Inside Haiti’s biodiversity: Conservation keeps rare wildlife thriving at Pic Macaya Park 

When the male spiny giant frog wants to be intimate with a female, he lets out five rising whistles that end with a semi-whistle. This charming mating call is only ever heard in the one place on earth where that type of amphibian exists: Hispaniola, the island that Haiti and the Dominican Republic share. Specifically, in Haiti’s Pic Macaya National Park.

Ecologists with the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species who described the amphibian’s call can only theorize that it is still living in Macaya. Since no one knows whether those five whistles have sounded in recent years, the scientists have placed the spiny giant frog, or Eleutherodactylus nortoni, in the Critically Endangered category.

For some, the potential to discover or rediscover rare, endangered, or endemic wildlife—species found nowhere else on Earth—points to a major reason the park exists and must be protected.

“Macaya National Park is crucial for conserving Haitian flora and fauna, with some species threatened with extinction,” Stevins Alexis, president of the Macaya Foundation for Local Development, told The Haitian Times in a phone interview from the area.

Pic Macaya National Park is Haiti’s largest protected area, measuring nearly 60,000 acres of land across two departments and 10 communes, according to the Ministry of the Environment. As a wildlife haven in the  Caribbean, it shelters thousands of species, including some found nowhere else on earth. Macaya also serves as the water source for the South and Grand’Anse departments, encompassing diverse ecosystems such as mountain forests, rivers, waterfalls, and karstic and volcanic formations. 

Like much of Haiti’s southern peninsula, the park has been devastated by natural disasters, including Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and an 8.2-magnitude earthquake in 2021. These catastrophes, coupled with people in need turning to the area’s bounty, have severely destroyed or endangered some of its wildlife. A wildfire in 2023 worsened the challenge of preserving this natural treasure.

Many conservationists say maintaining the park requires more sustained attention from Haiti’s decisionmakers, in addition to efforts by local environmental protection organizations. 

“From a biodiversity perspective, the Pic Macaya Park is one of Haiti’s greatest riches,” Alexis said. “We will do everything to ensure that this source of wealth benefits the surrounding inhabitants, without endangering life in the space.”

A wealth of wildlife in danger  

Located in the Massif de la Hotte chains of mountains of southern Haiti, Pic Macaya National Park stretches between two summits — the 7,700-foot Pic Macaya and 7,280-foot Pic Formon. According to the Ministry of the  Environment, Jean-Claude Duvalier’s government first established it by decree in 1983, designating nearly 5,000 acres for preservation. A 2013 presidential decree expanded the park to 21,640 acres, followed a year later by annexation of nearby areas that brought Macaya to 59,300 acres.

In 2016, UNESCO declared the mountain range a Biosphere Reserve, which makes it part of the global UNESCO Man and Biosphere Network, according to a UN Environment Programme’s press release.

Still, designating the area as protected, without providing resources to support preservation, failed to stop what a 2004 report  called “the rampant extraction of natural resources.” 

“Although establishing effective conservation programs in unstable countries is a challenge, Haiti’s remarkable and unsung diversity merits the effort,” the authors of “Disappearing Jewels” noted in the report. 

For locals in the 10 communes the park spans across South and  Grand’Anse departments, Macaya serves as a critical potable water source. It feeds eight rivers: Les Anglais, Port-à-Piment, Acul, Torbeck, Ravine du Sud, Guinaudée, Voldrogue and Roseaux.

Pic Macaya National Park is home to more than 6,500 species of plants, including:   

• 141 varieties of orchids, 38 of them endemic 
• 102 species of ferns with three endemic
• Nearly 100 species of moss
• 367 varieties of flowering plants

Animals habiting the park include:

• 220 species of birds
• 57 species of mollusks
• 11 species of butterflies, including the endemic calisto loxias
• Six species of frogs, including two types formerly believed extinct

Following the 2010 earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince and impacted ecology in other parts of the south, experts discovered amphibians at Macaya Park that had not been seen since 1991. Experts  with Amphibian Specialist Group counted the “mozart frog,” a creature that emits a distinctive call, in the discovery. Tiburon’s brook frog was also found there.

Endangered plants found only on the island include kman’s Magnolia. The park also hosts two land mammal species endemic to Hispaniola — the hutia and solenodon, or Plagiodontia Aedium and Solenodon Paradoxus, respectively. 

Protecting and preserving Haiti’s parks  

While the Haitian government declared the area a national park, critics said that alone failed to provide greater protection to plants and animals. Rapid deforestation was occurring as many locals turned to the park’s resources for subsistence, such as chopping down trees for charcoal, and as natural disasters struck the area.

Alexis’s  Macaya Foundation for Local Development, also focused on protecting and restoring the area’s environment. It promotes activities such as planting, which residents who live near Pic Macaya do as community service. The foundation also plants thousands of seedlings each year.

As of 2024, preservationists had planted trees on 1,488 acres of the park, Alexis said. The effort significantly increased forest cover despite environmental challenges over the past eight years. 

The national park is the only area in Haiti where logging is prohibited and that residents respect, Alexis added. 

Other parks around the country have also been receiving care. Haiti National Trust, a conservation organization founded by airline mogul Philippe Bayard, aims to preserve Haiti’s biodiversity hotspots. So far, it has contributed to the creation of three additional national parks: Grand Bois, Deux Mamelles et Grand Colline. 

Locals play a major role in these efforts, which in turn has had a major impact on area residents.

“Approximately 40 percent of our local field team is made up of women, which helps support many families,” Anne-Isabelle Bonifassi, executive director of HNT, told The Haitian Times over email.

“It’s extraordinary to see that people who once cut down trees for charcoal or farmed in the park are now its greatest advocates,” Bonifassi added. “This is a tremendous achievement. All this, despite the very difficult socioeconomic situation in Haiti, demonstrates our unwavering commitment to our mission.”

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