Foundation Creates New Park in Caribbean Island of Dominica
12/29/99
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Title: Foundation digs deep to create park
Source: Environment News Network, http://www.enn.com/
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 29, 1999
Byline: Margot Higgins
Biologist Paul Reillo knows there's no time like the present. Reillo,
who directs the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation in Loxahatchee,
Florida, willingly put the organization $300,000 in debt to buy full,
legal protection for a rare oceanic rain forest on the Caribbean
island of Dominica.
Morne Diablotin National Park, which accounts for nearly five percent
of Dominica's landmass, will be formally dedicated Jan. 21 as the
first national park of the year 2000.
The park will provide a sanctuary for the Sisserou, the world's
rarest Amazon parrot. Found only in mature forests on the slopes of
Morne Diablotin, the eastern Caribbean's tallest dormant volcano, the
shy Sisserou likely numbers fewer than 200 birds.
Most of the 8,400-acre bio-reserve will be off-limits to humans. The
exceptions are a mile-long nature trail and a modest visitor center.
Reillo allows that the political and social climate on Dominica set
an opportune stage for the foundation's conservation effort. Since
its independence in 1978, the island has maintained an educational
campaign to boost conservation awareness among its citizens. The
National Parks and Protected Areas Act was passed soon after
Dominica's independence to safeguard vast tracts of the island's
interior rain forest.
With an annual budget that hovers around $125,000, the Rare Species
Conservatory Foundation raised $750,000 in two years to preserve the
rain forest. The Dominican cabinet approved the conservation effort
and contributed its own promissory note of U.S. $366,000, which
satisfied the total land purchase price tag of $1.086 million.
"We knew that if we were going to be effective we would have to act
quickly, when it was feasible, " Reillo said.
With a pristine rain forest blanketing its volcanic surface, Dominica
is known as the "Nature Island." Among its impressive natural
resources are 365 rivers, dozens of waterfalls and a profusion of
endemic species that rivals the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador.
Reillo says Dominica is "the only Caribbean island that Christopher
Columbus might recognize" because much of the island remains in its
natural state. Its natural beauty is not spoiled by the high-rise
hotel chains that have come to mark most Caribbean islands.
"This is a breath of fresh air for anyone frustrated with
environmental and conservation disappointments worldwide," he said.