Bahamas National Trust

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The Bahamas National Trust is a non-profit organisation in the Bahamas that manages the country's 32 national parks. [1] Its headquarters is located in New Providence in the Bay Street Business Centre, East Bay Street. Its office was formally located at The Retreat Gardens on Village Road. The Bahamas National Trust was created by an Act of Parliament in 1959, through the efforts of two groups of conservationists.

Contents

History

Flamingos

In the early 20th century there was concern for the survival of the Caribbean flamingo. The National Audubon Society of the United States urged the Bahamas government to protect the flamingos, which led to passage of the Wildbirds (Protection) Act in 1905.

In the early 1950s, Audubon expert Robert Porter Allen scoured the Caribbean searching for flamingos. In his popular book, On the Trail of Vanishing Birds, Allen found that the colonies on the island of Andros in the Bahamas had already disappeared. He determined that the largest surviving group of Caribbean flamingos inhabited the isolated back-waters of Lake Rosa on Inagua. That is where Allen and the Audubon Society decided to make a stand. A group of influential backers was recruited in Nassau to form a Society for the Protection of the Flamingo, with Arthur Vernay as its leader. Two wardens were hired on Inagua, brothers Samuel and James Nixon, and Audubon helped finance the entire operation.

Exuma cays

Explorer Ilia Tolstoy (also known as Ilya Andreyevich Tolstoy, grandson of the 19th century Russian writer and a frequent visitor to the Bahamas) had been lobbying the colonial government to set aside some Bahamian islands as protected areas. In 1957 the government agreed to temporarily reserve a 22-mile (35 km) stretch of the Exuma cays, providing that some group would explore the possibility of creating a national park and make concrete recommendations. Meanwhile, Columbia University graduate Carleton Ray had written a book on The Bahamas called The Underwater Guide to Marine Life, which recommended the protection of marine areas in the same way that land areas were protected. Ray teamed up with Tolstoy to mount a new Bahamian expedition, to the Exuma cays, which was organised by January 1958. Allen and other well-known conservationists, including Donald Squires of the American Museum of Natural History and Bahamian experts Oris Russell and Herbert McKinney, were part of the team. They spent a week travelling by boat from Norman's Cay to Conch Cut and their report led to the creation of the world's first land and sea park in the Exumas, as well as to the formation of the Bahamas National Trust itself.

They concluded that the area had "essentially unspoiled natural conditions with unmodified associations of plants, animals, earth processes, and those intangible elements that combine to give an area its outstanding character", and that "the Exuma Cays park under consideration should be regarded as only the beginning of a conservation movement that is vital to the Bahamas as a whole. It will also be a beginning of a new concept, integrated land-and-sea conservation, in which the Bahamas will take the lead and show the way to other nations throughout the world."

The survey team called for an organisation modelled on the British National Trust to acquire lands and manage protected areas throughout the Bahamas. This organisation - which was created by parliament in 1959 - would be the government's advisor on conservation matters and seek to educate Bahamians on the value of their natural heritage. The government adopted the expedition's recommendations wholesale and the 176-square-mile (460 km2) Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, the first of its kind in the world, was officially established, and The Bahamas National Trust was created as an independent statutory organization charged with conservation and preservation.

The BNTs governing council includes government, private sector and scientific representatives. In addition to overseeing the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, The Bahamas National Trust also took over responsibility for the endangered flamingos on Inagua. Over the years since the BNT has built a national parks system that incorporates 25 protected areas totalling over 700,000 acres (2,833 km2) on land and in the sea.

List of national parks in the Bahamas

The Bahamas national park system protects many unique features, critical habitats and endangered species. Highlights include the world's largest breeding colony of Caribbean flamingos, miles of underwater cave systems and the first no-take marine reserves in the wider Caribbean.

Abaco
Andros
Conception Island
Crooked Island
Eleuthera
Exuma
Grand Bahama
Inagua
New Providence

Related Research Articles

The Bahamas Country in North America

The Bahamas, known officially as the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is a country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the archipelago's population. The archipelagic state consists of more than 700 islands, cays, and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, and is located north of Cuba and northwest of the island of Hispaniola and the Turks and Caicos Islands, southeast of the American state of Florida, and east of the Florida Keys. The capital is Nassau on the island of New Providence. The Royal Bahamas Defence Force describes The Bahamas' territory as encompassing 470,000 km2 (180,000 sq mi) of ocean space.

The Lucayanpeople were the original residents of the Bahamas before the European conquest of the Americas. They were a branch of the Tainos who inhabited most of the Caribbean islands at the time. The Lucayans were the first indigenous Americans encountered by Christopher Columbus. Shortly after contact, the Spanish kidnapped and enslaved Lucayans, with the genocide culminating in complete eradication of Lucayan people from the Bahamas by 1520.

