Land Management
Throughout the project Adopters were able to call upon the knowledge of the Project Officers representing the Montserrat National Trust, Department of Environment and Department of Agriculture. The videos filmed at the Adopt a Home for Wildlife Sites contained a lot of this knowledge, which we have extracted here in some bite-sized tutorials. Additionally, some of the lessons learned from the Adopters are shared.
Importance of vegetation near streams
Control of mango trees
Ajhermae White, Department of Environment explains why it is important to have vegetation near to rivers. They protect the banks, provide leaf letter for organisms in the rivers or streams and more.
Elvis Gerard explains why it is important to control mango trees after a growing season and the best way to do this. Mangos are an important nutritious and cultural food source on Montserrat. They are also considered to be invasive as they can spread quickly. Therefore, advice on how to control them is preferable.
Using fast growing grasses
Importance of cutting and correct tools
Mr Cassell shares some of the uses of plants on his site, including fast growing grasses. They can grow to 6ft tall within a matter of weeks in Montserrat’s tropical climate. After drying them out on a heap for about 9months, they can then be used as a mulch which can be used around the base of plants to retain moisture and prevent weeds from growing back.
Tools provided by the project are discussed here as they can facilitate the management of taller trees which block out sunlight and limit understory. Mr Cassell talks about coco and heliconia flowers which shoot up in a matter of weeks as soon as they get some light. The heliconias are used in a successful flower displays business on island.
Restoring Tropical Dry Forest: Saplings
Restoring Tropical Dry Forest: Self seeding
Here, Adopter, Tim shows some of the progress on his site. After a year of good shade and good amounts of water the white cedar saplings have flourished.
Tim shows some of the self seeded plants that he is carefully nurturing. Neem trees are highly invasive and grow tall in a short space of time. They are providing shade for the self seeded plants and once they become established Tim explains that he will begin ring-barking them.