Pic Macaya national park topographic map

Pic Macaya National park topographic map detail

Pic Macaya National Park () is one of two largest

national parks A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

of the

Republic of Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

. It is located in the country's southern peninsula, within the

Massif de la Hotte The Massif de la Hotte () is a mountain range in southwestern Haiti, on the Tiburon Peninsula, Haiti, Tiburon Peninsula west of the Petit-Goâve-Jacmel fault. About 2.5 million years ago, Massif de la Hotte was separated from the Massif de la Sel ...

. Featuring the country's last stand of virgin

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...

, it encompasses more than 8,000 hectares. Elevations in the rugged park reach a maximum height of above sea level at

Pic Macaya Pic Macaya (Macaya Peak) is the second-highest mountain in Haiti (after Pic la Selle), rising to an elevation of above sea level. It is located in the Massif de la Hotte, northwest of Les Cayes and west of Port-au-Prince. The mountain is locat ...

(''Macaya Peak''), the second highest point in Haiti behind

Pic la Selle Pic la Selle (; ), also called ''Morne La Selle'', is the highest peak in Haiti at above sea level. The mountain is part of the Chaîne de la Selle mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged i ...

. A majority of the park is composed of two tall peaks:

and Pic Formon. The park was founded in 1984, under the administration of

Jean-Claude Duvalier Jean-Claude Duvalier (; 3 July 19514 October 2014), nicknamed "Baby Doc" (, ), was a Haitian dictator who held the presidency of Haiti from 1971 until he was overthrown by a popular uprising in February 1986. He succeeded his father François ...

. Originally composed of about 2,000 hectares, the park was expanded to more than 8,000 hectares in March 2013 as part of the Macaya Project. In December 2012, $12 million was pledged through 2017 in agreements with several international development agencies, including the

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international development finance institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America. It serves as one of the leading sources of development financing for the countri ...

and the

Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) is a directorate under the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is primarily concerned with offering development aid to international partners, but in matters regarding Norway's Inter ...

. The initiative aims to increase protection of the park's natural resources by improving land management. This includes reforesting degraded areas, building infrastructure to reduce erosion from flooding, and enforcing the protection of the park's diverse plant and animal life. One of the biggest challenges to the park is the practice of "charcoal burning," in which large swathes of biomass are burned to produce charcoal, which can be sold at a high price by local inhabitants. The mountains of the Massif de la Hotte are mainly

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

ic and

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

. The park features endangered plant and animal life, including some

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the island of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

. There are 220 species of birds present in the park, 141 species of orchids, and 367 flowering plants. Six species of frogs, believed to be extinct, have been seen the region in the past several years. Over 6,500 species of plants live at Pic Macaya. Humid forests on karstic limestone occur from about 850 to 1250 meters elevation. At higher elevations the park is covered with a mosaic of open pine forest and denser broadleaf cloud forest. All three forest types are home to numerous endemic species. ''

Pinus occidentalis ''Pinus occidentalis'', also known as the Hispaniolan pine, Hispaniola pine or , is a pine tree endemic to the island of Hispaniola (split between the Dominican Republic and Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the ...

'' is the predominant tree of the pine forests, and is sometimes an emergent tree in the cloud forests. The pine forest understory includes blackberry (''

Rubus ''Rubus'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae, most commonly known as brambles. Fruits of various species are known as raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, and bristleberries. ...

'' spp.), diverse ferns, and scattered shrubs and small trees. The predominant tree in the cloud forests is bois tremble ('' Frodinia tremula''), with small trees and shrubs including '' Garrya fadyenii, Myrsine coriacea, Brunellia comocladiifolia, Persea hypoleuca, Weinmannia pinnata, Cestrum coelophlebium'', and ''

Miconia ''Miconia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the glory bush family, Melastomataceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Americas. The species are mostly shrubs and small to medium-sized trees up to 15 m tall. The generic name ...

'' spp., the tree ferns ''

Cyathea harrisii ''Cyathea'' is a genus of tree ferns, the type genus of the fern order Cyatheales. The genus name ''Cyathea'' is derived from the Greek ''kyatheion'', meaning "little cup", and refers to the cup-shaped sori on the underside of the fronds. Des ...

'' and ''

Alsophila minor Alsophila may refer to: * ''Alsophila'' (moth), a genus of moth * ''Alsophila'' (plant), a genus of tree ferns {{Taxonomy disambiguation ...

'', and the climbing bamboo '' Arthrostylidium haitiense''. The distribution of the pine and cloud forests depends on soils, rainfall, exposure, and disturbance by fire and hurricanes. Frequent fires favor pine germination and kill the young broadleaf trees.Judd, W.S. 1987. Floristic study of Morne la Visite and Pic Macaya national Parks, Haiti. ''Bulletin of the Florida State Museum'' 32: 1-136.

External links

Parc Macaya by Alliance Haiti

References

National parks of Haiti Biota of Hispaniola Hispaniolan moist forests {{Haiti-geo-stub

See also

External links

References