Andros, Bahamas

Andros Island is an archipelago within the Bahamas, the largest of the Bahamian Islands. Politically considered a single island, Andros in total has an area greater than all the other 700 Bahamian islands combined. The land area of Andros consists of hundreds of small islets and cays connected by mangrove estuaries and tidal swamplands, together with three major islands: North Andros, Mangrove Cay, and South Andros. The three main islands are separated by "bights", estuaries that trifurcate the island, connecting the island's east and west coasts. It is 167 kilometres (104 mi) long by 64 km (40 mi) wide at the widest point.

Abaco Islands Group of islands in the Bahamas

The Abaco Islands lie in the northern Bahamas, 180 miles off the South Florida coast. They comprise the main islands of Great Abaco and Little Abaco, along with smaller barrier cays. The northernmost are Walker's Cay, and its sister island Grand Cay. To the south, the next inhabited islands are Spanish Cay and Green Turtle Cay, with its settlement of New Plymouth, Great Guana Cay, private Scotland Cay, Man-O-War Cay, and Elbow Cay, with its settlement of Hope Town. Southernmost are Tilloo Cay and Lubbers Quarters. Another of note off Abaco's western shore is onetime Gorda Cay, now a Disney Island and cruise ship stop and renamed Castaway Cay. Also in the vicinity is Moore's Island. On the Big Island of Abaco is Marsh Harbour, the Abacos' commercial hub and the Bahamas' third largest city, plus the resort area of Treasure Cay. Both have airports. A few mainland settlements of significance are Coopers Town and Fox Town in the north and Cherokee and Sandy Point in the south. Administratively, the Abaco Islands constitute seven of the 31 Local Government Districts of the Bahamas: Grand Cay, North Abaco, Green Turtle Cay, Central Abaco, South Abaco, Moore's Island, and Hope Town.

Exuma Place in Bahamas

Exuma is a district of the Bahamas, consisting of over 365 islands, also called cays.

University of the Bahamas

The University of The Bahamas (UB) is the national public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas with campuses throughout the archipelago. The main campus is located in the capital city of Nassau, on the island of New Providence.

Northern Bahamian rock iguana Species of lizard

The northern Bahamian rock iguana is a species of lizard of the genus Cyclura that is found on Andros Island and the Exuma islands in the Bahamas. Its status on the IUCN Red List is vulnerable, with a wild population of less than 5,000 animals.

Bahamian hutia Species of rodent

The Bahamian hutia or Ingraham's hutia is a species of hutia in the subfamily Capromyinae native to the Bahamas. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and rocky areas.

<i>Cyclura cychlura inornata</i> Subspecies of lizard

Cyclura cychlura inornata, the Allen Cays rock iguana or Allen Cays iguana, is a subspecies of the northern Bahamian rock iguana that is found on Allen's Cay and adjacent islands in the Bahamas. Its status in the IUCN Red List is critically endangered, with an estimated wild population of 482–632 animals.

<i>Cyclura cychlura figginsi</i> Subspecies of lizard

'Cyclura cychlura figginsi, known by the common name of guana and sometimes called the Exuma Island iguana in the international literature, is a subspecies of the northern rock iguana, C. cychlura, that is found on the Exuma island chain in the Bahamas with an estimated wild population of 1,300 animals in 2004, it has been listed on the IUCN Red List as critically endangered.

Outline of the Bahamas Overview of and topical guide to The Bahamas

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to The Bahamas:

Walkers Cay

Walker's Cay is the northernmost island in the Bahamas, part of the North Abaco district. Once a popular sport fishing location, the island has been deserted since 2004, following severe hurricane damage. The island is currently undergoing renovation under new ownership.

Index of Bahamas-related articles Wikipedia list article

The following is an alphabetical list of topics related to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park

The Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park is a protected area in the Exuma Cays of the Bahamas. The protected area extends from Shroud Cay in the north to Bell Cay in the south. The vegetation consists of mangrove communities, with the east sides being clad in low scrub and the western sides with taller scrub. There are many epiphytic orchids and bromeliads.

The Bahamas is a net importer of food, importing almost 90% of its food supply. Of food imports, 80% are from the United States.

Charles Clifford Gordon Chaplin (1906–1991) was an American ichthyologist and author of British origins.

Staniel Cay

Staniel Cay is an island located in The Exuma Cays, a district of The Bahamas.

West Side National Park National park

West Side National Park is a national park covering the western half of Andros, the Bahamas, and the surrounding waters. The park was established in 2002 and, after being expanded in 2012, has an area of 1,500,000 acres (6,070 km2), being one of the largest protected areas in the region. The park is regarded as a marine protected area, which includes tidal creeks and coastal mangrove forest, as well as an expansive coastal zone.

Pelican Cays Land and Sea Park

Pelican Cays Land and Sea Park is a national park in Central Abaco, the Abaco Islands, the Bahamas. The park was established in 1972 and has an area of 2,100 acres (8 km2). The park's marine environment contains an extensive coral reef and undersea cave habitat, which provide opportunities for snorkelling and underwater diving.

References

  1. ↑ Balfour, Amy C. (2008), "The Bahamas", Caribbean Islands (5th ed.), Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd, p.  83, ISBN   978-1-74059-575-9 .
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