As part of her doctoral research, Elizabeth Lynch, a UW Department of Anthropology
postdoctoral researcher, records ground stone features on the Purgatoire River in
southeastern Colorado. Lynch is leading a collaborative research project to gather
forest recovery data in the Bahamas two years after a powerful hurricane struck the
country. (Elizabeth Lynch Photo)
A University of Wyoming researcher and two colleagues from the University of The Bahamas
are gathering data to evaluate community perspectives about forest recovery efforts
two years after a devastating Category 5 storm hit parts of the Commonwealth of the
Bahamas and caused mass destruction.
Elizabeth Lynch, a UW Department of Anthropology postdoctoral researcher, is leading
the project titled “Citizen Science Forest Recovery and Community Perspectives on
Post-Hurricane Dorian Grand Bahama.” She is collaborating with Nicolette Bethel, a
social anthropologist, and Clare Bowen-O’Connor, a plant ecophysiologist, both from
the University of The Bahamas (UB).
They will conduct research on Grand Bahama in the northernmost area of the islands
in the Bahamian archipelago, located east of Florida and west of the Great Abaco islands.
The project received $62,282 from the Natural Infrastructure for Caribbean Resilience
Program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of State and administered by the U.S.
Forest Service. The team also received $5,000 from the CGS International Research
Grant Fund for preliminary collaborative research.
“The significance of this project is the collaborative nature and focus on the integration
of community input into ongoing ecosystem recovery activities,” Lynch says. “Our project
brings together Bahamian communities, international and local students and researchers,
and governing authorities.”
In September 2019, Hurricane Dorian -- the most intense storm on record in the Bahamas
-- devastated the island’s natural vegetation composed of pine, coppice and mangrove
forests. Homes, commercial buildings, utilities and infrastructure including roads,
docks and airports also were destroyed, particularly in the settlements of Freeport
and East End Grand Bahama. Most of the forest resources on Grand Bahama (70,289 acres)
suffered catastrophic damage due to hurricane-force winds and saltwater intrusion.
The collaborative research project incorporates the concepts of spatial justice.
“For instance, in circumstances where people are displaced from homes and communities,
their voices need to be included in decision-making to allow for more equitable and
resilient responses to climatic change throughout the Bahamian archipelago,” Lynch
says. “The project builds collaborative engagement with other researchers working
on a range of recovery projects on the island.”
University of The Bahamas (UB) faculty member Mark Stephens, right, tests soil conditions
in Grand Bahama, assisted by UB student Amber Turner, left, and University of Brasilia
doctoral candidate Maria Rita Fonseca. UB students and two faculty members are collaborating
with Elizabeth Lynch, a UW anthropology postdoctoral researcher, on a study in the
Bahamas. (Kristen Welsh-Unwala Photo)
She mentions Kristen Welsh-Unwala, from UB, who conducts research on small island
sustainability, and her student, Amber Turner. Turner is researching potable water
resources such as preparation, recovery and perceptions in the wake of major hurricanes
on Grand Bahama. The title of their project is “Strengthening of Forests through Groundwater
Restoration” and is funded by the Bahamas Protected Areas Fund.
“Both researchers will be contributing to our project as we proceed,” Lynch says.
Lynch and her two UB colleagues will collect data on the attitudes toward the renewal
of forest resources and determine the perspectives on climate change relating to the
impacts of high-intensity storms on environmentally sensitive areas, such as in the
Bahamas.
“The results of this research will provide a social impact analysis of post-Dorian
forest recovery efforts and a long-term monitoring and maintenance strategy for these
resources by the community,” she adds.
The project will be conducted in the forest reserve and conservation forests of Grand
Bahama over a two-year period, followed by a long-term monitoring program supported
by UB personnel and community members. The initial assessment will examine the recovery
of the forested areas two years after the storm struck and will survey the present
status of the communities impacted by Hurricane Dorian.
About 240 acres of forest reserve land was identified for restoration work in selected
permanent plots that engage both UB students and neighboring community members, such
as high school students, residents, nongovernmental organizations and local interest
groups. UB plant science students will lead the collection of plant measurements as
part of their coursework.
“We are in the process of constructing a plant nursery for the propagation of native
plants to reforest areas devastated by Hurricane Dorian,” Bowen-O’Connor says. “In
January, we assessed plant abundance and regeneration in established permanent plots
in east Grand Bahama. We also quantified the pinewood volume to determine the potential
economic value of pine trees within the groundwater wellfields boundaries.”
UW researchers will lead the ethnographic -- a branch of anthropology and the systematic
study of individual cultures that explores cultural phenomena -- study of the communities
affected by Hurricane Dorian, with the goal of training UB students pursuing anthropology
studies during the second year of the project.
Assisting Lynch are UW students Erin Woolley, a senior from Cody and a project research
assistant; Lander sophomore Kenzie McPhie, a UW Honors College researcher; and Keaton
Lovato-Hegdahl, a senior from Casper and a project volunteer.
For more information, email Lynch at elynch2@uwyo.edu.
