Community Interface Resource Management Area Land Suitability Plan Submitted By: Gillian Miller Calvin Zhang Mason Vega Victoria Buyck

Community Interface Resource Management Area Land Suitability Plan Submitted by: Gillian Miller Calvin Zhang Mason Vega Victoria Buyck Submitted to: Professor J. Sphar Professor L. Higgins Sr. Rios (Ecosystem Mgt and Planning Team Leader, USFS) An Interactive Qualifying Project submitted to the faculty of Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester Polytechnic Institute in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science May 13th, 2021 Acknowledgments US Forest GIS Community Project Service Specialist Contact Advisor Advisors Pedro Rios Lizandra Paula Garcia Professor Sphar Ricardo Santiago Nieves-Rivera Professor Higgins All those who took the time to interview with us for the project Abstract The Community Interface Resource Management Area (CIRMA) is a part of the El Yunque National Forest located in Puerto Rico. The goal of this project was to help the United States Forest Service identify suitable lands for community land uses within the CIRMA. This information will serve as the foundation for the USFS to help them create more community integrated developments. Through collaboration with the US Forest Service, we developed a list of geographic features and ecological constraints that determined if sections of the CIRMA were suitable for the uses the community had identified. We gathered all the necessary geographic and ecological data for El Yunque from the USFS. We identified suitable areas for, biking, hiking, camping, gardening, water activities, general infrastructure and water infrastructure using suitability maps created with ArcGIS. Using a map of these suitable regions, we gathered input from community leaders and residents from municipalities around El Yunque National Forest regarding our proposed land uses and how it might effects surrounding their communities. From these interviews, we concluded that our list of land uses did a good job covering recreational activities but missed several specific infrastructure needs such as bathrooms, roads and viewing areas. This is something that we recommend for the USFS as they carry on this project. Table Of Contents Introduction 1 Methodology and Results 15 Background 6 Community Input Collected By the USFS 16 El Yunque National Forest and the United States Forest 7 Land Suitability Features 16 Service Community Interface Resource Management Area 8 Geographical Features and Infrastructure 17 Ecological Considerations 18 Integrating Community Input into Proposed 9 Developments Matrix and Map Development 19 Community Input Data 34 Land Suitability 10 Assessing Community Input 37 Watershed Suitability 10 Additional Input 42 Geographic Information Systems 13 Summary of Results 43 Background Summary 14 Future Recommendations and Conclusion 45 References 47 Introduction Puerto Rico, a Caribbean island located in the West Indies, spans roughly 3,500 square miles. and has been a United States territory since 1898. Over the course of 120 plus years under the United States leadership, Puerto Rico citizens were mistreated and not provided for by the government, leading to distrust in political leaders (Immerwahr, 2020). The United States Forest Service (USFS), a government controlled organization, manages the El Yunque National Forest, a main tourist attraction for Puerto Rico. The relationship between Puerto Ricans and the government is integral to understanding communities interests in the management and development of park areas controlled by the USFS. Our project focused on the management of the El Yunque National Forest (EYNF) located in northeastern Puerto Rico. The location of EYNF is circled in red in Figure 1. Figure 1: El Yunque National Forest Within Puerto Rico 1 Up until the most recent forest management plan, the local Areas within a forest often have unique cultural customs, communities have had little input in the forest management biodiversity, resources, and other aspects that require different decision-making process. However, since 2012, the USFS has management strategies. Because of these differences, broad been trying to move toward a more community-driven management plans can be problematic. One method of management model that will allow them to implement a managing the different areas of the forest is through shared management approach towards parts of the El Yunque stewardship practices as seen with the US Forest National Forest (Williamson, 2020). Service,where organizations dictate forest practices, or local memberships. One example of a locally driven forest Community driven management systems can have better social management group is the Forest User Group (FUG) in Nepal, in and environmental impacts than nationally derived protected which community members were allowed to regulate forest areas. Many forest management organizations have been activities and autonomously manage their forests. One of the implementing community management plans within forests many benefits of these kinds of systems is that the larger under their umbrella of control. A study about forests within management body can incorporate the indigenous or the the Central Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, for example, knowledge of the local people for active and sustainable concluded that regional land use management strategies management. Regardless of the management strategies, there increased community participation in conservation of the forest are many other factors that can lead to the success or failure of (Ellis, 2008). This may be because conservation and a community forest management plan. Sifting through maintenance of the forest areas was influenced by local historical examples allowed the factors that lead to a community forest institutions rather than large management successful integration of community management in forests to organizations. This study also looked into the history and be uncovered: community outreach and participation, planning of protected areas and addressed how the local measurable environmental and geological factors, and an community input is often ignored and brushed aside. understanding of how those two separate entities of opinions and data mold together to create a plan (Ellis, 2008). 2 While the community helps conserve the forest, the forest also provides benefits such as clean air, water, and recreation to the community. The watersheds within the EYNF supply water to nearly 20 percent of the population of Puerto Rico and represent the greatest concentration of usable freshwater in Puerto Rico (USFS, 2018). However, urbanization in eastern Puerto Rico is putting pressure on El Yunque, threatening the forest's ecological processes and functions. The Puerto Rican government has tried different zoning methods to guide urban expansion away from the forest, but has had limited success due to poor enforcement (Bosworth, 2013). This is most likely due to a disconnect between the authorities and the community needs (López-Marrero & Annie Hermansen-Báez, n.d.). The community's interaction with the park is important for not only the local economy of the cities around EYNF but also the ecology. Community engagement in park activities like recreation and conservation fosters an understanding of the importance of preserving the environment which is one of the USFS goals. 3 GOAL To help the United States Forest Service identify suitable lands for community land uses within the Community Interface Resource Management Area (CIRMA). 4 OBJECTIVES Develop a clear Develop a list of Develop a Integrate community understanding of land uses for CIRMA suitability matrix preferences on land the CIRMA regions using community and a suitability uses from interviews within El Yunque input data collected map for each into the suitability National Forest. by the USFS land use maps. 1 2 3 4 These objectives were targeted towards the Rio Espiritu Santo and Rio Gurabo watersheds within CIRMA to help facilitate better management of these resources and increase recreation opportunities surrounding these resources. We report our findings for Objective 1 in the background chapter. We achieved Objective 2 by analyzing the community data that was previously collected by the USFS. We achieved Objective 3 by gathering the required GIS features that define suitability for our land uses and used them to create suitability maps. Integrating the communities’ desires with the defined criteria allowed for land use suggestions that suit both the USFS and the community's needs. We achieved the final objective by using the feedback collected from the community interviews and integrating them into the suitability maps to determine the areas developments are best fit. 5 Background In the past few decades environmental conservation has become a global priority; countries around the world are taking measures to ensure the longevity of the natural resources, wildlife, ecosystems, and the areas around their communities. In the following sections, we are focused on developing a clear understanding of the Community Interface Resource Management Area within El Yunque National Forest as well as the tools required to create a land suitability plan specific to CIRMA. 6 El Yunque National Forest and the United States Forest Service El Yunque National Forest spans over about 28,000 acres and is deeply integrated into the lives of the Puerto Rican community due to the resources it provides. The beautiful and unique features of the forest also draw tourists from all over the world (USDA, 2018). Within the forest several protected endangered species inhabit these regions including the Puerto Rican

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