Efforts to Establish a National Park on Barbados
Proposed Park, Incorporating Graeme Hall, Needs Government Action
Oct 22, 2009
The south coast of Barbados, from the capital, Bridgetown, to the airport, is densely populated and congested. Within this area, only one significant green space remains, and most of this is targeted for development.
The Island Nation of Barbados
Barbados, positioned at the far eastern end of the Caribbean, is washed by both the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Long a major tourist destination, Barbados still reflects its British colonial heritage, mixed with the color and dialect of the Caribbean. The island consists of less than 200 square miles of rolling hills, sugar cane fields and mahogany trees. Rum may have been invented here, and is the island's best known product.
With all of its natural beauty, there are few dedicated parks on Barbados, and limited green space is quickly losing ground to development, especially in the more-crowded south. The premier nature park and bird-watching haven on the island, located between Bridgetown and the airport, is the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary, now closed to the public.
The Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary
Retired conservation philanthropist Peter Allard purchased a 35-acre parcel within the Graeme Hall Swamp watershed, and spent 15 years and 35 million dollars developing the property into a sanctuary. In April, 2004, the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary opened to the public, and quickly became a major attraction for both tourists and residents of Barbados.
Between Bridgetown and Oistins, the site is the last significant mangrove and sedge swamp on Barbados, and contains Tarpon Lake, boardwalks, aviaries and observation points. It supported environmental education programs as well as scientific research and breeding programs for endangered parrots. Unfortunately, a number of factors external to and beyond the control of the Sanctuary irreparably damaged the core capital investment, resulting in closure of the Sanctuary on December 15, 2008. According to Stuart Heaslet, a Sanctuary director and spokesman for Mr. Allard, these factors, which continue, include external pollution and pesticide runoff, government failure to maintain the primary sluice gate and manage wetland water levels and government plans to develop the wetland buffer area.
Although closed to the public, the Sanctuary remains accessible to university students and scientists, as well as special functions. Re-opening the Sanctuary to the public depends upon government action to address those factors negatively impacting the Sanctuary.
Prior to closing, Mr. Allard and other directors of the Sanctuary worked closely with The Friends of Graeme Hall in an effort to have the Sanctuary incorporated into a larger national park. The proposed park would include the remaining (and publicly owned) wetlands, as well as surrounding upland agricultural and governmental property.
The Friends of Graeme Hall and the Graeme Hall Swamp Wetland
The Friends of Graeme Hall (FOGH) is a charitable, non-profit and non-governmental organization (NGO) that is dedicated to protecting the environmentally sensitive wetlands containing the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary. FOGH is also the primary organization supporting the proposed 240-acre national park. More than 6,000 citizens of Barbados have signed a petition calling on the government to create Graeme Hall National Park, both to insure protection of the sensitive wetlands as well as to provide much-needed park and recreation area for south island residents.
The Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary is a Barbados National Environmental Heritage Site, and part of the 81-acre Graeme Hall Swamp Wetland. The wetland and watershed area is the last major mangrove woodland on the island, and is an important resting area for birds migrating between North and South America. In 2006, the 81-acre wetland was also designated a Ramsar site, officially identifying it under the Convention on Wetlands Treaty as a wetland of international importance.
The Proposed Graeme Hall National Park
The original National Physical Development Plan preserved and protected the area within the 240-acre proposed park, but since 1988, these protections have steadily eroded as development protagonists gained strength. Proposed amendments to the Physical Development Plan would limit the protected area to the 82-acre Ramsar wetland, and allow commercial and residential development of the important surrounding area.
The only apparent way to prevent this development, and to prevent the irretrievable loss of this remaining south coast green space, is through the establishment of the proposed national park. Achieving this national park depends primarily on the Government of Barbados, which would designate the park, protect it and provide management and oversight. Success would also involve cooperative partnership with FOGH, to provide citizen oversight, as well as fund-raising, and with Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary for the acquisition of the 35-acre privately-owned property.
What Interested Parties Can do to Help Establish the Graeme Hall National Park
Conservationists, tourists to Barbados, and others concerned with the closure of Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary, and who support the proposed national park, can contact The Friends of Graeme Hall (FOGH). Opportunities exist to work with FOGH to communicate support for the park and individual concerns to the government and leaders of Barbados.
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