Logwood Project: Introduction and Project Goals

Logwood is native to the Carribean Islands, and is a very important dye used for purple and black. We were originally planning on purchasing some land in the Dominican Republic on which to grow Logwood. We wanted to reestablish the lost infrastructure for ecologically harvesting, aging, preparing, transporting, and distributing Logwood while bringing economic opportunity and hope to the impoverished populations there.

While working there, we were surprised to realize that we were working with a remnant population of Indios, who are thought by most anthropologists to be extinct. We began gathering ethnographic data to document the population, and became involved with some community development projects there.

We recently learned that the the government plans to sell the land they are living on to tourist developers. This would not only displace them and cause even further poverty, but it would destroy their unique and special way of life. The plan itself is not feasible because the stretch of beach on which they live is treacherous, with high waves and rocks. Their is a tourist resort nearby on a nicer beach that never even half full. Tourism is not a booming industry in this area and developing more is a losing proposition.

Mama D.O.C. is currently working on a proposal to present to the government that would detail these objections to selling it and also lay out plans for economic development projects that would allow these people to not only buy their land from the government but to become self-sufficient and productive members of society.

The projects we are planning include export of crops and specialty products that grow well in the tropical climate: e.g. silkworms ("Peace Silk"), plant dyes, and botanical extracts. The proposal also estimates the cost to the government to move these people from their land, and discusses the questionable outlook of conventional tourism on this section of the coast.