Caribbean and Western Pacific Page Highlights
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Chapter 6 U.S. Tropical Forests: Caribbean and Western Pacific Page Highlights . 127 Introduction . ....* 127 Common Characteristics of Island Tropical Forests . 129 Species-Rich Forests ... **** . 129 Abundance of Endemic Species . 129 Vulnerability to Invasion by Exotic Plant and Animal Species . 130 Dependence of Water Resources on Forests . 131 Dependence of Coastal Ecosystems on Forests . 132 Vulnerability to Land Degradation . ., . ,0 ., . 6 ., . 132 U.S. Caribbean Territories: Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands . 133 Forest Resources: Status and Trends . **...,....,.****,**,...,*.,.**,.*.*.* 133 History of Forest Use ... .. , 135 Organizations Dealing With Tropical Forests. 140 U.S. Pacific Territories: American Samoa, Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam . 141 Forest Resources: Status and Trends . ..,..,,, 141 History of Forest Use .*** . 148 Organizations Dealing With Tropical Forests. 149 Chapter 6 References. ., . ...... 152 List of Tables . Table No. Page 17. Life Zones and Area in Puerto Rico . 133 18. Life Zones of the U.S. Virgin Islands . .. .. 134 19. Average Annual Sheet and Rill Erosion in the U.S. Caribbean . 136 20.1981 Lumber Imports into Puerto Rico by Species and Country of Origin . 139 21. Organizations Dealing With Tropical Forests in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands ., * . * . *, . 140 22. Pacific Territories of the United States . * . * . * * . *..***... 144 23. Land Use in American Samoa, 1977 , ,9, . 144 24. Island Types and Forest Areas of Micronesia . .. 145 25. Landownership in Guam . 147 26. Organizations Dealing With Tropical Forest Resources in the American Western Pacific .*** **. **** **. *.. **** *.** . 151 List of Figures Figura No., Page 18. Land Use in Puerto Rico ● *********9****.*.******.*********.****....***. 134 19. An Idealized Transect Through a Caribbean Island in the Lesser Antilles. 135 20. Original Vegetation of Puerto Rico . ....................,.,.,.,,.. 136 21. Location of the U.S. Western Pacific Territores ● * * * * * . * . 142 22. Geopolitical Breakdown of the U.S. Western Pacific Territories . 143 23. Diagram of a “Typical” Micronesian Island Indicating Some Relationships Between Land Development and Island Resources . 146 Chapter 6 U.S. Tropical Forests: Caribbean and Western Pacific HIGHLIGHTS ● Past poor land-use practices have degraded ● Only Puerto Rico has significant potential forest resources in the U.S. Caribbean and for commercial forestry, but both the Pacific Pacific tropical territories and have resulted and Caribbean territories could provide a in significant amounts of abandoned land greater share of their domestic forest prod- and relatively unproductive secondary for- uct needs. est. Related resources (e. g., water supplies ● The territorial governments all have desig- and coastal marine resources) are, in many nated natural resource agencies and have ex- places, threatened by forest loss. pressed their recognition of the need to in- ● Although not a problem at present, overex- tegrate forestry into development, but most ploitation of island forests is likely to occur of the agencies are small and lack adequate as populations grow and expectations rise. funding and personnel. Much of this could be avoided if forest re- source development were integrated with economic development. INTRODUCTION Less than 1 percent of the world’s tropical million acres* is under forest cover, mostly sec- forests fall under U.S. jurisdiction. These are ond growth trees, fruit tree plantations, and located primarily in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Vir- shade covers in the remaining coffee regions. gin Islands, the U.S. Pacific territories of Amer- Despite this, Puerto Rico produces less than 1 ican Samoa and Micronesia (Guam, the Com- percent of its domestic wood requirements (43). monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, The U.S. Virgin Islands are an unincorpo- and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands), rated territory east of Puerto Rico containing and Hawaii. Both the Caribbean and Pacific about 86,500 acres, including about 50 islands territories have a long history of land-use prac- and islets. They have been administered since tices that have created relatively large areas of 1951 by the U.S. Department of the Interior. degraded or abandoned forest land. For over The three largest islands—st. Croix, St. John, a century, Hawaii has restricted use of its forest and St. Thomas—are used extensively for areas, primarily to protect their watershed val- tourism and have effectively no forest products ues. industry. However, three-fourths of the island Puerto Rico includes the adjacent small of St. John is the Virgin Island National Park. islands. It includes the easternmost islands of the Greater Antilles in the West Indies. It is a *All land areas in this chapter will appear in acres, as this mountainous land with a variety of ecosystems. is the common measurement for U.S. lands. One hectare = 2.47 Today, at least one-third of Puerto Rico’s 2.2 acres. 