Bridging El Yunque National Forest and Espiritu Santo Nature Reserve: A proposal for developing a Floodplain Green Corridor in Northeast Puerto Rico

Background/Question/Methods

Urban sprawl has promoted, since the mid-twentieth century, a conflict regarding land use and management.  This problem has caused unprecedented change in land use resulting in drastic vegetation cover reduction, affecting the ecosystem services provided by the region’s natural resources. Specifically, in the last two decades, Northeast Puerto Rico has witnessed a higher rate of land use change.  The buffer zone of El Yunque National Forest has been host to several residential/tourist developments that have affected the social and ecological functions provided by the forest.  The goal of this study is to establish a policy framework to protect El Yunque Buffer Zone from urban sprawl, using an integrated planning approach, in order to develop a Biological Corridor within the floodplain of the Espiritu Santo River, linking the highlands and the coastal plain. The Espiritu Santo River’s headwaters commence at El Yunque and meet the ocean at the Espiritu Santo Nature Reserve.  In this project we performed an historical land use analysis in the Espiritu Santo Watershed using aerial photos, GIS, and analysis of Puerto Rico land-use regulations.  For the social aspect of this research, a survey analyzing the public perception of the proposed corridor was conducted.

Results/Conclusions

The study focuses on interdisciplinary work, integrating socio-ecological aspects and public policy issues.  The preliminary result showed that 100% of those surveyed found appropriate the development of the proposed corridor.  Of these, 85% stated they believed this would be a positive development and 15% do not know how the proposed corridor would impact them.  When asking about construction of recreation trails along the corridor, 79% of those surveyed found this highly convenient, while 18% indicated that it would be convenient, and 3% indicated that it would be irrelevant to them. Preliminary land use analysis revealed that in 1977 the forest area coverage within the watershed was 47.59% and the urban area represented 7.26%.  In the year 2010, 62.35% of the land was forested, while 10.73% was considered urban.  Most of the land along the river is under private ownership, as the preliminary recommendation for design of the corridor involves the implementation of conservation easements.  Under the legal framework of Puerto Rico, conservation easements establish an agreement between landowners and a government agency or NGO in order to protect an area of natural or cultural value with the intent to protect it to perpetuity.