Poster Title: CAICOS PINE RECOVERY PROJECT: The Way Forward Authors: Eric F. Salamanca1/, Marlon Hibbert1/ Wesley Clerveaux1/ and Jewel Batchasingh1/; Martin Hamilton2/; Michelle Sanchez2/; and Marcella Corcoran2/; Robert McMeekin3/, Bryan Naqqi Manco3/ Jonathan Sayao 3/& Ethlyn Gibbs-Williams3/; Donald Elvey4/; Kenrick Kneely5/; Chrish Bergh6/ and Joe O’Brien7/, Institutional Affiliation of the Authors: 1/ Department of Environment and Coastal Resources (DECR), Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI); 2/ Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG) at Kew, UK; 3/ Turks and Caicos National Trust (TCNT); 4/Department of Agriculture (DA), (TCI); 5/Environmental Health Department, (TCI); 6/The Nature Conservancy (TNC),7/ US Forest Service. Email Address of Presenting Author:
[email protected]; Telephone Number of Presenting Author: Mobile Phone:+1-649-341-0703
ABSTRACT The national tree of the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), the Caicos Pine, Pinus caribaea var. bahamensis, is an endemic variety of the more widely dispersed Pinus caribaea. The Caicos Pine is found on the islands of Pine Cay, North Caicos, and Middle Caicos are critically endangered due to the infestation of an introduced scale insect, Toumeyella parvicornis. Cooperative efforts by the government (TCI, RBG Kew, US Forest Service) and nongovernment organizations (TCNT, TNC) are underway to save the species from being extirpated. To date the Pine scale insect, has affected about 95% of the standing Pine trees in TCI and continued to threaten the ecological integrity of the pine habitat. The scale insect excrement induced sooty mold development and leads to death of understory plants. The TCI- Conservation Fund provided financial support for a one-year Pine Recovery project (phase 1) that ended on October 2009. The Fund allowed for rescuing pine seedlings in the wild and establishment of Pine ex-situ nursery; mapping & characterization of the pine yard, and awareness campaign about the status of the Pine trees, and permitted for site assessment of Fire Specialists. Lack of TCI government funds, rendered no guaranteed funding for the continued operation of this project. Funds sourcing were initiated and project proposals were submitted to various potential sources such as the UK’s Overseas Territories Environment Program (OTEP) and DEFRA/FFI Flagship Species Fund. The project aims to address the problems stated above, and to maintain the ecological integrity of the Pine ecosystem. Specifically, it aims to control the pine scale insect infestation, rescue & propagate healthy pine seedlings, enhance local capacity, gather important biological and GIS data, and provide basic infrastructure. Systemic insecticide application, used of controlled fire as management tool and continued and enhanced networking are priority activities for implementation.
