Historic Land Use in the Reef Bay, Fish Bay, and Hawksnest Bay Watersheds, St John US Virgin Islands 1718-1950

Tyson, George

Study of the historic land use on St John in the Reef Bay, Fish Bay and Hawksnest Bay watersheds. Looked at agriculture and associated land management practices. Information is mostly based on historic literature & records. Includes maps. Historic land use and settlement patterns within the Reef Bay, Fish Bay and Hawksnest Bay watersheds were associated almost exclusively with export-oriented plantation agriculture introduced by European and African colonists after 1717. Aboriginal and post-emancipation peasant subsistence farming was not widely practiced in these study areas. Energized by imported slave labor the plantations spread throughout the watersheds between 1718 and 1740. Field operations and population densities peaked in the 1770's, but continued at relatively high levels until about 1820. Thereafter, agricultural activities contracted steadily, permitting progressive reforestation of the watersheds. During the first half of the twentieth century no more than 5 percent of total watershed land remained in use. Analysis of the historical record indicates that plantation agriculture had a profound, yet variable, impact on watershed environments. Plantation fuel, lumber and land requirements resulted in the initial loss of most, if not all, of the indigenous forest cover and its partial replacement with introduced vegetation. On the other hand, truncated plantation development and plantation land management strategies, such as terracing, watercourse controls and selective reforestation, allowed for the persistence of many native plant species and probably moderated soil erosion and sedimentation discharges -associated with widespread land clearance and intensive use.