The Caymanian Compass congratulates and commends all those who contributed to the reopening of the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park after it suffered significant damage from Hurricane Ivan last year.
Many Grand Cayman residents will be pleased to be able to visit the park again and the reopening undoubtedly is a welcome development for a tourism industry that is still working to restore and improve Cayman’s product.
However, the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park represents something even more important than tourism dollars and leisure time for residents.
The 65-acre park is an invaluable treasure of native plants and trees.
Its boundaries are a critical wall that stands against the development that is so destructive to Cayman’s natural world.
This is significant because Grand Cayman is likely to become increasingly layered in concrete and asphalt in the coming decades.
The obvious victim will be plants, trees and the animal life that depends on them.
Grand Cayman may become a maze of streets, homes, businesses and roads, from end-to-end, with no more wild places.
This is not a far-fetched possibility, of course; in fact it is inevitable if the present and future leaders of our society cannot figure out a way to keep the economy healthy while halting population growth and deforestation.
Given the possibility of a concrete Cayman, the Botanic Park can be thought of as our time capsule of natural life, preserved for enjoyment and.
If, sooner or later, Grand Cayman is no longer an island of green bush and tall trees, then at least there will be this one brilliant oasis of nature’s beauty left to enjoy.
We should be proud that the people of our time had the vision and intelligence to see that at least some land had to be staked out and claimed for nature, that there must be at least one place where the bulldozers halt.
In this light, the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park is nothing less than our gift to the people of Cayman’s future.
It takes little effort to imagine how grateful future generations are likely to be one distant day from now when they enjoy this precious patch of green that we were smart enough and kind enough to leave for them.
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