Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Additionally, Panama's national parks are staffed by few park rangers. Although their
areas of coverage are colossal, many rangers aren't given patrol vehicles or radios. In
Parque Nacional Darién, for instance, there are usually no more than 20 rangers (gener-
ally unarmed and poorly paid) assigned to protect 576,000 hectares - an area larger than
some countries. Meanwhile illegal hunting, settling and logging take place inside parks.
Unless drastic measures are taken, it may not be long before the country's protected areas
are nothing more than national parks on paper.
In recent years, increased foreign investment coupled with the desire to improve tour-
ist infrastructure have started to threaten several of Panama's most pristine ecosystems.
Deforestation
To get an idea of Panama's ecological future, one need only glimpse at what happened
(and what's continuing to happen) in the Darién. The region north of Yaviza - the town
where the Interamericana presently ends - was covered with virgin forest just over three
decades ago. Unfortunately, everything changed when the highway was extended from
Chepo to Yaviza.
The loggers initially sought big trees within easy reach, felling all the giants near the
highway and trampling young trees with their machinery. Once the giant trees were gone,
the loggers cut roads perpendicular to the highway, which led into tall stands of hard-
woods. After those stands were removed, more roads were cut and yet more stands were
leveled.
Right behind the loggers were thousands of settlers looking to eke out a living by turn-
ing the trampled vegetation left by the loggers into cropland. With the mature trees gone,
all that was required to create cropland was an ax and a match. After some crackling,
sizzling and a lot of smoke, subsistence farmers had fields for planting. Of course, all of
this is not only legal, but also actively encouraged by Panamanian law.
However, the story doesn't end here. In a healthy rainforest ecosystem, huge, exposed
tree roots prevent heavy rains from washing away the thin layer of nutrient-rich topsoil
found in tropical forests. But, if you take out the trees, a big storm over a denuded area
will quickly carry the topsoil into rivers and out to sea, leaving only the nutrient-deficient
lower soil where the vibrant jungle once stood. In the span of only two to three years, the
soil in the Darién couldn't support a decent harvest and little more than grass grew on it.
Since cattle eat grass, the ranchers stepped in and bought fields that frustrated farmers
could no longer use.
Today, the succession of loggers, farmers and ranchers continues in northern Darién
Province, although now the loggers must further explore secondary roads to find trees.
The farmers are still a step behind the loggers, unintentional nomads employing the
