NewsWhore
11-17-2008, 03:30 PM
The Los Haitises National Park will become the first reserve area that the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarena) will monitor with the full weight of the law so it becomes a model for others to follow. According to Eleuterio Martinez, the deputy minister for Protected Areas and Biodiversity, "from this moment onward, everyone that enters the park will notice that they are arriving at a sacred place."
The problem of dealing with this park is that nobody controls how many people live there and how many try to enter Los Haitises from all around the perimeter every day. The most recent official figure provided by Martinez is that approximately 300 families try to farm inside the park. These people are calling on the government to pay them hundreds of thousands of pesos, part of which has been paid. They are asking the state to pay between 85 and 75 million pesos in compensation to the people who were evicted from the park in 1992 under President Balaguer.
The threats of further occupation still exist even when the Ministry of Environment posted wardens in the area. Martinez also told Hoy newspaper that boundary markers would be placed every 300 meters around the entire park, and each marker would carry the geographical reference of its position. If one is moved, it can be replaced exactly. Military posts that belong to the Environmental Protection Service are also in place. One such post is located at Pilancon at the entrance to Bayaguana, where 18 troops are stationed. There is an outpost at Majagual on the road to Samana, and one other in the area of Gonzalo and Los Limones. There is a small detachment in Sabana Grande de Boya, on the road to Rincon de Payabo. A military supervisor will be stationed in Cevicos and Trepada Alta, the area most under attack in Los Haitises, and from where most people try to enter the park area.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#3)
The problem of dealing with this park is that nobody controls how many people live there and how many try to enter Los Haitises from all around the perimeter every day. The most recent official figure provided by Martinez is that approximately 300 families try to farm inside the park. These people are calling on the government to pay them hundreds of thousands of pesos, part of which has been paid. They are asking the state to pay between 85 and 75 million pesos in compensation to the people who were evicted from the park in 1992 under President Balaguer.
The threats of further occupation still exist even when the Ministry of Environment posted wardens in the area. Martinez also told Hoy newspaper that boundary markers would be placed every 300 meters around the entire park, and each marker would carry the geographical reference of its position. If one is moved, it can be replaced exactly. Military posts that belong to the Environmental Protection Service are also in place. One such post is located at Pilancon at the entrance to Bayaguana, where 18 troops are stationed. There is an outpost at Majagual on the road to Samana, and one other in the area of Gonzalo and Los Limones. There is a small detachment in Sabana Grande de Boya, on the road to Rincon de Payabo. A military supervisor will be stationed in Cevicos and Trepada Alta, the area most under attack in Los Haitises, and from where most people try to enter the park area.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#3)