PAGE UNDER ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT
This collection of images comes from many contributors, including people who worked with the organization when it was still a Division. The earliest photos date to the early 1960s, when U.S. Peace Corps volunteer Rolfe Leary was assigned to Saint Lucia in 1961 and William G. Lang served as Forestry Supervisor. Additional early images were contributed by Peter Lang, William’s son. Later photos came from the collections of Paul Butler, other visiting Peace Corps volunteers, and, more recently, staff members. We hope you enjoy these memories and welcome contributions to our Forestry Stories.
Prior to 1970
The Original Guardians
This collection features staff from the Forestry Division’s first 30 years, beginning with the recruitment of William G. Lang from Grenada in 1946. Lang served as Forest Supervisor until his retirement in 1971. He was supported at the senior management level by George Durrant Glasgow, Archibald Gajadhar, and Gabriel “Coco” Charles. After Lang retired, George Glasgow took over management, followed temporarily by David Moore, a UK forester, the-then Conservator of Forests for Trinidad and Tobago who was assigned to Saint Lucia to help implement the first forest management plan. Gabriel Charles succeeded Lang in 1972. Forest officers included Joseph Clarke, Gonzague Carasco, Gregor Hall, Emmaneul Theodore, and Lawerence Antoine, while Stanley John, Leonard Cherbin, and Kenneth Kerr served as forest guards.
The period from 1948 to the late 1970s were xxxx
The images below were contributed by Rolfe Leary who was a United States Peace Corps volunteer, during his time in Saint Lucia. He was based in the newly constructed forestry resthouse at Edmund Forest.
1970s to 1990s
This collection features the staff and workers from the late 1970s into the mid to late 1990s. This was the era of support from the Canadian government to the Forestry Division starting from 1982 where significant investment was made in the development of technical capacity among the staff to better manage the forest resource in the application of silvicultural practice. This was under the Forestry Management Project that ran until 1992. During those days, banana production was widespread, serving as the basis for the rapid economic development the country experienced during this period. However, bananas were cultivated well into the mountainous interior where forests on private lands were extensively cleared for the crop with many areas within the forest reserves squatted upon by landless farmers who destroyed the forest to grow bananas. This era saw the high-profile development of the wildlife conservation programme with efforts centred on the conservation of the St. Lucia Amazon (St. Lucia Parrot) that by the late 1970s had been reduced significantly in numbers to just over an estimated 100 or so birds remaining in the wild. Several overseas-based conservation organizations worked closely with the Division to conserve the parrot, while other programmes were launched on conservation of the endangered St. Lucia Whiptail and the St. Lucia Thrasher, the other important conservation priorities. This period also saw the development of forest-based eco-tourism, the first examples in the Eastern Caribbean. Several United States Peace Corps volunteers were assigned to work with the Forestry Division on various conservation initiatives during that time. By the mid-1990s the Forestry Division has been upgraded to a Department within the Ministry of Agriculture.
Several of the younger staff who are featured in this collection worked into the late 1990s.
At the time of the above photo in 1980, Peter Josie was the Minister of Agriculture and David Demacque was the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry.
Staff at the Forestry Division headquarters in George V Park, Castries in 1981 (photo source: Forestry Dept.)
Staff field trip 1981 (source: D. Whitman)
Staff field trip 1981 (source: D. Whitman)
Peace Corps volunteer, wildlife researcher with Forestry Division staff at Quilesse, 1982? (source: P. Butler)
Soufriere Range workers, 1982
Forestry Division staff at social outing, mid-1980s (source: Forestry Dept.)
Departmental meeting with Canadian forestry project management team members, early 1980s (source: Forestry Dept.)
These are an assortment of photos of the staff at the headquarters of the then Forestry Division that was located in the King George V Park in Castries. The building was originally the Curator’s Office for the Botanical Gardens that was established by the Colonial Government in the late 1800s.
Forestry Division office staff, mid-1980s
To support the forestry management operations, mainly related to establishment of forest plantations to stabilize slopes that have been deforested, and to provide commercial timber, a nursery was established by William G. Lang, the Forestry Supervisor, within the agricultural estate of the Ministry of Agriculture at Union. A small zoo was also installed adjacent to the forest nursery to house a small collection of native wildlife. The photo below is of the staff of the Union forest nursery that at the time was managed by Monica Bodley. George ‘Zoo’ Antoine was the zookeeper.
Workers at the Union Forestry Nursery and zoo
Staff field trip with Canadian silvicultural expert, late 1980s
The photo gallery are of the staff over the late 1980s through to the mid 1990s.
The Canadian-funded Forestry Management Project final phase wrapped up by 1992 with an expanded staff complement with increased capacity.
Forestry and Lands Department at a ministry-wide rereat at Desruisseaux in 1994. The minister of agriculture at the time Ira d’Auvergne is in the centre (#16). Brian James was the Chief Forestry Officer (#14) (source: Forestry Dept.)
2000s to present
This era xxxx
This the Department staff at [year]
