Under decree 233-96 President Joaquín Balaguer has ordered the creation of new ecological protected areas, taking into consideration recommendations from the Union Mundial para la Naturaleza (UICN). Several of the areas are in tourist zones and will now be off-limits to for construction of hotels and vacation housing in order to preserve their natural beauty for the enjoyment of the majority. The decree establishes the creation of national parks in Cabo Cabrón, in Samana, and for the Lago Enriquillo, two areas now showing increased tourism development.
President Balaguer also decreed the creation of the Monumento Natural Bahia de las Calderas in order to protect the ecosystem in the dunes of Las Salinas, the largest sand dunes in the Antilles. The decree establishes that the Base Naval de las Calderas and the town of Las Salinas and the vacation homes sited there are to be considered part of the support infrastructure as long as they do not affect the ecosystem.
Other Natural Monuments created by the decree are the Bahia de Luperon in Puerto Plata and the Cascada del Limon, a waterfall to the north of the Samana.
Under the same decree, the President created the Reserva Antropológica de las Cuevas de las Maravillas in Boca de Soco, 15 kilometers along the Carretera San Pedro de Macorís, on the way to La Romana. He also extended the area of the Reserva Antropológica Cuevas de Borbón in San Cristobal. This extension was made to regulate local mining company operations that may affect the bats and the caves where hundreds of valuable Indian pictographs are found.
Laguna Rincón in the East was designated a Refugio de Fauna Silvestre.
Several “vías panorámicas”, or avenues known for their scenic beauty, were established including the Mirador del Norte, which goes from Laguna Grí Grí in Río San Juan through Cabo Francés Viejo on the North Coast, the Vía Panorámica de los Ríos Comate and Comatillo in Bayaguana, the Vía Panorámica Mirador del Paraíso in Barahona, the Vía Panorámica Costa Azul in the province of La Altagracia, the Vía Panorámica del Río Mao, Vía Panorámica Río Bao in the area of the Parque Nacional J. Armando Bermúdez and the Taveras-Bao dam. Also Vía Panorámica Mirador del Valle de La Vega Real from the Valle de Bonao through to the Autopista Duarte bridge over the Río Pontón.
El Puerto-Guaigui, Playa de Andres, Boca Chica, and the Cayo Levantado, Samana were designated Areas Nacionales de Recreo.