Caribbean Dry Forest Restoration in The Bahamas
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Status of project
Ongoing -
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean -
Country
Bahamas -
Programme
Ecological Restoration Alliance of Botanic Gardens -
Workstream
Saving Plants -
Topic
Ecological Restoration
The Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve (LLNPP) is a 13.5-hectare garden on Eleuthera that showcases the native flora of The Bahamas. The LLNPP is working to restore all areas that are not actively used for display beds, buildings, and pathways into Caribbean Dry Forest.
The Bahamas is a low-lying archipelago that while made up of many islands, across a large distance, most are small in size. The largest islands in the archipelago are dominated by Pine Woodlands with little available habitat for Caribbean Dry Forest. The majority of the islands with Caribbean Dry Forest are small and/or very narrow.
The LLNPP has undertaken as part of its mission the creation of a native plant nursery producing a large range of tree species. On the Preserve the goal has been to return degraded areas to natural conditions and use them as a showcase for how restoration in the Bahamas can be done. Starting in 2014 growing natives from locally sourced seed the nursery currently has available 75 species of trees, shrubs, and vines including 15 endemics.
Additionally, to encourage the use of natives in landscaping and to increase knowledge of the native trees of the Bahamas, an “Adopt a Native Tree” school program was established. The LLNPP works with schools to identify areas that natives can be planted and then provides trees for the students to plant. The first set of trees was planted in summer 2019 at a local middle school on Eleuthera.
Key results include:
- First and only national park on the island of Eleuthera
- 75 native tree, shrub and vine species available in the nursery
- ~ 1.0 hectare has been fully restored utilising over 50 species of native trees
- Worked with the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas to develop a 0.25-hectare sculpture garden using native trees
For more information on this project, please contact: Ethan Freid
