Saint Lucia Forestry Stories: Michael Andrew “Reflections on the forestry days”

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Michael ‘Jahba’ Andrew Forestry [designation] 1979-1983, Range Officer 1983-1995, Deputy Chief Forestry Officer, 1995-2008, Chief Forestry Officer 2008-year. Saint Lucia Forestry Department

Compiled from an interview with Christopher Cox, September 2024

It was an interesting start to my career in forestry in Saint Lucia.  After leaving St. Mary’s College I attended the Union Agricultural College as my goal was to become an agricultural extension office.  At the time the principal of the school was a one Mr Northridge if I recall correctly and he was supported by his deputy, Marie-Louise Reid.  To be considered to enter as an extension officer with the Ministry of Agriculture, I had to be interviewed; by that time I was already an Rastafarian and at the very interview I was advised that I could not be considered as it was ‘feared’ that I may have an adverse influence on the children in the farming communities possibly leading them to convert to Rasta!  In those days Rastafarians were persecuted not only in Saint Lucia, but across the Caribbean for being accused of anti-establishment and promoting the use of marijuana among others.  I quipped, “well, put me somewhere where people will not see me”…Northridge immediately scribbled in response, “FORESTRY”.  I was fine with this as I had also studied forestry at the school where Gabriel ‘Coco’ aka ‘Charlo’ Charles, the Forestry Supervisor (head of the Forestry Division) used to lecture on principles of forestry to which I had taken an interest and did well in his classes.

With this assignment and under acceptance to the Forestry Division by Gabriel Charles, I reported on 1^st August 1979 to the Division’s office that was situated, along with the Ministry of Agriculture, on the ground floor of the Price Control Building (of the Ministry of Commerce) in Castries. However, my first day was not a good experience. The first person I encountered that morning was the deputy to the Forestry Supervisor, Archibald ‘Archie’ Gajadhar.  He asked me why I was there where in response I said that I am reporting for work.  He responded that I was in the wrong place and told me to wait outside as I could not be inside.  Charlo shortly came by and seeing me outside asked why I was waiting outside and I explained that I was sent out. Charlo explained to Gajadhar that I was indeed a new hire and number one student from the college, chastising Gajadhar. 

From Charlo’s tiny cubicle office he assigned me to a crew that was assigned to the Northern Range, the tracts of forests that encompasses the La Sorcière to Piton Flore mountains and their flanks adjacent to the communities of Desbarras, Fond Assau, Forestiere, Marc.  The crew included Robert Gregg, Winston Desir, Leo Dusauzay, Vincent ‘Style’ Ernest, Patrick ‘Ima’ Charles and Alexander Forde.  Now is a funny thing, in those days, acceptance was an issue…even to ride in the forestry pick-up, I was told that I had to sit in the open cab in the back and could not sit inside…I wanted the job so I put up with it!   I figured, well, cool…once we got out of the city and settlement areas I had open air to light up my joint!  That was at the start but eventually that passed.

Early days on the job…

I started to become familiar with the various areas in the Northern Range like Marc,  Forestiere, Louvet, Desbarras, among others.  The work in these days focussed mostly on patrolling the forest reserve areas to stop the illegal squatting in the reserves where squatters would clear the forest to establish cultivations in small patches in many locations. The practice in steep mountainous areas, inevitably led to massive soil loss and landslides with problems downstream in terms of flooding, along with impacts to wildlife.  The work of the Forestry Division was to expel the squatters and reforest these lands.  Among the most affected areas and suffered the greatest destruction in my view was at Marc (in the eastern slopes from Forestiere down to the Cul de Sac River).  At Marc there were various areas that were degraded such as Y.D. Lima, Enbas Saut where there was much dasheene cultivation that replaced the forest. As these places were naturally very wet and combined with the clayey soil type these areas were every prone to landslides.  In this area there was a massive landslide in 1985 or 86 that stripped way the entire topsoil exposing the sub-surface rock layer. It was interesting as the rock gave the appearance of gold, a false gold, but people thought it was indeed gold because of the minerals contained in the rock.  I recall having to access the head of the slide that was close to blue mahoe trees and sensing that the soil was still sinking. As a result, most of the work was dedicated to reforestation using Blue Mahoe, Honduras mahogany and Caribbean Pine…at that time there was no consideration  for use of native indigenous forest species – the emphasis was on getting the fastest growing trees to stabilize the soil as quickly as possible.

