OLD LAND: PUERTO RICO 



the total forest area. But until reforestation has converted the thousands 

 of acres of idle brush and poor pasture land into timber-producing forests, 

 recreation on the existing timbered areas will be an important activity. 



On few areas under Forest Service supervision is recreation so com- 

 patible with the major uses of timber production and watershed protection 

 as in Puerto Rico. For each 1,000-foot rise in elevation the temperature 

 drops 3 F. Because of this universal fact, practically all recreational develop- 

 ments are in the high mountain areas. Six or ten degrees cooler makes a 

 world of difference in the tropics. Above 2,000 feet, where most recreational 

 areas are located, forest trees are chiefly those of species most valuable for 

 their soil-holding ability. Commercial stands of timber are, for the most 

 part, located at lower elevations, and timber cutting will be confined 

 mostly to forests growing below areas of heavy recreational use. Only 1 

 species out of 50 of commercial importance, tabonuco, grows in stands 

 sufficiently dense to justify clear cutting. Logging over most of the forest 

 will, therefore, be of a highly selective character, and there will be but slight 

 disturbance of natural environment. 



With land so scarce, in Puerto Rico, every acre must count. In addition 

 to providing breathing space for the masses, the Forest Service must provide 

 living spaces for hundreds of families who never have owned the land they 

 tilled nor the crops they raised. This land is now national forest land, but the 

 people cannot be dispossessed there is no place for them to go. The land 

 they occupy is worn thin and in need of rebuilding of the soil-holding and 

 building power of forest trees. But the people have to live, to plant crops, to 

 hold body and soul together. 



The Forest Service has therefore established the "parcelero" system, under 

 which a plot or parcel of denuded public land, some 5 to 10 acres, is allotted 

 without title to each family. The family worker plants forest seedlings under 

 careful supervision, and grows his sustenance crops between the rows of grow- 

 ing trees. After, say 2 years, the tree canopy closes and shades out vegetables. 

 More tolerant crops, such as coffee and bananas, which provide the family 

 with food and income, are then substituted. In this way the "parcelero" system 

 re-creates the forest, builds up worn-out soil, gives human sustenance, and at 

 the same time imparts hope for the future to each parcel farmer and his family. 



