Rain Forrest

[AlaninDR]

Is there a rain forrest region in DR? If not, has there ever been a rain forrest in DR? If it does not exist in DR, is there an area that is close by definition?

[sweetdbt]

I guess that would be sort of a cross between "Rain man" and "Forrest Gump"? I've met some expats who may qualify! (The point being that the word is "forest", with 1 "r"). To the best of my knowledge there aren't any areas in the DR which meet the criteria to be classified as rain forest, nor in all my travels in the country have I heard any place referred to in that manner or seen anything that resembled the rain forests I have visited in Costa Rica. I haven't been to the southwest, but I understand it is more arrid.

[Keith R]

I'm not sure that the DR has any area that would qualify under a common scientific definition of rainforest -- certainly nothing equivalent to the rainforests of Brazil or Costa Rica. However, there are a few areas referred to as "subtropical rainforests," such as part of Los Haitises, and I know some tour outfits in the DR promote this as simply "rainforest," but I think this is misleading advertising.

The DR does have an unusual, interesting and beautiful "cloud forest" in the Loma Quita Espuela scientific reserve near San Francisco de Macoris, considered to be the "mother of all rivers" in the DR. Worth visiting if you're a hiker.

Hope this helps, Alan.

Best Regards,
Keith

P.S. BTW, in the sticky entitled "Some Useful DR-related Environment Links" at the top of this Forum, there are good links to sites that tell you all about the DR's national parks and reserves.

[Mr_DR]

Originally Posted by AlaninDR

Is there a rain forrest region in DR? If not, has there ever been a rain forrest in DR? If it does not exist in DR, is there an area that is close by definition?

There are rain forests in DR...

and those of you that say there arent any must not know exactly what defines a rain forest.

http://www.studiesabroad.com/program...ican_republic/
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_..._Republic.html

[AlaninDR]

Humble apologies to sweetdbt for my spelling error. For years I thought of myself as perfect since my flaws were pointed out and I corrected them.....another error on my part. Sigh, my life seems without meaning now. Oh well.

My question about rainforests was oriented to the ecological definition which is "multi-storied closed, broad leaved forest vegetation with a continuous tree canopy of variable height and with characteristic diversity of species and life forms".

I have been in that type of rainforest. From personal experience, Los Haitises falls a bit short.

Thanks Keith for info on the "cloud forest" in the Loma Quita Espuela scientific reserve near San Francisco de Macoris. I was not aware of it.

[johne]

How does a simple, logical, interesting post turn into a test of your spelling ability within one reply and by the 3rd or 4th a pi*&^%g match?

Does it only happen on DR1?
Scheese, need to get out of the crossfire!

JOHN

[Keith R]

Originally Posted by johne

How does a simple, logical, interesting post turn into a test of your spelling ability within one reply and by the 3rd or 4th a pi*&^%g match?

Does it only happen on DR1?
Scheese, need to get out of the crossfire!

JOHN

You're right, John. Sweetdbt -- the spelling remark aside -- and I tried to answer in a reasonable fashion. My hope was that my original response (post #3) would be followed by some from board participants who know more on the subject (we have some). But instead our self-proclaimed ex-sanky came in and declared we all did not know what we were talking about. Yet as became clear from his posts, he didn't know what he was talking about, but refused to admit it....

So, as you said, a potentially good thread went south.

My apologies to all, especially Alan. Alan, if you're still interested, I'll dig up some info and PM or e-mail it to you, or maybe start a new thread with the info. But for now, this thread is closed.