samana-santo domingo highway cutting into national park?

[Chris]

Originally Posted by cobraboy

Having lived on the waterfront on the FL West Coast, I can vouch for the fact you just about can't kill the mangroves. In fact, they can almost take things over. They are not really "fragile?

They are like waterborne kudzu (for folks who know what that is... )

Perhaps not a 'fragile' plant, but home to most of oceanlife at some or other stage in the lifecycle. And also badly threatened currently to the extent that mangrove forests are being planted in certain areas.

Why the World needs its Mangroves:A look into the natural and human relationships with mangrove forests
Aquaculture and Mangrove Destruction
MANGROVE DESTRUCTION - mangrove.org
Mangrove Destruction Endangered Species Handbook

[Andy B]

Chris,
I don't think we disagree that mangroves are an important part of the marine habitat and are a nursery to many fish and other lifeforms. I've spent a lifetime fishing in creeks and rivers lined with them and have seen the consequences of unmitigated mangrove destruction on a waterway. What I THINK this is all about is OVERSTATING the impact of a highway that passes some distance from the bay and part of it's mangrove shoreline.

[dv8]

well, in poland all the parks have roads going through or nearby and it works. mind you, our road building system in not much better than DR. as long as the hotels, resorts and god knows what else does not spring on the sides of the road it may be just fine....lets give dominicans some credit, they have to realize that better country means more tourists, more tourists = more money.

[cobraboy]

There are roads cut through the Everglades in FL, a very fragile eco-system, that have shown, over time, to do no harm. Even the most strident radical environmentalists have been unable to refute the findings.