Public Forests and Parks 



Most rare and local tree species of Puerto Rico and the 

 Virgin Islands are protected within the boundaries of one 

 or more public forests and parks (75, p. 23-28, maps 4 

 and 2). The system of 15 public forests is one of Puerto 

 Rico's most valuable natural resources. Four National 

 Parks have been established in the Virgin Islands. 



The Caribbean National Forest, formerly known also 

 as the Luquillo Experimental Forest, embraces most of 

 the Luquillo Mountains of northeastern Puerto Rico. It 

 was established in 1903 from former Spanish crown lands 

 and now contains 28,000 acres (43 3 /4 mi 2 or 11,300 ha). 

 It is administered by the Forest Service, United States 

 Department of Agriculture, with headquarters at Rio 

 Piedras. 



Fourteen Commonwealth Forests (Bosques Estatales) 

 totaling about 60,000 acres (24,000 ha) are well 

 distributed over the island. Unalienated forest lands in 

 the mangroves at Guanica and Maricao and on Mona 

 Island were the first Commonwealth Forests. Others were 

 acquired some years ago under a Federal program for 

 purchase of marginal lands, primarily to protect soil and 

 water values of mountain watersheds. The Puerto Rico 

 Department of Natural Resources administers these 

 Commonwealth Forests as well as Mona Island, which is 

 classed under forest lands. 



These public forests of Puerto Rico range from 

 mangroves along the seacoast to the highest peaks of the 

 Central Cordillera and Luquillo Mountains and include 

 the driest and wettest areas. They contain representative 

 areas of the major natural ecosystems and nearly all the 

 remaining virgin forests. 



Another public forest, the Estate Thomas Experimen- 

 tal Forest of 149 acres (60 ha), is located on St. Croix, 

 U.S. Virgin Islands. It is administered by the Institute of 

 Tropical Forestry. 



Four National Parks have been established in the 

 Virgin Islands and preserve representative undisturbed 



areas of seasonal and dry forests. Additional rare and 

 local trees are protected there. The National Park Ser- 

 vice, U.S. Department of the Interior, administers the 

 two in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Virgin Islands National 

 Park, established in 1956, covers almost two-thirds of the 

 island of St. John, a gross area of 14,418 acres (5,835 ha) 

 containing examples of nearly all species of native trees. 

 Buck Island Reef National Monument, designated in 

 1961, contains 176 acres (71 ha) of protected forest 

 vegetation. 



In the British Virgin Islands, the National Parks Trust 

 administers two National Parks. Sage Mountain National 

 Park of about 50 acres (20 ha) contains a unique moun- 

 tain forest on the highest peak in the Virgin Islands. 

 Gorda Peak National Park preserves undisturbed forest 

 lands on Virgin Gorda. 



The authors with Frank H. Wadsworth made special 

 efforts to compile lists of the tree species of each public 

 forest and park. The 2-volume reference cites for each 

 native tree species the names of public forests and parks 

 where it is found, preserved, and protected in its natural 

 habitat. Only about 19 rare and endangered tree species 

 were not found on any public forest or park (15, p. 16). 

 From that reference a list of the rare and endemic trees 

 could be compiled for each public forest and park. 



Tree lists for a few of these areas have been published 

 by the authors, as follows: Mona Island (5), Buck Island 

 Reef National Monument (31), Caribbean National 

 Forest (7, 14), and Virgin Gorda (16). 



The Caribbean National Forest has the greatest con- 

 centration of rare and endemic trees, about 90 species, as 

 noted above. Other public forests preserve large numbers 

 of endemic tree species but have almost no local 

 endemics. The earlier compilation (15, p. 16) had these 

 totals of endemic tree species within public forests: 

 Maricao 52, Toro Negro 45, Carite 38, Susiia 24, and 

 Guanica 1 1 . 



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