Pine Ridge recovering from disaster
Several decades ago, it was the crown jewel of Belize’s barely discovered inland tourist attractions, but as other areas opened up in the burgeoning hospitality industry, there was less dependence on the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve. That development proved to be a fortunate one, as last year an explosion in the area’s insect population led to the death of a majority of the precious pines. But just as the reserve was being written off, Mother Nature–with a good deal of help from man–changed her mind. Jacqueline Woods reports.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Dead trees are everywhere in the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve, but despite last year’s onslaught of the Southern Pine Bark Beetle, a number of areas remain green and healthy. Efforts are now underway to make sure that they stay that way.
Marcelo Windsor, Forest Officer, Mountain Pine Ridge
“There is a urgent need for us to protect the rest of whatever did survive. As you can rightly see, even within the areas that were damaged, there are quite some trees that did survive. I believe that these are very genetically superior trees just by seeing that they did survive the infestation itself.”
The ant-size beetle infested about seventy percent of the pine forest. To save the rest, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Pine Lumber Company teamed up to clear-cut wide swalts around the islands of life.
Jacqueline Woods
“The containment has managed to save thirty percent of the trees that were affected by the Southern Bark Pine Beetle.”
Forest officer in charge of the Mountain Pine Ridge Reserve, Marcelo Windsor, says there were several pockets that were treated. A high priority was assigned to those areas visited by tourists.
Marcelo Windsor
“We are trying to conserve the aesthetics or the beauty of the major tourist road going up to Caracol, going through the very heart of pine ridge itself.”
The majority of the work was undertaken by Pine Lumber Company, which has been logging in the area for nearly twenty years. An agreement was signed between the company and the Ministry of Natural Resources, which will grant the company long-term logging rights for lands it protects from the beetle. The company, will then work along with the forestry department putting together a management plan for the area contained. Owner, Amin Bedran says they spent around a million and a half dollars on the clean up, but time was of the essence in fighting the threat to their livelihood.
Amin Bedran, Owner, Pine Lumber Company
“Last year in April, in March of 2001 when the Forestry Department decided to stop containment because the bug had gotten the better of it, we went in and we believe we had to try at least and contained an area to continue the business that we are in.”
The area the company chose to contain included close to thirty thousand acres of pine forest. To get the work done, Pine Lumber first had to identify where the beetles were actually boring the trees. Once located, the area was marked for destruction.
Amin Bedran
“Then the tractors would come in and break down about three or four hundred feet wide, as you can see over there, strip to stop the bug from getting into the green areas.”
Because the bug is capable of flying only a few feet, the clear-cutting effectively stopped the predator from infecting more trees. Thousands of the beetles have been eradicated, and the infestation is on the decline.
Dr. Fred Midtgaard, Consultant, Min. of Natural Resources
“That’s, I think the only way to deal with such a major attack as we had here in the Mountain Pine Ridge. So thirty percent of the area has been saved and is now green.”
Dr. Fred Midtgaard, a specialist from Norway, was invited by the government to consult on the project and assist in the long-term control of the beetle. One technique involves the use of pheromones. These pheromones contain a special scent that the bugs find irresistible when the bag is attached to affected trees that will be extracted, the bugs flock to the area.
Dr. Fred Midtgaard
“When it attacks the trees, it sends out the pheromones, which attract other beetles of the same species of the pine beetle. If we attach this to trees that we want to take out and then one week later come back and take out the trees, we are also extracting thousands of beetles from the forest which would have attacked other stands where we would not want them, like the mountain top or in a steep valley.”
It is not certain when the devastated areas of the reserve will be completely restored. The ministry alone does not have the resources to get the job done, so there are plans to contract the work out to a local company, Belize Silviculture. Under a concept known as Carbon Sequestration, funds are made available by major industrial companies in the north for reforestation in the south. This is an alternative to reducing the level of pollutants in their own countries.
Johnny Briceno, Min. Natural Resources
“Belize Silviculture is going to get the monies to be able to come into the Mountain Pine Ridge and plant out seventy thousand acres. But we have an agreement with them that if they do not plant the seventy thousand acres here, we can then move down south where we have other areas that were infested, and replant those areas. So at the end of the day, we are going to get back seventy thousand acres of land replanted with pine trees.”
Briceno says the details have not been finalised but allegations have been made which suggest that part of the plan includes selling the Mountain Pine Ridge Reserve to the international companies. Briceno not only denied the allegation, but says part of the agreement guarantees that the area will remain as a reserve for the next fifty years.
Johnny Briceno
“It has never been an issue of privatising this area, it is only about replanting. This company they are going to get the funding from other international companies to reforest the Mountain Pine Ridge and the plan is to do it within four years, in the next four years. But before that is even done, we have to have a good management plan that these companies will sign onto that states, yes we know that you are going to going to protect it, we know that the trees are going to be here for the next fifty years. That kind stuff has to be worked out.”
Briceno says the ministry will also have to make sure that the seeds Belize Silviculture will use are of the same genetic composition as the trees in the area. In the meantime, those trees that did manage to resist the beetle attack are now flowering and are expected to set seeds in June and July. It is that healthy population of pine trees that will be counted on to ward off any future attacks. Jacqueline Woods reporting for News 5.
