UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 354 



Contribution from the Forest Service, 



HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester 



Washington, D. C. 



October 20, 1916 



FORESTS OF PORTO RICO; PAST, PRESENT, AND 

 FUTURE, AND THEIR PHYSICAL AND ECONOMIC 

 ENVIRONMENT. 



By Louis S. Murphy, Forest Examiner. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 1 



Physical and economic features : 



Geographic situation 2 



Physiography and soils 3 



Drainage 7 



Climate '. '. 7 



Land distribution, utilization, and taxa- 

 tion 9 



Population 16 



Transportation 18 



The Forest: 



Forested condition and distribution 21 



Page. 



The Forest — Continued. 



Forest formations 23 



Forest influences 36 



Commercial aspects 39 



Forest industries 44 



Forest products 46 



Forest problems 46 



Insular forest policy 51 



The Luquillo National Forest 55 



Appendices: 



I. Trees of Porto Rico 56 



II. Bibliography 98 



INTRODUCTION. 



Every year the people of Porto Rico consume over three times as 

 much wood as the forests of the island produce. Great quantities 

 of timber have been cut or burned by the "conuco" to make a clear- 

 ing, which is abandoned after a few years and becomes a mere waste. 

 The charcoal burner is still at work destroying the young growth 

 needed to keep Up the forest. Failure to put an end to the destruc- 

 tive practices that are rapidly reducing the forests or to provide the 

 means of developing and fully utilizing them in a scientific manner 

 has already brought about a shortage in the domestic supply of wood 

 and consequent hardship to the people. It is the object of this bulle- 

 tin 1 to give' a complete account of the trees and the forests of Porto 



i Under an informal cooperative arrangement between the Secretary of the U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture and the Governor and Board of Commissioners of Agriculture of Porto Rico the author spent six 

 months, from November, 1911, to May, 1912, on the island, making a first-hand study of its forest problems. 

 A preliminary report of his findings and recommendations regarding these problems was published in the 

 "First Report of the Board of Commissioners of Agriculture of Porto Rico," San Juan, Jan. 1, 1912, pp. 

 48-60. In this report it was recommended that the authority of the board be extended to cover the man- 

 agement of the forests; and that an insular forest service, with a qualified and experienced forester in charge, 

 be established to carry on the work. This service could be established at a maximum cost of $20,000 and 

 maintained for §8,000 or less a year, and would effect an annual gain to the island through the scientific 

 management of its forests amounting to over §350,000. 

 21871°— Bull. 354—16 1 



