Two months on Saba have flown by: interviewing people, being toured around gardens, getting a peek of local politics and becoming more and more attached to the quirks of Saba's nature and people. Since it will take a long time before our research will really have an impact on Saba, I didn’t want to leave the island without leaving something behind.
Therefore Elizabeth and I made a flyer on Coralita, explaining the phenomenon and what our research aims to do. You can download the flyer here. Next to that, Elizabeth made a map showing all the spots where she hiked and found Coralita, as well as where she didn’t find Coralita. She checks those locations on satellite images to find the signature light spectrum of the vine. As you can see in this image, for St. John’s and along the Fort Bay road she has already been able to identify the precise location of Coralita.
The longer I spent talking to different people, the more complex the management of Coralita appeared to become. A weed that should be eradicated as soon as possible to some is a beautiful cover of otherwise barren areas to others. Simply one instance of invasion of a vulnerable island ecology versus the pending demise of Saba’s otherwise untouched nature. And hence just another argument for the need of an invasive species management programme versus necessitating an immediate island-wide eradication campaign. These different views show on this other map, which is the result of 50 Sabans indicating on a map areas where they don’t want Coralita. Some people clearly focussed on the trails and beautiful nature areas, whereas others are mainly concerned with keeping the villages free. When deciding on priority areas for Coralita management, we will have to take all the different perspectives into account.
The longer I spent talking to different people, the more complex the management of Coralita appeared to become. A weed that should be eradicated as soon as possible to some is a beautiful cover of otherwise barren areas to others. Simply one instance of invasion of a vulnerable island ecology versus the pending demise of Saba’s otherwise untouched nature. And hence just another argument for the need of an invasive species management programme versus necessitating an immediate island-wide eradication campaign. These different views show on this other map, which is the result of 50 Sabans indicating on a map areas where they don’t want Coralita. Some people clearly focussed on the trails and beautiful nature areas, whereas others are mainly concerned with keeping the villages free. When deciding on priority areas for Coralita management, we will have to take all the different perspectives into account.
Coralita growing on a Flamboyant tree at the beginning of Fort Bay road, Saba
But first I will be spending two months on Statia, conducting the same interviewing activities as on Saba, explained in an earlier blog. Here Coralita covers huge areas, clearly enjoying the openness and absence of use. However different the two islands appear – which their proud inhabitants are always keen on pointing out – in the eye of Coralita they’re equal: wonderful creeping grounds.
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