Ecotourism, Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary
Read Below and excerpt taken from "The Nature of EcoTourism in Crooked Tree", by Melissa A. Both Crooked Tree villagers and the place itself have a long history of involvement with tourism, a relation marked by feelings of ambivalence from the perspective of villagers. Several villagers have worked as guides, chambermaids and cooks for the main lodge on the Belize River that has catered to sportsfishermen, particularly those interested in the legendary tarpon, since the middle of the century. A big game hunting lodge, known locally as “tigah cyaamp” and run by an American, was situated for about 15 years in the 1960s and 70s just north of the village, and attracted wealthy U.S. sportsmen interested in a guaranteed catch of a jaguar. This camp guaranteed its patrons a trophy jaguar, and was able to fulfill its promise by having the Crooked Tree guides catch and pen jaguars which were later released for the sport hunter to “chase” and “catch”…this also speaks volumes about the social construction of “nature.” Approximately 15 older men in Crooked Tree, worked there at various points in the 1960s and 70s,. Other villagers also have worked elsewhere in Belize in the tourism industry. In general, villagers described their experiences as workers in unfavorable terms: stories of poor pay, long hours and blatant racism were common inmy conversations with villagers who worked in the tourism sector. Even the rural Creole men whoserved as guides for the hunting lodge, whose skills and knowledge made the lodge a profitableenterprise, and who really enjoyed their work, recall being belittled and paid poorly.

Indeed one of the impetuses underlying villagers support of the sanctuary emerged from their desire to eliminate certain mobile white bodies from their midst. In the years before the sanctuary was established; the village had become a popular location for a group of white male Texan hunters to drink liberally and hunt whistling ducks; their behavior towards the community not always respectful.

A number of villagers welcomed the idea of the sanctuary as a way to limit the presence of these hunters, and others like them. At the same time, the potential of the sanctuary to generate income from tourism for Crooked Tree residents was central to the deliberations in the 1960s and 70s that led to the establishment of Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, By the mid-1980s Crooked Tree began to be akey destination for tourists who wished to simply view “unspoiled nature” and an ecotourismindustry began to thrive in the village. By 1995, everyone in Crooked Tree was exposed in some kind of way to the ecotourism industry, if only through seeing tourists come and go,4and this situationhas not changed significantly (Haddle 2005). For this size community (roughly 700 people in 150households) a substantial number of households were involved in the ecotourism industry in 1995.

Although not perfectly ideal, Crooked Tree is as close to a model ecotourism, perhaps evenecotourism, community, as one is likely to find, and has been so since the initial creation of the wildlife sanctuary and development of the first ecotourism enterprise, over 25 years ago. All of theassociated enterprises have been small scale and if not fully locally owned, then fully Belizean owned and locally managed. Since 1995, three locally owned “resorts” have predominated in Crooked Tree.Resorts consist of sleeping accommodations and some kind of restaurant facility combined into onebusiness. As of 2005, one of these was a cement block building containing both guest rooms and dining facilities, another was a more traditional/historical Creole wooden structure with roomsupstairs and a kitchen and dining room below, and the third consisted of a number of thatched cabanas, and a separate building that served as kitchen, dining area and meeting space. There have also been between two and four year-round full time restaurants since 1993. Monies coming in fromtransnational or return migrants have provided the start-up capital for some of these businesses.Each of these enterprises employed people from the community as cooks, chambermaids and laundresses, and tour guides. In addition to these larger businesses, between 1995 and 2005, therehave been between three and five “bed and breakfast” accommodations, which typically consist ofrooms within peoples’ houses which are let out for the night, the guests eating meals in the home-owners kitchens. In 1995, two businesses, one much larger than the other, specialized in runningboat tours of the sanctuary. The larger of these had close connections with several U.S.-based ecotourism companies, however the owner died in the mid-1990s, and the business closed. Each ofthe resorts ran their own guiding services even for tourists not staying the night in the village. By2005, one of these resorts had developed an extensive clientele and was an extremely successfulenterprise. To varying degrees over the past 15 years, villagers have supplied food and other goodsto the various tourist businesses, so that fishermen, some farmers and hunters, and some localwomen who have cooked lunches for tourist groups were able to make small amounts of additionalincome in this way. There have been small groups of handicraft artisans (woodcarvers, doll-makers)and some food producers (people who make and sell tamales, process cashew seeds, make jams and stewed tropical fruits, or make cashew and other local fruit wines) who have modestly augmentedtheir incomes by selling their goods to tourists."

The Nature of Ecotourism in Crooked Tree.
Melissa A. Johnson
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Southwestern University
P.O. Box 770
Georgetown, Texas 78628-3032
Email: meljohn@southwestern.edu

Belize Protected Areas
Belize protected areas include Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary, Blue Hole National Park, Blue Hole Natural Monument, Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, Half Moon Caye Natural Monument, Guanacaste National Park, Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve and Victoria Peak Natural Monument, etc.

"The Government of Belize has fixed entrance fees for the parks. These fees are collected by the Belize Audubon Society, and are used towards the costs of maintaining and protecting these areas. The fees are discounted for Belizeans to encourage local people to visit the parks." http://www.belizeaudubon.org

To become a member of the Belize Audubon Society and pledge your support, fill out the Membership Form and email membership@belizeaudubon.org or fax the Audubon at: 501.223.4985, or send it to: Belize Audubon Society, P.O. Box 1001, Belize City, BELIZE, along with a check or money order payable to: Belize Audubon Society.