Past Accomplishments
The Bahamas National Trust is a unique legislated non-government organization. Charged with developing and managing the Bahamas National Park System, the Trust is the only non-governmental organization in the world with such a mandate.
Since the early 1980s the Trust has played a leadership role in the protection of the Bahama Parrot and was the first to successfully breed this endangered species in captivity.
Education programs for Bahamian youth were instituted more than 30 years ago. To date thousands of Bahamian school children have experienced nature through organized visits to national parks and award winning educational presentations. The Trust also houses one of the most extensive collections of environmental texts in the Caribbean in its library at the Retreat Gardens National Park.
In the 1980s, the Trust's Historic Preservation Committee compiled a comprehensive database of historical buildings and sites in New Providence and the Family Islands. This document has become the Bahamas National Historical Register. The Committee also captured this critical historical information in a unique video series entitled, "A Proud and Singular Heritage."
In 1958, the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park was created, becoming the world's first land and sea park established under a single authority. In 1986, the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park was declared a no-take zone, making the Park one of the first marine fisheries replenishment sites in the Wider Caribbean. The success of the Exuma Park is scientifically documented and is being emulated nationally and internationally.
In close cooperation with the National Audubon Society, the Trust brought the West Indian Flamingo back from near extinction, to a thriving colony of approximately 50,000, which is now re-populating other Caribbean Islands.
In 1990 the Trust initiated a Wetlands Restoration Project in the historic community of Adelaide, New Providence. This project spawned the National Creeks and Wetlands Restoration Program which now falls under the portfolio of the The Bahamas Environment, Science and Technology (BEST) Commission. The Bahamas National Trust played an influential role in the establishment of the BEST Commission which is a government agency that serves as the official point of contact for all international organizations on matters relating to the environment, science and technology
For 40 years the Trust has led the White-Crowned Pigeon management program. The Bahamian population of this prized and economically important national game bird is by far the most viable in the Caribbean.