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There
are 16 national parks, nine natural
monuments and six scientific reserves in
the Dominican Republic. The total number of
protected areas (including panoramic
routes, recreational areas and ecological
corridors) is 67. All are under the control
of the Dirección Nacional de Parques.
Armando Bermúdez and José
del Carmen Ramírez, both containing
pine forests and mountains in the
Cordillera Central are the only remaining
areas of extensive forest in the Republic;
it is estimated that since the arrival of
Columbus, two-thirds of the virgin forest
has been destroyed. The reasons for the
loss are fire and the establishment of
smallholdings by landless peasants. By
setting up these parks the gloomy
prediction of 1973, that all the Dominican
Republic’s forest would vanish by 1990,
has been avoided. In addition, a pilot
reforestation project has been started near
San José de las Matas, the Plan Sierra.
Los
Haitises,
on the south coast of Samaná Bay (Bahía
de San Lorenzo), is a protected coastal
region, whose land and seascape of mangrove
swamps, caves and strange rock formations
emerging from the sea (mogotes) is
unmatched in the Republic. In Los Haitises
you can visit the Cueva del Angel, caves on
which live many birds and humid tropical
forest, as well as the mangroves.
The
Parque Nacional del Este is on the
peninsula south of San Rafael del Yuma and
includes the Saona Island.
It has remote beaches, examples of
precolumbian art in a system of caves and
is the habitat of the now scarce paloma
coronita (crowned, or white-headed dove, Columba
leucocephala), the rhinoceros iguana
and of various turtles.
The
Isla Cabritos National Park in Lago
Enriquillo is the smallest in the system;
it is a unique environment, between four
and 40 meters below sea level. Its original
vegetation has been lost either to timber
collection or to the goats and cattle which
once grazed it. Now covered in secondary
vegetation, 106 species of plant have been
identified, including 10 types of cactus.
The island has a large crocodile
population, an endemic species of iguana,
and other reptiles. 62 species of bird have
been identified, five aquatic, 16 shore and
41 land birds; 45 are native to the island.
Among the birds that can be seen (or heard)
are the tiny manuelito (Myiarchus
stolidus) and the great hummingbird (Anthracothorax
dominicus), the querebebé (Chordeiles
gundlachii), best heard at dusk, and
the cu-cú (Athene cunicularia),
which sings at night and dawn and excavates
a hole in the desert for its nest.
In
the northwest the Montecristi
national park, on the Haitian border,
contains marine and land ecosystems, the
coastal Laguna de Saladillo, dry
subtropical forest and the Cayos Siete
Hermanos. In the southwest, the Sierra
de Bahoruco is a forested highland
which has, among other plants, 52 percent
of the orchids found in the Republic; it
also has many species of birds. At the
southernmost tip of Barahona, also in the
southwest, is Jaragua national park,
which includes the Isla Beata; on the
mainland it is principally dry forest. Also
designated national parks are a number of
panoramic roads, botanical and zoological
gardens (such as those in Santo Domingo,
see below), aquaria and recreational parks,
and sites of historic interest (La Vega
Vieja and La Isabela).
The
Reservas Científicas include lakes,
patches of forest and the Banco de la Plata
(Silver Banks), to which hump-backed whales
migrate yearly from the Arctic for the
birth of their young. Trips are organized
to see the whales on about 50 boats;
contact the DNP.
National
Parks have been
established in Lago Enriquillo;
the Bahía de Calderas is now a
national monument to protect the ecosystem
in the dunes of Las Salinas, the largest
sand dunes in the Caribbean; the Bahía
de Luperón (Puerto Plata) and Cascada
del Limón (Samaná) are also national
monuments; Laguna Rincón in the
east is now a Refugio de Fauna Silvestre;
also created was the Reserva Antropológica
de las Cuevas de las Maravillas in Boca
de Soco, 15 kilometres along the Carretera
San Pedro de Macorís on the way to La
Romana. Several ‘vías panorámicas’
were created along scenic routes and El
Puerto – Guaigui, Playa Andrés, Boca
Chica and Cayo Levantado were designated
Areas Nacionales de Recreo.
The
Reserva Antropológica de las Cuevas de
Borbón was extended in 1996 to protect the
El Pomier caves, in San Cristóbal,
under threat from limestone quarrying. The
caves are of enormous archaeological value,
with over 4,000 wall paintings and 5,000
rock drawings. Cave No 1 contains 590
pictograms, making it superior to any other
cave painting site in the Caribbean. The
caves also house large numbers of bats.
The
Jardín Botánico Nacional and the Museo de
Historia Natural, Santo Domingo, have a
full classification of the Republic’s
flora. Of interest are the 67 types and 300
species of orchid found in this part of
Hispaniola; there are a number of gardens
which specialize in their cultivation. The
most popular are Oncidium henekenii,
Polyradicium lindenii and Leonchilus
labiatus. The Jardín Botánico holds
an orchid show each year. The national
plant is the caoba (mahogany). There is a
wide variety of palms, some of which grow
only on Hispaniola.
The
Dominican Republic is becoming a popular
bird watching destination. The national
bird is the cotica parrot, which is green,
very talkative and a popular pet. It is,
however, protected. Among other birds that
can be seen, apart from those mentioned
above, are other parrots, hummingbirds, the
guaraguao (hawk type of bird), the
barrancolí and the flautero.
Of
the island’s mammals, the hutia, an
endemic rodent, is endangered. Similarly in
peril is the manatee, which may be seen at
Estero Hondo.
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