Bermuda

Heritage Reforestation Corp. in Bermuda

Big efforts will be placed on the reforestation of the “Bermuda Cedar”, also referred as “Bermuda Juniper”, once covered most of the island, but 99% had been lost through deforestation and insect devastations.

The Bermuda juniper is an evergreen tree growing up to 15 m tall with a trunk up to 60 cm thick (larger specimens existed in the past) and thin bark that exfoliates in strips. The foliage is produced in blue-green sprays, with the individual shoots 1.3–1.6 mm wide. A threat to the continued existence of Bermuda's junipers arose in the mid-1940s when the species was attacked by two species of scale insects, Lepidosaphes newsteadi and Carulaspis minima, which were unintentionally introduced from the United States' mainland during the wartime construction of US airbases in Bermuda. By 1978, these parasites had killed 99% of Bermuda's junipers, some 8 million trees. However, the remaining 1% of the trees proved somewhat resistant to the scale insects, and efforts by Bermuda's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Parks to plant young junipers from this resistant strain throughout Bermuda have saved the trees from extinction.

The Bermuda cedar forests that covered Bermuda fed and housed many species of bird that had evolved and adapted to live amongst them, and thus became endemic to Bermuda. With the loss of so many trees the populations of such species have plummeted to near extinction. These birds include the Bermuda white-eyed vireo, and a possible subspecies of eastern bluebird.

In 1627, in an effort to conserve Bermuda's juniper forests, the local assembly passed legislation to restrict export of Bermuda cedar for shipbuilding. In addition, between 1693 and 1878, the Bermuda legislature passed sixteen further acts placing restrictions on the uses of Bermuda cedar. Despite these Acts, the shipbuilding industry eventually denuded much of Bermuda's landscape by the 1830s. Only the dawn of the age of steam-driven, steel-hulled ships allowed the forest to recover.

Many historic homes in Bermuda feature interior woodwork and furnishings made from Bermuda cedar. Examples of these homes include the Mayflower House, Camden House, Tucker House, and Verdmont House, the latter of which, according to the Bermuda National Trust, contains the colony's finest collection of antique Bermuda cedar furnishings. Because it is now both scarce, and expensive, and it is featured in many grand homes, its scent has come to be associated with wealth.