Some of the conservation and heritage successes in recent years

 

1970 – The last wild Redwood is found by Norman Kerr.

 

1974 – Hugh Crallan’s report on ‘The Preservation of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest’ is published.

 

1976 – St Helena Historical Society is formed.  She Cabbage trees discovered by George Benjamin and Norman Kerr near Osbournes.

 

1977 – George Benjamin discovers a surviving St Helena Olive.

 

1979 – The St Helena Preservation Action Committee meet the Governor about establishing a trust to care for the island’s heritage and a museum.

 

1980 – The St Helena Heritage Society open a museum at Broadway House.  Dr Quentin Cronk visits St Helena on botanical research.  He emphasises the threat to the island’s remaining endemic species.  During his visit he discovers two St Helena Ebony specimens on the cliff edge at Castle Rock.

 

1982 – Bastard Gumwood discovered at Horse Pasture by George Benjamin and Stedson Stroud.

 

1983 – False Gumwood discovered above Cole’s Rock.

 

1986 – Quentin Cronk visits the island for a second time to continue his botanical research.

 

1988 – Decision made to try to locate the giant earwig.  UK scientists arrive in 1993 to start field investigations.

 

1990 – Imports of plant or plant products restricted.  An import permit is required from the Department of Agriculture and Forestry.

 

1991 – Publication of ‘A Guide to the Geology of St Helena’ by Barry Weaver.  The Heritage Society launches ‘St Helena Heritage – a co-ordinated policy’ to encourage islanders to take a greater interest in their history.

 

1994 – Naturalists Philip & Myrtle Ashmole make their first visit to St Helena to study the island’s endemic sub-terranean invertebrates and the impact of human settlement on the island’s ecology.

 

1996 – Diana’s Peak, Cuckhold Point and Mount Actaeon protected by National Park status.

 

2000 – The new museum is officially opened, the St Helena National Trust is formed and the Millennium Forest is established.

 

2003 – Philip & Myrtle Ashmole visit St Helena for a further three months research on the endemic sub-terranean invertebrates at Prosperous Bay Plain.

 

2004 – Dr Ian Baker visits St Helena for the fifth time to continue his geological research of the island.  On this visit he gave a possible explanation for the unusual existence of Deadwood and Prosperous Bay Plains within the normal volcanic terrain of ridges and guts.

 

Protected Areas in the Land Use Plan      – in the current & proposed Land Use Plans   

  • Prosperous Bay Plain, Deadwood Plain, High Hill and Ebony Plain, Heart Shaped Waterfall

  • Diana’s Peak National Park, Sandy Bay National Park

  • Cason’s including the George Benjamin Arboretum and Nature Trail

  • Horse Point Plain [Millennium Forest], Plantation Forest, Bank’s Battery

  • Great Stone Top, Little Stone Top and Boxwood Hill, Deep Valley, Flagstaff and the Barn

  • Gill Point, George and Shore Island, Egg, Peaked and Thompson’s Valley Islands,

  • Marine Biological Reserve – Long Ledge to Dry Gut

 

Postscripts

 

 ‘Protected Area’ status is defined as an area dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity.

 

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Excellent reference books giving comprehensive information on the environmental history of

St Helena, the island’s geology, birds, insects and plants – past and present.

 

St Helena and Ascension Island: a natural history

Philip and Myrtle Ashmole                                     

The endemic flora of St Helena

Q.C.B. Cronk

 

both these books are published by Anthony Nelson

PO Box 9 Oswestry  Salop

SY11 1BY

 

The Birds of St Helena

British Ornithologist’s Union

Checklist no. 16

 

available from

The Natural History Museum

Tring   Herts. 

HP23 6AP

The books are also available from Miles Apart presented on this website.

 

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These website pages show extracts from a booklet produced in May 2004 on behalf of

The Millennium Forest Project

and

The St Helena National Trust

 

The booklet (price £3.00) is sold in the aid of

The Millennium Forest Project.

 

To receive a copy, for UK bank account holders only, please make your check payable to ‘The Millennium Forest Project [St Helena]’ and include a further 50p for postage.

Please send your order to

 

Vince Thompson, 92 Wordsworth Avenue, Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire MK16 8RN

Donors in other countries can receive the booklet by making a Bank Transfer. Please include a further £1.60 to cover postal charges. Please also send the name and address to which the booklet should be sent – to Vince Thompson (address above).

Please click on “Link” and then “Make a Donation” for information on how to make a Bank Transfer

photographs – Vince Thompson