127 128 . Technologies to Sustain Tropical Forest Resources Water retention and control, protection of recreation, and wildlife habitat in the islands’ critical marine habitats, and esthetic values are forests. the primary purposes of the forests on these islands. Industrial forestry recently has become a fo- cus of economic development in Hawaii. There The U.S. tropical forests in the western Pacif- are 47,000 acres of forest plantations in Hawaii, ic are located in Micronesia and American Sa- most of which are on public lands (7). How- moa. Micronesia includes some 2,000 islands ever, about 1 million acres have been desig- within 3 million square miles in the western nated as commercial forest land (areas suitable Pacific north of the Equator, southwest of Ha- for growing timber and with some forest cover waii, and extending west to within 500 miles but not necessarily stocked with timber trees). of the Philippines. They range in size from Of this, the State owns nearly 45 percent. An small, unoccupied coral atolls to large, popu- additional 290,000 acres of extensively grazed lated volcanic islands. American Samoa con- lands also are suited for timber crops, but now sists of seven islands located south of the Equa- have no forest cover (16). tor. Some wood products are harvested on these islands for local use, although on Hawaii also hosts a number of organizations American Samoa nearly all wood products ex- dedicated to sustaining tropical forest re- cept fuelwood are imported from nearby inde- sources in the islands and the tropical world. pendent Western Samoa, and from the United For example, an AID-funded project on States and New Zealand (5). nitrogen fixation by tropical agricultural legumes (NiFTAL), which produces inoculants Reliable information on the original extent on a pilot scale for researchers and legume of the forests on the U.S. western Pacific growers, is based in Hawaii. The East-West islands does not exist, but forests probably Center, created by Congress in 1960 to promote covered most of the island. On many islands— interchange among the United States, Pacific, such as Guam, Tinian, and Saipan—man and and Asian countries, is a regional center for nature have so changed the islands that it is discussion and study of natural resource issues. nearly impossible to identify the original forest The Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden, the types. only privately supported tropical botanical The State of Hawaii lies in the middle of the garden chartered by the U.S. Congress, is in northern Pacific Ocean between Mexico and Hawaii. Forestry research and education are Micronesia. Hawaii has 8 major islands and pursued by the University of Hawaii and the 124 smaller islands that cover about 4 million Bishop Museum. Hawaii also houses the U.S. acres. About half this acreage is forest- and Forest Service Institute of Pacific Island shrub-covered. Forestry (IPIF], which supports research on forest resources in Hawaii and the U.S. Since the late 1800’s, Hawaii has pursued a western Pacific, and a cooperative State and policy of protecting its forests for watershed Private Forestry division. values (16). A well-developed land-use plan was enacted in 1961. All lands were zoned accord- In 1979, the U.S. Forest Service and C. Brew- ing to allowed use: urban, rural, agricultural, er & Co. created the BioEnergy Development and conservation. Most forested lands are Corp., funded by the Department of Energy, under conservation zoning. Forests on agricul- to implement and demonstrate IPIF research tural land can be manipulated, but forests on activities. This joint venture has become one conservation land cannot without special per- of the largest forestry research and develop- mission by the Hawaii Board of Land and Nat- ment projects directed at biomass fuel produc- ural Resources (9). In 1962, the Hawaii Depart- tion in the United States. It is cultivating more ment of Land and Natural Resources produced than 200 acres of fast-growing eucalyptus the first of three lo-year multiple-use programs species on Hawaii Island that will be chipped for managing water, timber, livestock forage, for use as boilerfuel at two nearby sugar plan- Ch. 6—U.S. Tropical Forests: Caribbean and Western Pacific . 129 tation powerplants. Plantings are planned for of tropical areas in that its institutional capaci- 400 acres of abandoned sugar cane land and ty for dealing with these problems is well- 500 acres of wasteland and undeveloped forest developed. Because of this,