Sometime later a directive was issued to map all the forest plantations that had been established within the forest reserves.  This work was assisted with the help of a Peace Corps Volunteer by the name of David Whitman. Myself in the lead with Patrick ‘Ima’ Charles assigned to the task, worked with David to map the plantations island-wide, starting in 1980 first at Edmund Forest in Quilesse Range, that had the most expansive man-made forest in within the reserve areas.  We were trained up by David in the use of basic surveying tools, the Suunto clinometer and compass.  I would do the surveying and measurement work and Ima would do the drafting and map work, given his ‘artistic’ talents.  We used to stay for days on a stretch over six months, staying at the Edmund Forest House.  We surveyed the oldest Honduras Mahogany plantations on the island at Quilesse that had been established between 1936 and 1940.  By that time, given the age of the trees, they were massive and stood 80 to 90 feet tall.  Plantation surveys were also done at in the Quilesse Range up from Desruisseaux where there was a large plantation of Blue Mahoe.  Once done with the plantation surveys at Quilesse, we moved to the Dennery Range to survey the extensive mahogany plantations that were also established there. We would leave Castries by 6:30am to get to La Sorcière where there were large tracts of mahogany plantations, at lower Piton Flore on the Dennery side, where there were Blue Mahoe plantations.  Following this we moved to the Northern Range wrapping up the assignment within a year.

Northern Range…management and mentorship

Shortly thereafter, I left to study forestry at the Eastern Caribbean Institute of Agriculture and Forestry (ECIAF) in Trinidad from 1981 to 1983. There were three of us who went; was accompanied by Alexander Forde and Ananias Vernieul.  It was a great experience; among the academics we participated in the sporting life at the school…cricket and football.  On return in June 1983, I was appointed as Range Officer to the Northern Range.  My mission from there was to start building the capacity of the officers under my management imparting the knowledge gained from ECIAF; Robert Gregg, Winston Desir, Leo Dusauzay, Vincent ‘Style’ Ernest, Patrick ‘Ima’ Charles and Gloria Mortley.  Every week I would assign reading material on different forestry themes to the team and on Fridays we would have discussion sessions; this would be done at the forestry rest house at Forestiere.

We placed more emphasis on topics like silviculture, fire management, shelterwood systems that were less familiar to them but important concepts to equip them with a more holistic perspective and knowledge on forestry.  The improvement was obvious when the teams had to do environmental outreach to communities and were able to impart their knowledge.  Another management approach we applied among the team was assigning to specific areas within the Range; namely Marc, Forestiere, Chassin and Desbarras-Louvet.  I took responsibility for monitoring work in the Desbarras-Louvet area, working with Mathius St. Marie, an experienced worker from Desbarras who had great familiarity of this area that also had a healthy population of the feared St. Lucia Viper, known locally as ‘sepan’ or fer-de-lance…with him, there were no worries about snakes!

Over time we as a team shaped management objectives for the various assigned areas and evolved separately to what used to be the overall forest management plan that was prepared by John Arthur (Ian) Goodlet back in 1970. I recall that the plan itself was a blue hard-covered publication in two parts; the management plan section with an appendix that included data.  Over time the forestry division never really used the management plan, the work evolved mainly in response to management needs that arose at the time.  It was only after the Canadian Forestry Project that was initiated from 1982 where more relevant comprehensive 10-year forest management plans were developed in 1984 and then 1992 that these planning tools because the basis for management planning and budget allocations to support work programmes.  Even so, it took some doing to entrain annual planning and management to follow the management recommendations from these forestry plans. On the other hand, work in wildlife conservation enjoyed quite more prominence and structure given the conservation urgency and the capacity contributions to the forestry division in these days, particularly on the conservation of the endangered St. Lucia Parrot.

In Northern Range we would carry out operations to maintain the health and productivity of existing forest plantations, we also carried out monitoring on the native forest species.  We established small research plots to understand how the native species would reclaim the area once deforested or replanted in a longer-term effort to bring the composition of the forest back to the original biodiversity, or some semblance of it.  This effort remained somewhat limited taking a backseat to more pressing management issues that may have come up.  Nonetheless with the built capacity in Northern Range we were able to assist the other ranges where challenges were faced to give advice and guidance.

