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The Jamaican Government does not own Fern Gully, the world-renowned natural rainforest in St Ann that provides a three-mile section of the main corridor linking the capital city Kingston with the North Coast.
Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett made the startling disclosure in an interview with the Observer, in which he said that a proposal to develop Fern Gully into a major tourist attraction had been shelved, at least for now, until the Government could determine who were the actual owners of the lands.
Bartlett's planners were forced to put the development plans on hold, following recent information that some of the lands were privately owned by persons other than those initially thought to be the owners. The minister said he was unsure of just how many persons actually had an interest in Fern Gully.
"...We are going to use best efforts to make sure the land is available," he said, explaining that Government's plans had been halted while it determined who owned the lands and exactly how the properties would be acquired. "We are checking around to find who are the owners," he said.
The disclosure brought at least temporary reprieve to environmentalists who bitterly oppose any development, saying it would only further degrade the natural beauty of the area, and that inappropriate beautification efforts had already been allowed to take place - to Fern Gully's detriment.
Fern Gully, nestling between the community of Colegate and tourist resort Ocho Rios, is a highly regarded natural rainforest, noted for its cool temperatures and winding curves. It currently houses several craft shops and is a favourite stop for tourists.
Bartlett, while not wanting to be specific about what type of development was planned for the area, told the newspaper that it would also involve the development of an ecological attraction.
He admitted that the design work for the proposed development had not yet been done as it was first necessary to sort out the ownership issues for the land.
He said the lands in question extended well beyond the winding roadway in Fern Gully and involve several parcels.
As to whether the known owners had any intentions to develop the lands themselves, Bartlett said none of the interests had demonstrated any commercial activity for the area.
He said that a group of private entrepreneurs had been looking at developing the area and had brought forth a plan but this was no longer being pursued.
But finding the owners might not be the only obstacle, as the Northern Jamaica Conservation Association (NJCA), a non-governmental organisation based in Runaway Bay, has expressed concerns that they were never consulted about any planned development for the area.
Executive director of the NJCA, Wendy Lee, told the Observer that her association first heard about the proposed development shortly after Bartlett took office in 2007.
However, despite writing to the Tourism Product Development Company for clarification, they were yet to receive a response.
"Leave Fern Gully alone. It is a natural area," Lee insisted. "Jamaica is the attraction with its people and natural scenery. There is no need to develop it and put lights there at nights."
She said the idea of development for an area of natural beauty was the last thing that should be done. What needed to be done instead, she suggested, was re-routing of motor and human traffic from the area.
"The area does not need development but conservation," she said passionately.
Lee said for some time now some inappropriate beautification efforts had been allowed to take place in Fern Gully, such as the planting of exotic flowers like red ginger which is considered to be an invasive species.
She also blamed what she described as the "mismanagement approach to tourism" for persons to build shacks inside Fern Gully to sell their wares. In addition, she said, persons, including owners of the land, continued to cut down the trees. .
According to Lee, the Fern Gully lands were covered under a Tree Preservation Order which falls under the Tree Preservation Act, which prohibits even the owners of the land from cutting down the trees. She accused the parish council of not doing much to enforce the Act.
Lee said Jamaica had more than 500 species of ferns, at least 400 of them in this dark, shaded gorge created when one of eight rivers which flowed through the Ocho Rios (Spanish for eight rivers) disappeared during the 1907 earthquake and the river bed was turned into a paved road.
Following a reforestation project, the Fern Gully roadway was temporarily closed to heavy duty vehicular traffic, whose fumes were blamed for helping to destroy the ferns.
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