Tiger Fern and Dumb Cane

The Mountain Pine Ridge of Belize looks very similar to the pine forests of South Georgia. The pines are mostly Caribbean Pine which is a yellow pine just like slash, loblolly, and longleaf pine in Georgia. There are very few briars in the woods here, which is nice. However there is tiger fern....a bright green innocent looking fern at first glance until you try to walk through it. It can grow up to ten feet high, although most just gets waist to head high. Trying to walk through it is like trying to walk through a wall. It will wear you out. There are patches of tiger fern all over the woods here. Caribbean Pine seedlings however seem to find their way to germinate and grow through the tiger fern and eventually pokes out above it.

Then there is dumb cane. It looks like a corn stalk and grows thicker than planted corn. It is actually related to sugar cane. It isn't quite as bad as tiger fern but is a close second in difficulty of trying to penetrate. My client, George, asked me which I prefer to work in....the blackberry and smilax of South Georgia or tiger fern and dumb cane in Belize. I told him without hesitation, "I will take the blackberry and smilax of Georgia".

When I first came to Belize in 1997 I was leading a crew of 7 foresters to do an inventory of this property. George's father, Bull, asked before we began our timber cruise if we wanted some men with machetes to cut a path for our cruise lines. We confidently told Bull...."nah, we have been in much worse than this stuff". Well by lunch time I had to sheepishly go to Bull and report...."uhh we would like some of your machete men to help cut through this tiger fern please". Bull laughed. We had gotten only half as far as we had planned because every time we came across a patch of tiger fern it would take 20 minutes to go 200 feet.

Yesterday we inspected the pre-commercially thinned stands of pines. The picture shown above is a 9 year old pine stand that was pre-commercially thinned in 2006. They are now about 30 feet tall and growing great. George says that even the Belize government forestry department is taking notice as they are just letting nature take its course with the pines on government property. There are areas of un-thinned pines that we are using as control plots where the pines are just as tall, but the average diameter growth is only about 1/3 as much.

We also inspected an area that had a 1,600 acre wildfire back in March. Most of the pines are recovering nicely. It looks as though only about two hundred acres or so was scorched to the point of probably not recovering. But Caribbean Pine is good about regenerating after a fire. Apparently there is plenty of seed left in the duff which germinate after a fire. Wildfires are fairly common in the Pine Ridge, particularly in the dry season of March, April, and May. Most are caused by man being careless. Some are caused by lightning. The British military have maneuvers on the Pine Ridge and often their mortars or equipment start a fire. Other times either tourists or locals carelessly throw out a lit cigarette. Arson is rare, but that happens too. This fire George thinks was caused by a local discarding a cigarette. I recommended that George install a firebreak along any public roads through his property.

Landra and Melina yesterday went to Blacaneaux Lodge for lunch. Blacaneaux and Hidden Valley Inn are the two main resorts operating on the Mountain Pine Ridge. Blacano was developed by Francis Ford Coppola. Hidden Valley Inn was, of course, developed by Bull Headley, my client's father. Landra also got a tour of Peter's house. As I stated in an earlier blog, Peter has been the main caretaker of the Headley and Hidden Valley Inn properties for the past seven years. He is now semi-retired and is leaving today to go visit his son in Bermuda. But Landra got him to give her a tour of this house which I maintain is the coolest house I have ever seen. Landra was impressed and said she did not want to leave. I will give more details on this house in a later blog.

Today Landra and Melina will take Peter to the airport in Belize City and then go shopping in Belmopan and San Ignatio. George and I will spend the day developing management priorities for the pines on his property. Tomorrow I get a day off to take Landra to Caracol and the Rio Frio Cave. Tomorrow is also Landra's birthday. I think it will be a good one.