One of the principal aims of the National Trust for the Cayman Islands is to try to safeguard biodiversity in the three islands. The Trust's Land Reserves Programme was set up to acquire land that is ecologically important in that and other regards, in the face of rapid urban development. The Salina Reserve, an inland area in north-eastern Grand Cayman, is a particularly crucial part of this Programme.

The "Salina" is the traditional place name for a large fresh water wetland in the southern part of the Reserve. The area dries in the winter leaving a crust of dried algae which resembles the crust on salt-producing Salinas in other parts of the West Indies. The Reserve was established in 1988 by Crown land grant to the Trust, so placing the property under the strong protective legislation available through the National Trust for the Cayman Islands Law, 1987.

The Salina Reserve currently totals 646 acres comprising sedge and buttonwood swamps, dry shrubland and forest in an intricate mosaic. There are no clear trails through the Reserve, and access is only possible by foot, either navigating with few landmarks through dense forest and extremely rugged terrain, or across extensive flooded wetlands. This has meant that the Reserve has been left fairly isolated and is still very much undisturbed.

A number of biological surveys have been carried out in the Reserve, which have established, beyond doubt, that the preservation of such an area is probably the best hope for a number of native species which do not adjust to closer contact with a human environment.

For example, it has been discovered that at least three different types of bat roost in caves on a high forested ridge in the Reserve: the Brazilian Free-tailed Bat (Tadarida brasiliensis); the Jamaican Fruit-eating Bat (Artibeus jamaicensis)and the Big-eared Bat (Macrotus waterhousii). Parrots and "Bald Pates" (White-crowned pigeons) nest in the old growth dry forest, and many rare hardwood trees flourish there too. Because there is such a diversity of habitats within the Reserve, the overall diversity of animal and plant life is very high. Remarkably, an abundant population of a small, pink-flowering herb, Agalinis kingsii, has been found growing in the margins of the sedge swamps. This plant is unique to Grand Cayman, and this is the only large population known anywhere.

One focus of attention in the Salina Reserve has been the controlled release of some of the Trust's captive bred Grand Cayman Blue Iguanas (Cyclura lewisi). The area was surveyed for suitable habitat in 1992, and in 1993 trial releases of radio-tagged, sterile hybrid iguanas took place. Survival rates were encouragingly high and the animals adapted to the wild with surprisingly few problems. By the winter of 1993, it was clear that releasing captive bred iguanas was a viable technique and the Reserve offered at least the bare essentials for their long-term survival, albeit in only small soil pockets within dry thickets.

The lack of access to the Reserve due to its unfriendly - and even dangerous - sharp and rocky terrain, is the iguanas best protection, providing an effective deterrent to feral dogs and cats. The Reserve thus functions as a bastion for endangered species as well as a major component of the Trust's evolving system of nature reserves.

One complex issue in the management of the Salina Reserve is the question of fire. The "Salina" itself, flooded in summer with a lush growth of Cutting Grass and other sedges, usually dries in the winter. The vegetation becomes brown and crisp, and fire can spread from adjacent farmland or from a lightening strike. In some years, the entire Salina sedge wetland may burn, killing woody vegetation which tries to become established between fires. The sedges grow up again from their persistent roots, as soon as the next year's rains flood the wetland.

The unique Agalinis kingsii herb actually grows in the area affected by fire. Does the occasional dry season burning threaten the plant, or benefit it? Is fire a natural part of this system, or is the Salina's sedge wetland only devoid of Buttonwood and other trees due to human interference? Should man attempt to limit fire in this area, or should it be left alone?

These are very difficult questions to resolve, and a much deeper understanding of the pattern of growth and reproduction in Agalinis kingsii and other vegetation in burned and unburned areas is needed before an informed assessment can be made.

Combining study of aerial photographs with detailed records made in the field, it is known that the Salina Reserve contains extensive Buttonwood wetlands in addition to the Salina sedge zone: those wetlands form the northern margin of the extensive fresh groundwater resources which underlie the East End district. "Dry cays" - small islands of higher land within the wetland, support their own distinctive vegetation - and the higher land supports at least three distinct variants of Cayman's characteristic semi-deciduous dry forest community. So it is that examples of a range of Cayman's wildlife habitats are protected in perpetuity in this substantial protected area.

Last Updated: 26 Jun 2012