"A brush fire... burned for five days near the Botanic Park... it consumed some 60 acres of diverse forest, and threatened the Botanic Park...
Burned in the fire were some indigenous trees and plants like... [national flower of the Cayman Islands] Banana Orchid [Schomburgkia thomsoniana = Myrmecophila thomsoniana (Rchb.f.) Rolfe], which Department of Environment officials fear are gone forever in the area. ... fire... appears to have been set deliberately... it began in three separate places. ... theory is that it was set by someone trying to clear land in the area. Burning to clear land has been done traditionally, especially out in the Eastern Districts, where the majority of pasture lands exist. ... Because of Hurricane Ivan's killing of a lot of trees and bushes, there is a lot more dry tinder in the brush for fires to consume. In addition, there are a lot more home and other utilised land than there used to be, which means fires can threaten more places." article URL : http://www.caycompass.com/cgi-bin/CFPnews.cgi?ID=1021673 ****************** Regards, VB _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
