Background Paper No. 2


 The research relationship between the Department of

Conservation and Cultural Affairs and the Ecological Re-

search Station is perhaps less well-defined than that be-

tween the Station and the National Park Service. This is,

in fact, another curious anomaly of Virgin Islands bureau-

cracy, since the funding for the Ecological Research Sta-

tion is provided by the Legislature through the Department

of Conservation and Cultural Affairs.


 As a generality, however, it may be stated that the

logical research functions of the Department of Conservation

and Cultural Affairs should be those applied studies bearing

directly upon natural resource utilization and management.

Because of it's primary academic affiliation, the Ecological

Research Station should be engaged in basic research and in

the education and training of regional students in the eco-

logical sciences.


 There would appear to be an obvious need for circular

allocation of projects, information, and perhaps human re-

sources and facilities in this relationship. The parallel

can again be made between Land Grant colleges in the United

States and their state game and fish commissions: There ex-

ists as a general rule a rapport, if not an actual formal

agreement, that facilities, services, and professional ex-

pertise will be shared, as needed, between the Land Grant

institution and the conservation-oriented departments of the


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