News
National Trust and Partners invest on measures to eradicate invasive Casuarina trees
#TurksandCaicos, November 13, 2021 – The next time you see a pine-looking tree in and around your neighbourhood, better look closely as it may be ‘Casuarina’. This tree is often mistaken as a member of the Pinus family due to its resemblance to our National Tree – the Caicos Pine.
Casuarina equisetifolia or Australian pine trees (often called cedar trees or whispering pine locally) are a familiar tree in the TCI but they are not native to our country.
In some places such as Half Moon Bay, Casuarina trees are growing in a thick, dense stands making access very difficult for visitors. All trees drop their leaves either gradually or all at once, so that they can grow new ones. Casuarina leaves (called needles) drop to the ground and form a thick impenetrable blanket which stops our native
plants growing. Our endemic Rock Iguanas feed on the fruit, flowers and leaves of native plants like Sea-grape and Inkberry. They do not eat Casuarina leaves. So the dense stands of Casuarina will eventually shade out the native plants and because there is no food, there will be fewer rock iguanas to see at Half Moon Bay.
Under license from the DECR, the National Trust has begun clearing patches of Casuarina trees from parts of Half Moon Bay. The trees are felled and the branches are stacked in piles. This will give more space for the native plants to grow big and strong. Eventually vigorous, healthy native plants should cover these areas, stabilise the sand and stop the Casuarina from coming back as there will be limited space for the Casuarina seedlings to grow. The increase in native plants will greatly improve the quality of habitat for iguanas. The removal of the Casuarinas will create more space for visitors and improve the stability of the sand bar that forms Half Moon Bay meaning it is less likely to be washed away during a severe storm.
The larger trees will be left to provide shade and a focus for visitors. Staff and volunteers from the National Trust will return in future years to pull up Casuarina seedlings and prevent Half Moon Bay being recolonised by this pernicious invader. The number of iguanas in the area will be monitored by scientists from San Diego Zoo and we expect to see an increase in the number of iguanas in the area.
This is part of the large investment being made by the National Trust and its partners to increase the number of Rock Iguanas on Pine, Water and Little Water Cays. In the past ten years $2.7 million has been invested in TCI in securing the population of Rock Iguanas on these islands.
Please support this work and contact the Turks & Caicos National Trust to know how you can help. Send us an email
at info@tcnationaltrust.org or call us at (649) 941-5710.
Casuarina Facts
Casuarina trees come from southern Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands and were introduced to TCI in the 1920s.
It’s one of the few trees that can grow quickly and easily in a poor salty soil and was planted initially to create shade and later as a landscape plant in tourist resort areas. From these areas Casuarinas have spread and can now be found on many islands and cays. Its seeds float and can survive immersion in seawater so once a clump or stand is established, it will spread to nearby areas. This seems to have happened from Causarina trees on Star Island (the man-made island constructed from stones and dredgings from the Leeward Channel) which have appeared on the southern shore of Little Water Cay.
Casuarina loves disturbed ground. It can often be seen growing along road edges or on abandoned buildings plots. It rarely grows in undisturbed bush areas. When cut, its wood makes excellent firewood and charcoal.
In its native range many insects and birds have evolved to use Casuarina in various ways (eg for food and nesting). However very few species in TCI can use them though some birds will roost in the bigger trees.
Casuarina trees have shallow roots. There is some evidence from Florida and other places that areas with Casuarina are more vulnerable to storm damage than areas covered in native vegetation. Native plants have roots that form webs under the ground knitting the sand together.
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, April 19, 2024 – In an attempt to move to 24-hour-a-day operations Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) is steadily recruiting Air Traffic Controllers to work at the Providenciales/Howard Hamilton International Airport, according to Godfrey Smith, TCIAA CEO, reporting to the Appropriations Committee.
Speaking on April 8th Smith said a cabinet paper would be sent soon requesting six more Air Traffic Controllers to make round the clock operation at the Provo International possible and to open the airport in Grand Turk till 12 a.m.
Currently, 17 posts are filled and seven are vacant.
Smith was candid with his responses to recent industrial action from ATCs which led to resignations and firings.
“What we have to do is find systems to mitigate such actions and that has to start with filling these jobs, putting people in that want to
work and doing right by people – and we always try to do right by our staff. Persons may not think that we are but we always do – we ain’t pick no fight,” he said in the meetings held at the NJS Francis building ahead of the National Budget Communication.
Smith indicated that recruitment was an issue across the board, ‘we need to find ways to recruit a little bit better’ he told the committee. Also in need of a push was capital spending or projects according to the CEO, who said the agency had ‘not been very good’ at meeting that mark but insisted they had recognized the issue and could do better.
A very important key performance indicator drawn up by the TCIAA is increasing passenger satisfaction at the Howard Hamilton International Airport. For the TCIAA part of this means a 30 percent increase in seating by Q2 of this year.
When queried on if they could even handle this increase the CEO said,
“The fact of the matter is we already have the capacity there. What we need is to make the service a bit better.”
Staff shortages have become such a frustrating issue that the TCIAA is instituting a scholarship program created by Authority Chairman, Selvyn Hawkins
“What the board wants to do is basically allocate $25,000 annually for a scholarship and they’ve approved it already.”
This process would cover tuition and all other costs for one student.
The student would return as a summer intern and other breaks to work at the TCIAA and upon graduation, assume a role at the company.
“We identify a particular skill we need, we go after it and we build capacity that is in a nutshell the nexus of the program,” Smith said.
The Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) is allocated $49 million this financial year; over $20 million goes to salaries.
Company delivers fastest speeds nationwide and boosts service reliability
PROVIDENCIALES, TURKS AND CAICOS, APRIL 19th, 2024 – More connections, faster speeds and greater support for customers. This is the promise from communications and entertainment provider, Flow TCI, as it embarks on an initiative to provide households with enhanced connections, greater overall reliability and now, for the first time, speeds up to one gigabit person second.
FLOW TCI Country Manager, Joanne Missick shared: “Our customers are at the heart of everything we do. We listen to our customers and want to exceed their demands, so we are focused on delivering unmatched value with customer centric products and services that are future proof. Flow subscribers on our Fibre Extreme package can now access up to one gigabyte speeds and subscribers on our Fibre Plus and Fibre Max package, as of April 1st, are also now benefitting from up to 5x more speeds.”
This is third speed boost for Flow customers in the last two years. This comes under the umbrella of the the Company’s recently launched “Working for You” campaign, where technicians are going into the neighborhoods across the island to conduct repairs, decommission copper cables, and increase the brand’s visibility in local communities.
“To date several neighborhoods have been served by technicians and the company will continue to go across the islands to ensure each neighborhood receives personal attention. We recognize that over the past few months some customers have experienced issues with the quality and delivery of our services. This is not what we stand for. Flow remains committed to providing technology and innovation
that enables growth and positively impacts lives”, says, newly appointed Head of Technical Operations, Simeon Thomas.
Thomas adds, “We have been closely monitoring and reviewing every aspect of our network and there is room for improvement across each of the islands. Where we find shortcomings, we are taking concrete actions and assigning our technicians to rapidly make all necessary adjustments and improvements for our customers”.
Flow has made significant investments in expanding and modernizing its infrastructure and delivering a more robust and reliable network paving the way for the country’s digital transformation.
For more information on speed increases visit https://www2.discoverflow.co/turks-and-caicos/price-adjustment-speed-increase on our website.
Thank you for your usual assistance in sharing our stories.
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