Aug. 27, 2006 – The marketing notion of the Virgin Islands – iconic palm trees swaying in the breeze – is nowhere on University of the Virgin Islands professor Robert Nicholls' radar.
His interest lies in other trees, bigger trees, as illustrated in a new book, "Remarkable Big Trees in the U.S. Virgin Islands, An Eco-Heritage Guide to Jumbie Trees and Other Trees of Cultural Interest."
The book is the culmination of a research and dissemination project headed by Nicholls and his team – Toni Thomas, Carlos Robles and Olasee Davis – of UVI's Cooperative Extension Service.
The first phase of the project was the launch of a Register of USVI Big Trees. The original compilation included 78 trees presented in a handsomely illustrated foldout booklet. There are now 164 trees in the register, Nicholls said. The second phase commenced with a photographic exhibit and concluded with the current book.
According to Nicholls, trees do not stand alone in the life of a culture — a discovery that he made while doing while doing research into the music, dance and traditions of the Igede people of Nigeria as a faculty member of AhmaduBello University.
"In Nigeria," Nicholls said in a recent phone interview, "I found [that] to understand their worldview, one had to understand their relationship to trees. I collected information, which was a side project, nothing I could really use at the time. I have more recently seen the link between music and trees."
Nicholls began teaching at UVI in 1993, his work on the spiritual aspect of African trees a footnote of which he was still very much aware. A few years later he saw a request for proposals (RFP) for projects — put out by the Urban and Community Forestry Assistance Program of the Virgin Islands Department of Agriculture — to increase public appreciation of local trees.
"When I saw the RFP, a bell went off in my head," Nicholls said. "There's all sorts of relationships in folklore in African and Eastern Caribbean beliefs, which are fading out of the collective memory. I wanted to help rekindle people to the similarities of the two cultures."
With his team, Nicholls has been able to supply a connection to old stories. "With our core group we were able to work on this connection," Nicholls said.
The project has gotten attention from national media. In an article in the fall 2003 edition of American Forests magazine, Olasee Davis, a forestry ecologist with the U.S. Virgin Islands Cooperative Extension Service, said the project came along at a critical time. "The older people, they know the stories, know the trees," said Davis, "But the teenagers, the 20-year-olds, for them the stories are fading away. We need to give these traditions to those younger generations."
Nicholls hopes the book will inspire an interest in conservation in young people. "They are our major constituents, because they will eventually be the custodians of our trees," he said.
Employing an original iapproach, the book serves as a self-tour guide, showing where the trees are located. It also provides historical and cultural information about the trees and features double-page maps of each of the three main islands, with GPS (global positioning system) coordinates for locating the trees. The handsome edition is 136 pages and contains 110 color photos/illustrations.
Among the biggest V.I. trees: a mahogany tree on Mahogany Road; three locust trees in Caledonia, St. Croix, (added to only one previous locust tree, at Caneel Bay, on St. John); and a kapok tree in St. Croix's rainforest known as the "hermit tree," because back in the '60s or '70s residents recall a man living in the tree. Others include jumbi trees, kapok, ficus, a sandbox tree, baobab, tamarind, monkey-don't-climb tree; and a gri-gri (or gris-gris). Nicholls reeled off the trees and their social significance with seemingly no end to his list or his knowledge of each tree.
The book is on sale for $20 at several locations, including Dockside Books in Havensight Mall and the UVI Bookstore on St. Thomas; the UVI Bookstore, Landmarks Museum and Whim Museum Store on St. Croix; and the Eastern National Bookstore at the National Park Dock, Book and Bean and Hurricane Alley in Cruz Bay St. John; and Mumbo Jumbo, and Maho Bay Campground in Coral Bay, St. John.
Nicholls is pleased with the project. "Everybody is delighted with it," he said. "We want to to keep it affordable, so young people don't find it beyond their means. We feel it's important to reach out."
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