Number: 2005-09
Puerto Rican Karst Protection WHEREAS, with more than 1,100 persons/square mile, the karst region of Puerto Rico is threatened by urban development that could permanently damage important aquifers supplying fresh water, critical wildlife habitat, and the most diverse tropical ecosystems within the Caribbean United States; and
WHEREAS, the Puerto Rican karst region contains the Commonwealth’s largest continuous mature tropical forest, sustains Puerto Rico’s largest coastal wetland and estuary, and includes one of the world’s longest traversable underground rivers, the Rio Encantado; and
WHEREAS, severe declines in Neotropical migratory birds are due in part to the destruction of their wintering habitats in tropical America; and
WHEREAS, the karst region is critical habitat for over 110 Neotropical migrant species that find their wintering grounds in Puerto Rico; and
WHEREAS, the Puerto Rican karst region holds populations of at least 34 federally threatened and endangered species: 10 avian, 1 reptile, 1 frog, and 22 plants species. The protection of such an important habitat, the only known habitat of some threatened and endangered species, could potentially represent the down-listing and eventual removal of many of them from the federal endangered species list; and
WHEREAS, the karst belt is extremely diverse, and its multiple landforms, concentrated in such a small area, make it unique in the world; and
WHEREAS, the Puerto Rican karst region is one of the few places in the world where geological formations known as zanjones are found; and
WHEREAS, tropical karst comparable to that found in Puerto Rico is found nowhere else in the United States or its territories; and
WHEREAS, current land use trends make the karst region vulnerable to irreversible damage; and
WHEREAS, Commonwealth and federal agencies, as well as many local non-governmental organizations, have committed to work together for the protection of the karst because of its importance as a natural area; and
WHEREAS, the landscapes in Puerto Rican karst are not found anywhere else in the United States; and Puerto Rican karst is a critical wildlife habitat for many Neotropical migratory birds and federal endangered species; and
WHEREAS, the Puerto Rican karst possesses extraordinary ecological diversity, including the habitats of endangered and threatened species, and is therefore, an area of critical value for research in tropical forest management and the ecological services that it provides cannot be duplicated elsewhere in the highly urbanized island;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, at its annual meeting assembled April 1-2, 2005, in Washington D.C., hereby urges that a substantially greater portion of Puerto Rico’s karst forest watershed be protected under the public domain, and support the protection of the Puerto Rican karst; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation supports the protection of Puerto Rico’s karst forest by both public and private means.