailey, L. H. 1947. ‘Indigenous Palms of Trinidad and Tobago.’ Gentes Herbarium III
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Baksh-Comeau, Y. S., and V. C. Quesnel. 2004. List of Plants exclusive to the Aripo
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Beard, J. S. 1946. ‘The natural vegetation of Trinidad.’ Oxford Forestry Memoir. 20: 1152. Oxford University Press.
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Biodiversity Secretariat. nd. Interim First National Report to the Convention on Biological
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Davis, S.D., V.H. Heywood, O. Herrera-MacBryde, J. Villa-Lobos and A. Hamilton (eds.).
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The Americas. IUCN Publications Unit, Cambridge, England. Initially retrieved from:
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updated, archived at: http://botany.si.edu/projects/cpd/ and
http://botany.si.edu/projects/cpd/ma/cb-cpde.htm. Accessed December 2008.
de Churruca, C. 1792. Trinidad: La Otra Llave de America: Description de la Isla de
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