August 28th, 2007: New management plan for the Washington Slagbaai National Park
Washington Slagbaai National Park now has a management plan. The vision of the founders of the national park back in the 60’s was incorporated in this plan.
The plan aims to achieve an optimal state in the areas of infrastructure, human resources, equipment, legislation and finances. When this is reached we have also attained to the park’s main objective: the conservation and protection of the bonairean natural and historical resources, thus complying with the vision of the founders of the park.
During the last 40 years a lot of advances in technology and environmental science have been achieved. We know many things today that we did not 40 years ago and this, combined with the fact that we have abundantly more resources today than we had back in 1969, results in a change of management techniques and procedures plus the addition of new ones; this changes and additions however, will not change the original vision of protection and conservation, yet may rise questions in people minds, therefore STINAPA Bonaire would like to inform and explain to the people of Bonaire about them.
Probably, the most important change is the fact that we will introduce a complete new program for nature management. The two main components of this program are 1) the monitoring program for habitats, flora and fauna, and 2) the control and eradication of exotic species that cause damage to the native ones.
In the past the park staff dealt only with the visitors and the maintenance of the buildings, roads, signs and fences. From now on the park staff will be involved in making bird counts, fish counts, vegetation assessments, taking readings from chemical and physical parameters of the water in the salinas, take readings of daily weather, etc. This will be part of the monitoring program.
Today there is plenty of evidence that some species that were brought to the Caribbean during the colonization times are causing damage to the native species, in numerous well documented cases driving some of these species to extinction. We find this situation also on Bonaire and we can not ignore it. The knowledge is there and we have the responsibility to do something about it before is too late. This is the second component of the nature management program. The park staff will be involved in activities that will aim to lower the population of these exotic species. They will be mainly trapping, relocating and in some specific cases euthanizing animals.
With the new management plan some of the old practices of the park will not be allowed anymore. For many years in the past, Washington Slagbaai National Park continued some of the extraction practices of the plantations in order to raise funds for the park operation. The sale of stakas, charcoal and goats are examples of this. However, now days with the new vision of a sustainable use and development of our resources, we do not continue such destructive activities.
One of the new regulations is that we do not allow removing any dead vegetation from the park anymore (like flambeu). The reason for this regulation is that our soil is very poor, making it very difficult for the vegetation to live and flourish. When we remove organic matter from the ground, like dead vegetation or animals, we take away possible future nutrients from the soil.
We will not make charcoal for sale anymore, unless we have to clear some trees for logistical reasons, we will not produce salt, grow vegetables or certain plants or keep goats and pigs in the park as a source of income, on the contrary, we will evaluate the damage they make to the native vegetation and will try to lower their populations to the point that the native ecosystem can be restored. If these measurements are not good enough we will try to help our nature with reforestation projects.
The attention and supervision of our visitors stays very much the same, but with the improvement that from now on we will try to obtain more information from them in order to make better management decisions when necessary. Not only we will be able to inform you how many people visited the park in 2007, but also we will be able to tell you how many of them were Antillean, American, Dutch, Latin-American or from other parts of the world. Furthermore, we will be able to tell you how many came to drive around, snorkel, SCUBA dive, mountain biking, hiking, fishing, bird watching or stay at Slagbaai overnight among others.
In the management plan there are also provisions to restore and maintain the historic resources of the park and anybody who has visited lately has probably seen already some real progress on this area, many wells and cisterns are restored already and we are working in obtaining funds for the rest.
The management plan has also as an objective to establish relationships with institutions that can help us obtain knowledge and information about our nature and historic resources. The idea is that both the park and the institution will benefit from this initiative. This is the main reason for the construction of Kas Sientifiko. We have had so far quite a few visits from scientists, volunteers and interns and the experiences have been very rewarding ones.
Our doors are open to anyone who would like to learn more from these topics or to discuss any ideas and points of view about the management of the park natural and historical resources. Please contact us or visit us at our offices!!