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Farmed landscapes, trees and forest conservation in Saint Lucia (West Indies)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2012

BRADLEY B. WALTERS  and
LISA HANSEN
BRADLEY B. WALTERS*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography and Environment, Mount Allison University, Sackville, NB E4L 1A7Canada
LISA HANSEN
Affiliation:
Sustainable Forest Management Research Group, Department of Forest Resources Management, University of British Columbia, 2045–2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada
*
*Correspondence: Dr Bradley Walters Tel: +1 506 364 2323 Fax: +S1 506 364 2625 e-mail: [email protected]
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Summary

Islands of the West Indies are among the most historically impacted by agriculture, yet agricultural influences on forests there have been little studied. This research compared tree species richness and vegetation structure between farmed lands, post-agriculture secondary forests and mature remnant forests in two watersheds in Saint Lucia, and sought to understand the current distribution of these habitats in terms of land use and watershed topography. Farms devoted to annual crops had few trees and much exposed soil. By contrast, agroforests had abundant (mostly planted) trees and vegetation structure comparable to secondary forests. Secondary forests had highest overall species richness, but mature forests had the most developed vegetation structure. Variations in habitat distribution reflected different land use histories, with the more rugged west coast long dominated by tree crop farming and the east coast experiencing a recent boom-bust cycle in bananas. Mature and secondary forests were more likely found at higher altitude, further from roads and at sites more difficult to access, the combined result of government protection of key forest and watershed reserves and farmers’ preferential abandonment of marginal lands. For conservationists, this return of forests is reason for optimism and it presents strategic opportunities for public land acquisition or collaborative management to further forest and watershed protection objectives.

Keywords

agroforestsforest transitionpost-agriculture forestssecondary foreststree plantingwatershed management
Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , September 2013 , pp. 211 - 221
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2012 

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