Rainforest Enrichment and Sustainable Forestry Program

Since 1984, valuable saplings such as Honduras Mahogany, Swietenia, Blue Mahoe, Hibiscus elatus, and a host of native timber trees have been planted in lines through the forest using hand-tools to minimize damage to existing soil structure. The soil flora and mycorrhizae are left untouched. Approximately 41,000 trees have been planted to date, within 300 acres of the land. 

The Blue Mahoe trees are proving a very successful candidate for sustainable forestry here in the steep mountains of Puerto Rico. They have grown up rapidly with the combination of protection and competition afforded by the surrounding forest, and impact upon the ecology is minimal as careful monitoring and study has shown.

This line planting technique provides a viable alternative to landowners making potentially irreversible decisions that may involve destroying rainforest lands forever along with devastation of watersheds from erosion and impacts on the carbon cycle.

PUBLISHED PAPERS

NELSON M., SILVERSTONE S., REISS K. C., ROBERTSON M., VAKIL T., 2011. Enriched secondary subtropical forest through line-planting for sustainable timber production in Puerto Rico.
Bois et Forets des Tropiques, #309 (3): 51-61

NELSON M., SILVERSTONE S., REISS K. C., BURROWES P., JOGLAR R., ROBERTSON M., VAKIL T., 2010.
The impact of Hardwood Line-Planting on Tree and Amphibian Diversity in a Secondary Subtropical Wet Forest of Southeast Puerto Rico.
Journal of Sustainable Forestry, 29(5): 503-516.

Comprehensive view of the Forestry Research Mission  
at Las Casas de la Selva

Trees of Las Casas de la Selva.