Forests take a beating from hurricane

On yesterday’s newscast, we looked at damage which may have been caused by Hurricane Iris to the country’s barrier reef and marine resources. Today, we spoke to experts in Belmopan who reveal that large stretches of valuable forest in southern Belize may have also suffered significant degradation; harm that may be felt for many years to come.

Oswaldo Sabido, Forestry Advisor, Min. of Natural Resources

“I would estimate that from aerial observation and from what we’ve seen on the ground, about ninety-five percent in most cases is damaged. The structure of the forest has been completely damaged in that sense that most of the trees have been blown down or the crowns have been broken. Certainly you have almost complete defoliation of the trees there.”

Anselmo Casteneda, Mesoamerican Biological Corridors Project

“You have eight to ten feet of debris above the ground. And when the dry weather comes and fire begins to do further damage, we definitely going to have a further change to the biodiversity of the area. As per the watershed issues, definitely, we’re going to be missing some of the watershed characteristics of the area.”

John Pinelo Jr., Protected Areas Officer, Forest Dept.

“I think Laughing Bird Caye will probably be the park that you will be able to visit more quickly than the other three parks, just because of the cleaning up, the damage. Rio Blanco was a very pretty park, and now when you go there it looks like somebody just dragged a big rake through the entire area. So it’s not anything nice to go and look at again. But, this area is used to getting hurricanes, and it has recovered over and over again, so probably in another ten years we will start seeing a lot of greens and the hills and the horizons will disappear.”

Another concern tonight is that with the large piles of debris littering the landscape and the loss of nesting sites for birds, populations of pests like mosquitoes and the southern bark beetle may increase to overwhelming proportions.