I got involved in the forest inventory and boundary survey work when I was attending ECIAF.  In 1982 when I had come back to St Lucia during the six-week break, I used the forestry inventory and boundary line data to prepare one of my major school papers I had to present.  I elaborated the methodologies used to survey and establish the forest reserve boundaries by Robert ‘Bob’ Harris, a Canadian surveyor, retained under the CIDA Forestry Project to survey the forest reserve boundary lines.

Research

One of the priorities at the time was to address deforestation that was caused by the demand for fuelwood.  This was before the widespread availability of propane gas cookers.  Charlo was particularly interested is finding solutions and the Forestry division invested in securing fast-growing species that was ideal to be used as a fuelwood substitute rather than the native forest species.  This is the reason what leucaena was imported into Saint Lucia and was eventually established within seven or eight plots in various locations across the island; Soufriere, Choiseul, Dennery, Mandelé, Union, Louvet, where we experimented with the K8 variety [confirm] that was one of the fastest-growing varieties.  Data on growth rates and yield were collected on a periodic basis from all these plots.  The data from these research plots were central to a paper I prepared and delivered in 1986 at an OECS [or OAS?] regional workshop on fuelwood that was convened in Saint Lucia [confused with the OECS or OAS and the FAO workshop and the outcomes…clarify].   I recall times when we were measuring the leucaena plots at Louvet and Mandelé in Dennery when unbeknownst to us, the ‘long and strongs’ (St. Lucia Viper or fer-de-lance snake) would be right next to us.  On at least two occasions while Vincent ‘Style’ Ernest and myself were collecting data we would suddenly notice movement of what we thought were sticks amongst the brush, only to realize that they were fer-de-lance; where in a flash we’d drop all and take a flying leap out of whatever tree were measuring and ‘pelt’ away. In these areas we would always ensure that the brush was clear of snakes ahead of doing our work.

Over the years since its introduction into St. Lucia leucaena has however become a terrible invasive plant in many parts of the island spreading out from its original establishment. I should add though this had much to do with how the plantations were managed whereby the appropriate measures were to have been taken to restrict flowering and seeding so that the plant does not spread. To maintain control now would require significant investment in managing the issue; a problem we need to address but also do it in a manner that is environmentally safe. [note there is info that there is an issue with a particular variety re invasiveness – to check]

On the research on native species, along with Style and Ima we reassessed growth in the natural forest sample plots and by the time Lyndon John joined in 1986 he was sometime thereafter assigned the responsibility for monitoring when he assumed the position as Research Officer to lead with the monitoring.  Another significant investment that I pushed was that into the Latanyé palm, an indigenous palm that grows mainly within the dry coastal forests along the east of the island that have been traditionally used for broom-making.  This effort commenced after I returned from my university studies in Canada at the University of New Brunswick in 1994. 

 I came back from university in 1994 and resumed for some time the supervisory work of Northern Range.  Among the first places that I set foot back on in my return was Louvet, to the surprise of some as apparently some the patrol and maintenance work had not being carried on in the intervening years.  I recall we had to do some maintenance work on the plantations that were established in the area, for example at the logging bay at a place called Gommier, from where much local timber was extracted and hauled out using the tractor that was operated by Julius Georges.  This local timber was destined for conversion into wood products by Timbershed.  We did enrichment planting in these areas that were logged, where the native species with low commercial value were replaced with species such as mahogany that had a higher value in terms of use for timber.  In the Northern Range the other place that was done was at Forestiere.

By 1995 I became Deputy Chief Forestry Officer working with Brian James who was the Chief Forestry Officer and became immersed in the management and planning of operations, following the management prescriptions from the Forest Management Plan that was developed under the CIDA Forest Project. 

One of the significant undertakings was to expand the nature trail networks in the forest reserves to diversify recreational ecotourism beyond the Central Rainforest Trail that connected the eastern edge of the forest reserve at Mahaut in Quilesse to Edmund Forest on the Soufriere side. The idea was to create naturel trail experiences in all the ranges, upgrading existing trails so that they may be suitable for recreational purpose and expanding the revenue base derived principally from the tourism sector.  With a starting budget of approximately East Caribbean $200,000 we gave the challenge to the range officers to come up with investment proposals for upgrading of the trails in their ranges.  These monies were secured from ‘capital’ budget resources made available from the government budget, against the revenue generation potential established through operation of the nature trail network over the past several years.

