Estate Thomas Experimental Forest Management Plan

The Estate Thomas Experimental Forest (hereinafter Estate Thomas) is the only tropical dry forest owned and administered for this purpose by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service. It is the easternmost experimental forest in the agency's system of Experimental Forests and Ranges, located 5.4 km west of Christiansted, St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands (Figure 1 ). The Federal government has owned Estate Thomas since 1934. The Forest Service purchased it from the Virgin Islands Corporation in 1963 for dry tropical forest research, and Forest Service Chief Edward P. Cliff designated it an Experimental Forest on March 11, 1964. Although it is part of the National Forest System, it does not have status as a National Forest. Estate Thomas is administered by the USDA Forest Service, International Institute of Tropical Forestry (the Institute), located in San Juan, Puerto Rico