Growing Mahogany trees on Salt Cay

Salt Cay building a Working Partnership with the DECR (Department of Environment and Coastal Resources)

It is so exciting to be a small part of the important initiatives undertaken by the DECR and their team of dedicated and experienced officers…our watchdogs of a healthy environment.

It came about one day last week when Scientific officer Eric Salamanca during a recent trip to the headquarters of DECR on lower Byte Rd in Providenciales  explained how they are in the process of rescuing and collecting endemic and endangered species of plants from around the islands.

DECR have created a nursery in their back yard and growing from seeds mahogany trees, lignum vitae and mangroves. Once the small plants are strong enough they are replanted into suitable environments.

Eric Salamanca holding one of hundreds of mahogany trees growing at DECR.

Eric showed me his plot of mahogany trees growing and the lignum vitae and mangroves and explained the various procedures to ‘catch‘ these plants.

Naturally it seemed like a good idea to plant the mahogany seeds in Salt Cay and see if it is possible to grow the trees and possibly at some stage in the distant future, clear some of the invasive acacia bush which seems to be taking over the whole island and replace with indigenous plants including the mahoganys.....the seeds are now planted in the Salt Cay nursury along with the tomatoe,pepper and eggplant seedlings.
History of Mahogany

It is believed that most of the hardwood trees were cut down certainly in the 17th and 18th century to not only aid in the salt industry but also for export.

Mahogany is actually an African name and in the 1700s this wood was in great demand by British and European Carpenters. Jamaican and Bahamian mahogany had largely replaced the demand for oak and walnut and the elite British furniture makers like Thomas Chippendale were producing large quantities of chairs, card tables, tea chests, bed heads and frames.

There was a huge demand in the Americas and mahogany gained popularity over the local logwood. In this fashion the woodcutters felled thousands of trees. Often the profits were used to purchase more slaves.