Representing our conservation interests on the global stage

 I became involved in representing the government of Saint Lucia from 1997 as the designate for the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and Land Degradation (UNCCD).  In this role I made lasting connections with Caribbean leaders in the convention, Dr. Richard Byron-Cox (St. Vincent & the Grenadines) who was with the UNCCD Secretariat, Philbert Browne (Jamaica) and Dr. Reynold Murray (St. Vincent & the Grenadines).  My first meeting was in Recife, Brazil at the 3^rd Convention of the Parties (COP) in 1999.  From the onset of implementation of the UNCCD its leaning was significantly in response to the desertification crisis facing many African sub-Saharan countries, and we had to make the point that land degradation was also a huge issue for small islands, and not necessarily driven by ‘desertification’ processes.  We were able to successfully leverage our influence within the Group of Latin America and Caribbean Countries (GRULAC) to drive changes in the Convention negotiations and text that gave better account to small island states like ours in garnering global support to combat land degradation in all forms.  We also gave strong representation at the special forum of the UNCCD called the ‘Review of the Implementation of the Convention’ (CRIC) in the SIDS context with other small island states from other global regions joining in the drive to shape provisions of the Convention to be more responsive to SIDS issues.  I also participated extensively in the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) where issues such as alien invasive species (IAS) was  pronounced as among the pressing issues Saint Lucia needed to address.

The last round and looking forward …

I was appointed Chief Forestry Officer in 2008 following the retirement of Brian James. I took it on to find ways to more actively engage staff members in the higher-level decision-making processes of the Department, putting more responsibilities in the hands of colleagues so that they could gain confidence and build capacity at managerial level. For example, I made active efforts to ensure that colleagues had opportunities to represent the country in international negotiations and meetings that were of relevance to forestry in Saint Lucia; this included participating in the negotiating mechanisms for the UNCCD and the CBD. The goal was to empower people and prepare the ground for succession when it was my turn to retire. I do however lament that some of the work that I tried to advance, for example upgrading of the Forest, Soil and Water Conservation Act to be more inclusive with respect to community forest resource management amongst other aspects, did not run the full course to conclude with a successful update to the law. In this regard we had secured the services of Jamaican lawyer Winston McCalla to do the work.  Amongst other initiatives that I had been following through, at least at the time, were suspended when I was transferred to head the Water Resources Management Agency in year.

By this time most of my work with the Forestry Department had shifted to management and ensuring that the Department could operate effectively in response to the dynamic demands placed on it through the public service the Ministry of Agriculture and from the wider community; most of the technical work was substantially delegated to senior officers.

Reflecting on how changes in forest management have shifted from the 1980s to now, we can see the shift in the personnel demographic within the Forestry Department in terms of there now being more females than males.  This is an emerging management consideration where sensitivities associated with women staff patrolling remote areas needs to be taken into account.  The other emerging aspect is that with the decline of the extensive squatting that used to occur in the forest reserves, the frequency of active patrolling in many areas has diminished, however it has opened the door for in some locations the expansion of illicit marijuana cultivations; these issues could be better addressed with more frequent patrols.

Policy and legislative reform in the forestry sector still remains very relevant today, and needs to be pursued.  I think it is still highly important that we give a greater stake in custodianship roles to community groups that are reliant on forest resources, more so given capacity limitations within the Forestry Department.  Community custodians can significantly expand forest conservation work.  This must be framed against the demands of the people who live in proximity to forest areas with emphasis placed on expanding opportunities for sustainable livelihoods in pursuits such as apiculture, production of high-value commodities like vanilla and investment in community-based eco-touristic enterprises; approaches that would give communities a stake and a share in deriving the value of the resources.  This is the direction in which we need to move in our strategy for forest resource management in the country.

It is obvious now that the changing complexity of forest management in Sainf Lucia, goes beyond mitigation of squatting and forest plantation management that used occupy the mandate of the Department back in the days when I joined, but requires foresters who have the requisite capacity to deal with emerging issues.  Opportunities for formal training in forestry are not available as they once were during the days of the CIDA Forestry Project. We must consider developing local courses in forestry and other related areas for persons working in the sector, so that they can build their capacity and be empowered to meet the emerging management challenges. We have several ex-foresters and others right here in Saint Lucia who could help with the design and delivery of course material; we need to see how this can be brought to accreditation level through collaborations with the formal learning institutions to ensure that trainees acquire formal certification. To conclude, I always appreciated the way in which we had to do our work whereby confidence was instilled in us to go anywhere in the country and meet people, picking up on the practices of Gabriel Charles and also Yves Renard (both now deceased) around the community approach to management of our natural resources. [expand on this or rewrite]