Birds and the DR's forests

VCE Biologist Chris Rimmer has been studying Bicknell's Thrush and other birds in the Dominican Republic for over 16 years. National Geographic joined Chris on one of his long-term study plots in the Baoruco Mountains near the border with Haiti. Chris' monitoring data are some of the longest term data for rare, endemic birds that live in these cloud forests.


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Interesting observation...

What I like the most is that Dominicans are stepping up to the challenge and responsibility of the work as well!

The more the young generations learn about the beauty and resources of the DR and its fragile state, the more the odds that true conservationism will take hold for good here!

That's why I always praise the work being done by expats in the DR, even when many might feel frustrated by the pace of action and change (more like inaction and the same), every little push will amplify later to cause those big waves and changes...

Activism was brought out in the DR by the expat community, no ifs, ands, or buts about that!

Civil disobedience will be the next big thing in the DR as well!

Each expat living in the DR have their place in the changes that are taking place slowly here. The more they interact with the Dominican communities, the more those changes will be abounding. Sadly some just center on enjoying the prostitutes in the beaches, along with the ron and frias. But more and more as of late, many expats are placing their roots in the DR and engaging the country as never before.

I was pleased to hear that he's been at it since he first came to the DR, over 14 years ago!

The expats of today living in the DR, are the pioneers that dared to go against the flow and comforts afforded by development. They all shared the same visions of an even better place, from all the chaos and lacking they had to put up with.

Many visit old ruins and historical preserved city centers around the world; here for the expat community is a living example of a culture/people/nation going on development. One which is sure to erase all or most of what you can live today, complain about, but still is reason enough to make you stick around!

Hillbilly said:

No sir, he said "Primary, intact forest" of which, according to the couple I referred to, there is maybe 0% in the DR....

Please remember the DR lived off of its trees for decades and decades in the late 1800s..

And even earlier, woods were the source of major fortunes!!

HB

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That's correct, but after the plan sierra and the enforcement of the ban on cutting up the trees during the long Balaguer years, the cordillera was able to retain and re-grow a good canopy. I think (if not mistaken) that Candelier was the guardacampestre at the time and was very effective while at it. He even went head to head with a powerful senator that was decimating the area and won.

Lots of illegal timber workers got shot and made aware of the perils of challenging the guy...

What Mirabal Fernandez does with his mouth and press coverage today, Candelier did it with his M-16 and three Bell Iroquois assigned from the FAD to him personally. I can recall an incident when a vampire from the FAD strafed a truck, which had tried to flee a military cordon in el Valle de Lilis. After that "incident" tree cutting died suddenly for a long time...

Hillbilly said:

Excuse me! Mr. Pichardo, there were No Vampires air worthy during the Balaguer years. Maybe a Mustang, but never a Vampire. this was a cloth covered, British single engine. twin boom aircraft of the VERY early days of jet flight. I saw one at the Santiago Air Base in 1063, oops, I mean 1963. My Norwegen friend, a former pilot of Vampires, told me: "No way would I ever get into that one!!" ...

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Not only was there at least one operational, but a whole squad that took to the sky on 27 Febrero over the Santiago sky during: Gasp! Balaguer time!!!! They buzzed the monumento area for about five minutes in low flights and then left making radical short ratio turns towards the air base in San Isidro their HQ... I saw it with my own two eyes as did pretty much Santiago entero!

Anyway, you should go to Mao and see the lumber trucks rolling through...all backed by Army officers...according to the mae?os who see this going on.

Candelier did indeed try and stop the destruction of the forests and he was widely applauded for his efforts...but I got the feeling that he was too rough on too many officers and that is why he was removed from the job. He also "shat" on a lot of industrialists for contaminating rivers..people like Bojos and Ochoa...remember???

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His removal wasn't due to that, but to the fact that he turned down a pay off from the surging commander Cuervo Gomez.

Oh well, it is so great that the DR IS gaining forest cover, especially at this crutial time in man's misuse of his planet...global warming is not a joke or a tree-huggers pipe dream, it is a reality, and our forest cover might be, for future generations, the salvation of the country.

You see, I am somewhat of a believer in the 1974 Club of Rome's predictions that by 2050 the world will start to run out of things, important things like oil, some important minerals, and even good water. One of their points was that research on alternatives had yet to begin...so we'll see from On High (or from Down Below??) just what will happen.

I say hooray for this guy Rimmer and his crew...

HB

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Me too...