Portlanders on Ecological
Front Lines in Central America
West End Neighbor Restores Mangrove Habitat To
Save Coral Reef On Guanaja Island, Honduras
Pamela Cragin
Honduran Foreign Correspondent
Portland Ultimate (Frisbee) player and biologist Toby Jacobs
was last seen in early January wandering the West End with
a global positioning system (GPS). Since then, Toby, along
with Ultimate teammate, former East Ender Scott Duncan,
and WEN correspondent Pamela Cragin have been leading
an effort to restore 250 acres of mangrove habit on Guanaja
Island, Honduras.
Mangroves are one of the few trees able to grow in salt
water, and their strangely arcing tangle of roots are critical to
the health and survival of the Mesoamerican Coral Reef - the
largest reef in the western hemisphere. Mangroves'
specialized roots filter runoff from the tropical downpours.
The sediment safely trapped amongst these roots saves the
delicate corals offshore from clogging up and essentially
suffocating in silty water. Stretching from the Bay Island in
Honduras, all the way to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico,
this reef is in danger of collapse. Destruction of wilderness,
global warming, overfishing, and coastal development is
endangering coral reefs worldwide. Mangroves stand as the
final buffer between these threats and coral die-off.
In 1998, when Hurricane Mitch first made landfall on
Guanaja Island, it was a force five hurricane, and the 12,000
people living there ran for the mountain caves, and hid from
the wind and rain in the basements of a few upland houses.
For 72 hours, the storm decimated nearly every home. Forty-
foot waves and storm surge stripped this 12 mile island of
nearly all low-lying vegetation and, most importantly,
mangrove trees. And, to the people of Guanaja, largely
subsistence fishers, the loss of the mangroves meant yet
another drop in the already declining fishery.
More than a decade later, in areas once filled with green
mangroves as far as the eye can see, there’s nothing but
dead grey tree trunks in mud which erodes away with every
tide change. The biggest problem Toby and his colleagues
see with this project is that no one in Portland or anywhere
else knows what a mangrove is, and how important it is to
save this faraway coral reef. People are aware of the global
warming perils of rainforest destruction, but few people
understand that large areas of mangroves devastated by
storms, development and shrimp farms pack a triple threat to
global environmental destruction: loss of trees, fish, and
coral reef - all essential to keeping the planet healthy.
If you want to get involved with saving the Mangroves of
Guanaja go to guanajamangroves.org.
Front Lines in Central America
West End Neighbor Restores Mangrove Habitat To
Save Coral Reef On Guanaja Island, Honduras
Pamela Cragin
Honduran Foreign Correspondent
Portland Ultimate (Frisbee) player and biologist Toby Jacobs
was last seen in early January wandering the West End with
a global positioning system (GPS). Since then, Toby, along
with Ultimate teammate, former East Ender Scott Duncan,
and WEN correspondent Pamela Cragin have been leading
an effort to restore 250 acres of mangrove habit on Guanaja
Island, Honduras.
Mangroves are one of the few trees able to grow in salt
water, and their strangely arcing tangle of roots are critical to
the health and survival of the Mesoamerican Coral Reef - the
largest reef in the western hemisphere. Mangroves'
specialized roots filter runoff from the tropical downpours.
The sediment safely trapped amongst these roots saves the
delicate corals offshore from clogging up and essentially
suffocating in silty water. Stretching from the Bay Island in
Honduras, all the way to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico,
this reef is in danger of collapse. Destruction of wilderness,
global warming, overfishing, and coastal development is
endangering coral reefs worldwide. Mangroves stand as the
final buffer between these threats and coral die-off.
In 1998, when Hurricane Mitch first made landfall on
Guanaja Island, it was a force five hurricane, and the 12,000
people living there ran for the mountain caves, and hid from
the wind and rain in the basements of a few upland houses.
For 72 hours, the storm decimated nearly every home. Forty-
foot waves and storm surge stripped this 12 mile island of
nearly all low-lying vegetation and, most importantly,
mangrove trees. And, to the people of Guanaja, largely
subsistence fishers, the loss of the mangroves meant yet
another drop in the already declining fishery.
More than a decade later, in areas once filled with green
mangroves as far as the eye can see, there’s nothing but
dead grey tree trunks in mud which erodes away with every
tide change. The biggest problem Toby and his colleagues
see with this project is that no one in Portland or anywhere
else knows what a mangrove is, and how important it is to
save this faraway coral reef. People are aware of the global
warming perils of rainforest destruction, but few people
understand that large areas of mangroves devastated by
storms, development and shrimp farms pack a triple threat to
global environmental destruction: loss of trees, fish, and
coral reef - all essential to keeping the planet healthy.
If you want to get involved with saving the Mangroves of
Guanaja go to guanajamangroves.org.
Tony Jacobs in last standing mangrove forest on
Guanaja Island, Honduras.
Guanaja Island, Honduras.
West Ender Tony Jacobs catching up on news from home,
next to a bucket of mangrove seedlings.
next to a bucket of mangrove seedlings.
Toby Jacobs, Scott Duncan (rear) and volunteer Alli
Clark motoring near Guanaja Island, Honduras after
day of restoring mangrove trees.
Clark motoring near Guanaja Island, Honduras after
day of restoring mangrove trees.
Tony Jacobs counting some of 20,0000mangrove
seedlings planted to try to save the coral reef.
seedlings planted to try to save the coral reef.