000 025390000a22002770004500
904 _aBCO
905 _aC
908 _aJ
909 _aAS
914 _aFORES
082 0 4 _a41510
100 1 _9121749
_aSTEVENSON, N.S.
260 _c1938
520 _aPrior to the initiation of forestry in 1920, the interior of British Honduras was virtually unknown except to a small section of the inhabitants engaged in the collection of forest produce. Throughout the colony's history economic circunstances had favoured forest exploitation to the neglect of agricultural development and, as such exploitation had been selective and exhaustive in character, the need for a broader productive economy was beginning to make itself felt. The article traces the progress made since that time in acuumulating data on vegetation, soil, topography and latterly climate, and describes the evolution in survey methods from the first rapid reconnaissances to the more elaborate ecological surveys now carried out with topo Abney and trailer tape. The mestizos of the North, who are "natural ecologists" with a vegetation-type terminology of their own, have become highly proficient in such work. The objective at the outset was the investigation of forestry possibilities, but the knowledge accumulated has proved of much wider usefulness in relation to the general problems of rural development, and the value of vegetation types as indicators of soil quality has grown steadily more apparent. Vegetation survey has enabled better control shifting cultivation, so that valuable forest is sacrificed to a less extent to this activity, and has shown where and how permanent agriculture can best be planned to open up the more fertile lands, the location of which was previously unknown, and causes of erosion can be traced. Close co-operation has been maintained throughout with the agricultural and other departments concerned, and the forest staff have come to regard themselves as members of an organization engaged on the general problem of rural development, forestry being only one facet of its activities
650 1 4 _9135794
_aANALISIS DEL HABITAT
650 1 4 _9167881
_aUTILIZACION FORESTAL
650 1 4 _9167809
_aUSO DE LA TIERRA
650 1 4 _922334
_aBELICE
691 _922335
_aBELIZE
692 _aBELIZE
773 0 _tEmpire Forestry Review (RU)
_d1938
_gv.17(1) p.9-26
040 _aCR-TuBCO
_cCR-TuBCO
_bEs
245 1 0 _aThe evolution of vegetation survey and rural planning in British Honduras
942 _cANA
003 CR-TuBCO
999 _c55379
_d55379