A neighbour of ours 4 doors down has a wooded hill behind his house. today he has started felling the whole hill side but in a most untidy fashion, some 3/4 feet off the ground. I am afraid that sometime in the near future we could imitate the Haitians and all the good soil will be washed off. I would like to report it to somebody - say the Medio ambiente, if I knew where they had an office. My Dominican wife is very strongly against this, she says, in case of reaction or retribution by the tree feller. This is not helped by it being Friday late afternoon and presumably all offices are closed on Saturday. Your advice, please, what should I do , if anything?
- Thread starter granca
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Tree felling
A neighbour of ours 4 doors down has a wooded hill behind his house. today he has started felling the whole hill side but in a most untidy fashion, some 3/4 feet off the ground. I am afraid that sometime in the near future we could imitate the Haitians and all the good soil will be washed off. I would like to report it to somebody - say the Medio ambiente, if I knew where they had an office. My Dominican wife is very strongly against this, she says, in case of reaction or retribution by the tree feller. This is not helped by it being Friday late afternoon and presumably all offices are closed on Saturday. Your advice, please, what should I do , if anything?
I can understand the reluctance of your Dominican wife. A friend reported someone in Las Terrenas for filling in the mangrove swamp behind his house and was subsequently robbed .. by people later identfied as employed by the swamp destroyer.
Plus.. there is the fact that it was HIS private property, no?
Nevertheless, there are some strict regulations on cutting trees here.. not that they are enforced... http://www.ambiente.gob.do/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=122&Itemid=199
No need to be concerned about the DR becoming like Haiti. There is very little wood used for charcoal here. And the DR has more forest cover now than it did 40 years ago.
But I would ask around a bit and find out who this tree cutter is... and perhaps get a few neighbors in with you ...
before you go at him
he obviously has axes
...No need to be concerned about the DR becoming like Haiti. There is very little wood used for charcoal here. And the DR has more forest cover now than it did 40 years ago....
M neighbors here in Las Lomas de Azua have axes, but not to grind against the authorities, but to chop trees for firewood and charcoal making, all while the authorities look the other way. The campesinos are chopping down the sparse forest at a rate that in a generation or so, this region will look like the most barren areas of Haiti. Subsistence farming has giving way to charcoal production. Charcoal is selling at a premium, most of it shipped to Haiti, and probably exported. Meanwhile, most bakeries in Azua are using firewood for firing their kilns. The firewood is extracted from the surrounding territory, even some from my own property. A truck load of firewood, btu per btu, sells for a fraction of other fuels such as LPG. Then there's the BonoGas. This government subsidy has actually intensified the use of charcoal and firewood for home cooking. Those who have the BonoGas card exchange their monthly allotment for cash at any LPG gas station....
A neighbour of ours 4 doors down has a wooded hill behind his house. today he has started felling the whole hill side but in a most untidy fashion, some 3/4 feet off the ground. I am afraid that sometime in the near future we could imitate the Haitians and all the good soil will be washed off. I would like to report it to somebody - say the Medio ambiente, if I knew where they had an office. My Dominican wife is very strongly against this, she says, in case of reaction or retribution by the tree feller. This is not helped by it being Friday late afternoon and presumably all offices are closed on Saturday. Your advice, please, what should I do , if anything?
This is illegal, report them to the Forestry Commission, they are very hot on this and I have known people that wouldnt listen to others warnings, go to jail. One even returned to the US and deserted his land because of the fear of the consequences. It was worth $700,000.
Another large investor that bought a huge plot in La Mulata, Sosua, to build a housing complex, he cleared the land without permission. He is no more and now the land just stand empty and lifeless. It was beautiful before. People like that deserve to go to jail.
It does not matter if it is a tree in your garden, you have to produce photographs and very good evidence of why you want to cut down the tree. If your application is accepted, and after an inspection that approves it, you will receive the licence for that one tree. They react very fast to any reports of illegal cutting. Do it anonymously.