A Forest Inventory of Part of the Mountain Pine Ridge,Belize

The results of an inventory of pine in 240 km^ (90 mi^) of the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve are presented. The Mountain Pine Ridge is an area of naturally regenerated pine which is managed primarily for timber production but also for other secondary land uses, the most important of which is in-forest grazing of livestock. The forest inventory included the assessment of the volume of standing timber and of the replacement stocking. By the interpretation of air photography of scale 1:10 000 and 1:20 000, nine forest/vegetation types were identified and mapped. The map accompanies this report. Four of the nine forest/ vegetation types were sampled. Three of the four are pine forest types, distinguished from each other by canopy density, and these were sampled for both timber stocking and regeneration. The fourth type sampled is grassland with pine seedlings, which was sampled only for regeneration. The project area comprises 34 management blocks. Results were computed separately for each forest/vegetation type sampled in each block. As a background to the forest inventory, relevant aspects of the environment are described, with emphasis on soils and vegetation. The soils in the project area were the subject of a small-scale field study, the observations from which are presented. The principal type of vegetation is savanna, the distribution of which depends on the incidence of fire as well as on climate and soil.