People and Parrots

The People and Parrots Project is a partnership with the University of Florida which is being funded up the Disney Foundation. The project is aimed at increasing awareness about Abaco National Park and heightened appreciation for the park's values. The project is very much designed to live up to its title. There are tremendous benefits to be gained by the people of Abaco through the appropriate utilization of the park's resources, specifically the Bahama parrot and other birdlife found there.

Dr. Susan Jacobson of the University of Florida and BNT Education Officers Lynn Gape and Monique Sweeting have conducted a community-based needs assessment. Seven groups from different communities in Abaco participated in the needs assessment exercise. All agreed that the top benefit or opportunity offered by Abaco National Park was protection of the Bahama parrot. The second most important benefit was the potential for education - education which targets school children, the general public and tourists. The groups were also in agreement in identifying the presence of exotic or feral animals (such as cats) as the top threat,with frequent fires, not all of which are natural, taking the second most pressing threat.

Three brochures have been produced to support educational objectives: a general brochure on the Abaco National Park; an in-depth brochure on the endangered Bahama parrot; a brochure outlining the importance of fire for healthy pine forests. A new poster promoting the park and its resources has been produced. TheTrust's Education Office has also produced a Pine Forest Teachers Resource Kit. Teachers in Abaco as well as the Ministry of Education's Senior Science Officer, Karen St. Cyr, participated in the review process for the teachers' kit.

The project was so successful in meeting its first-year objectives that a second year of funding has been granted to the project by the Disney Foundation. Key to success has been the great help and support of Friends of the Environment, Anita Knowles, David Knowles. Stanley White, Paul Pinder, the Sandy Point Community, Don Cornish, and the Ministry of Tourism.

For more information please contact Lynn Gape.