Appendix I

Available and Forthcoming Land Resource Data

_______Currently, the only available land resource data pertaining to the Programme for Belize property is included the 1959 report of the British Honduras Land Use Survey Team (Wright et al. 1959). The report included a soil map of Belize compiled at a 1:250,000 scale. While this map provides valuable information for the entire country, as discussed in the text, the level of resolution of a 1:250,000 scale map will only distinguish soil-type areas in excess of 252 ha extent. This is a fairly gross scale and is not comparable to the detail attained with the 1:50,000 scale maps available for the Belize River area, as produced by the Land Resources Development Centre of the United Kingdom (Birchall and Jenkin 1979). These 1:50,000 scale maps distinguish areas equal to or greater than 10.1 ha in extent (Davidson 1980:15). This scale provides a much more accurate basis for site density prediction.

_______The Belize Environmental Center is currently involved in preparing and making available the original, unpublished 1:40,000 soil maps produced by the British Honduras Land Use Survey Team that were used to compile the published 1:250,000 scale maps (Lou Nicolait, personal communication, August 1988). These unpublished soil maps promise to show a considerable amount of detail (Wright et al. 1959:9) and, when available, will be a valuable tool for resource management.

_______Another future source of land resource data for the Programme for Belize is the research currently underway by the Overseas Development Natural Resources Institute (ODNRI) of the United Kingdom Government Overseas Development Administration. The ODNRI was formed in 1987 by the amalgamation of the Tropical Development and Research Institute, and the Land Resources Development Centre (the organization responsible for the Belize Valley study by Jenkin et al. 1976 and Birchall and Jenkin 1979). The current ODNRI research in Belize is being conducted under the team leadership of Dr. R. B. King. The ODNRI has recently published land resources studies of the Toledo and Stann Creek Districts (King et al. 1986, 1989) and comparable studies of all other districts of Belize are either underway or will be carried out in the near future (J.R. Dunsmore, personal communication, August 1988; R.B. King, personal communication, September 1988 and July 1989). The ODNRI land resource data for Belize is being developed on an ARC/INFO type GIS (Geographic Information System) at the Edinburgh University Department of Geography (see Gray 1989). The digitized land resources data is being shared with Scott Fedick at the Department of Anthropology, University of California at Riverside, where archaeological data coverage will be added in cooperation with the Belize Department of Archaeology.