Background Paper No.2 14 -


tains so many diverse habitats; it provides for a large nat-

ural arena for comparative ecological studies in the West

Indies.

 2) For the management of the resources of the Park, the

National Park Service has devised a Management Resources Plan

the bulk of which consists of problems which can only be an-

swered by the application of ecological research. Provision

for the funding for the execution of those projects by con-

tract is in process.


 In addition to these primary government-funded research

organizations, there are three others which play a signifi-

cant role in ecological thought, education, and research in

the Virgin Islands. The Virgin Islands Conservation Society,

Inc., a public non-profit society, is concerned primarily

with the stimulus of ecological research and with education;

it has recently concentrated on the publishing of popular

tracts relating to such research. The Environmental Studies

Program of the Department of Education is primarily concern-

ed with the development of an ecological awareness upon the

part of primary and secondary school students; in this sense,

the Program plays a critical role in the initiation of inter-

est leading to heritage in the natural sciences. The Island

Resources Foundation, Inc., a private non-profit organiza-

tion, includes significantly ecological research within the

framework of it's broader resource programs; it also serves

as the headquarters of the Caribbean Conservation Association,