BEATO SOIL ISSUES PARQUE DONHA INES FLMM SAGA

WHILE reading the above mentioned blogger, BEATO always with inquisitive comments, or inquiries or dissent your humble servant was
left with a great feeling of sour/bitter angry emotions for one simple reason.  His comment on construction practices leaving bare soil exposed to rain/wind erosion was exactly the same in Parque Donha Ines.

HOWEVER, the environmental crime in the PDI has greater implications for two reasons. The intellectual culprits are people with
notions, academic tittles real or fake, Alberto Areces IS a Phd, Gabriela Ocampo is NOT a licensed agronomist in Puerto Rico, not
that I know, not when the crime took place.

What I will not let slide,  the second reason, is the dimension,  12 acres of land left devoid of flora/fauna with a huge tractor, compacting the soil, creating erosion and mud poddles on the road after every rain storm, affecting the whole neighborhood, in front and back of the LMMF on route 877.  All done to protect, help survive our dear ENDEMIC TREES, (in god only knows the criteria), danger of extinction.  


The  arrogant preachy fools should have known better.  I knew. Ignorance is not an excuse in a court of law. In addition nature, biodiversity, is not only trees.  To dissipate doubts, to spit in the wind, below are some land uses. Something Gabriela Ocampo, that squeaky voiced tequila Olmec, should have thought about, if she is an agronomist.

Soil Science and Management

Edward J. Plaster

page 9

AGRICULTURAL USES OF SOIL

Cropland.  Cropland is land on which soil is worked and crops are planted, cared for, and harvested.  Worldwide, the greater acreage

of cropland is devoted to annual crops-those planted and harvested within one growing season.  Annual crops include agronomic products such as corn and soybeans, fiber plants such as cotton, and horticultural crops like most vegetables.  Annuals require yearly soil

preparation.  This activity gives the growers a chance each year to control weeds and to work fertilizer and organic matter into the soil.

Because the soil surface is bare much of the time, growers must be careful to keep soil from washing away.

Perennial forages such, as alfalfa are in the ground for a few years.  The may be harvested for hay to feed animals, or used for grazing.  These crops cover the soil completely and so keep the soil from washing away.  Because the soil is not worked each year, fertilization is different than for annual crops.  Perennial  crops also tend to build up and improve the soil.

 Perennial horticultural crops include fruits, nuts and nursery stock.

Crops stay in the ground for three  to as many as twenty years.  Many crops are clean-cultivated to keep the ground bare and weed-free.  Challenges to the grower of horticultural crops are to control weeds, reduce erosion, prevent soil compaction, and keep the level of organic matter stable.

Grazing Land. Much land in the United States is grazed by cattle and sheep.  In the eastern half of the country, pasture is planted to perennial forage.  In the western half of the country, which has a dryer climate most grazing is on rangeland.  Range consists largely of native grasses and
shrubs, with some non-native grasses planted through the existing vegetation.  Partly because of the size of much rangeland, it is usually loosely
manage

Forest.  Foresters probably disturb soil the least, but soil management is still a concern.  When trees are harvested after many year's growth, logging equipment tears up the vegetative cover and compacts the soil.  Increased erosion results, and the soil is a less desirable medium for growth of newly planted seedlings.  Other concerns of forestry include choosing the best trees for each soil type and ensuring good condition for newly
planted seedlings.. 

In brief, all the vegetation destroyed by the orders of Areces Mallea and the looking the other way of the Olmec, could/should have been mulched instead of trash. Think
of it. Twelve acres with trees of all sizes,
bushes, plants, gone just bare soil left.

Erosion is more than soil running down the hill or gullies. One inch of top soil takes about a hundred years to form.


Is all nature, life on top and below the horizons destroyed permanently.


Think of insects, reptiles, birds, bacteria, nematodes, earthworms, everything one can imagine.


An analysis of the soil would have been
pertinent.  Areces and Ocampo would have discovered that the soil  in Parque Donha Ines is essentially:


"Plinthite, formerly known as laterite, layers are cemented by a special type of clay common to the tropics.  When plinthite dries, is hardens to bricklike substance; the process cannot be reversed by later wetting. 


Caliche and duripans are layers of soil in which chemicals cement soil particles together.  Lime cements caliche, typically a white, hardened layer found in arid regions.  Many soils in the American southwest contain caliche."

Page 50 of the above reference.

On this type of soil, think of the rooting system, drainage issues,  erosion,
destruction of biodiversity, over 6 million dollars from the public/private
sector thrown away. Just to plant TREES! Concrete and asphalt, like any
construction company.


No one complaints since the blindfolded environmental groups are more concerned about getting grants, mostly Federal, than creating waves.

And that is that. Apaga i vamonos.