page_title: Toro Negro State Forest
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Toro Negro State Forest / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Bosque Estatal de Toro Negro
context_page_description: Toro Negro State Forest is one of the 21 forests that make up the public forests system in Puerto Rico. It is also Puerto Rico's highest cloud forest. It is located in the Cordillera Central region of the island and covers 8,204 cuerdas, of mountains. Toro Negro's mountains have heights reaching up to 4,400 feet and include Cerro de Punta, Cerro Jayuya and Cerro Rosa, the three highest peaks in the island. Nested among these mountains is Lake Guineo, the island's highest lake. The forest has 18 kilometers of trails, an observation tower, two natural swimming pools, camping and picnic areas, nine rivers, and numerous creeks and waterfalls. The forest spans areas within the municipalities of Ponce, Jayuya, Orocovis, Ciales, and Juana Díaz, and consists of seven non-contiguous tracts of land. The largest contiguous segment of the forest is located in the municipalities of Ponce and Jayuya. Some 40% of the area of Toro Negro State Forest is located in Ponce's Barrio Anón.
context_section_description: In 1876, Spanish King Alfonso XII of Spain issued the first proclamation for the creation of forest reserves in Puerto Rico. The land where Toro Negro sits was originally used for coffee plantations until the 1930s when a program of reforestation was commenced.
  In 1934, those lands were acquired by the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA). The forest started with a total of 2,733 hectares (6,750 acres) in 1934. In 1935, 1,900 acres (2,000 cda) of private lands were purchased by the PRRA.  The forest was not a separate entity at the time; it was part of the Caribbean National Forest, and was administered by the U.S. Forest Service as the Toro Negro Division of the Caribbean National Forest.  Additional lands brought the total size of the Toro Negro purchase that year to 6,620 acres (6,820 cda), and at least an additional 1,385 acres (1,426 cda) were in the process of being acquired in 1936. Between 1934 and 1945 over 3 million seedlings and approximately 19,000 pounds of seeds were sown on 1,856 acres (1,911 cda) of the forest. Twenty-eight species were planted in twenty-nine different plantations.  In 1942, the US Department of the Interior transferred the forest to the United States Department of Agriculture.  From 1942 to 1961, it was administered by the US Forest Service. During these years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture continued its acquisition of lands increasing the acreage of Toro Negro.
   
  In 1961, Toro Negro was transferred to the Government of Puerto Rico. The transfer was finalized on 21 May 1962, when the 6,817 cuerdas (6,621 acres) of land that constituted the Toro Negro Unit of the Caribbean National Forest were signed away to the Government of Puerto Rico by the Federal Government.  Of these 6,817 cuerdas (6,621 acres), 1,996 cuerdas (1,939 acres) were exchanged for 1,614 cuerdas (1,568 acres) located adjacent to the Luquillo Unit of the Caribbean National Forest. The remaining 4,821 cuerdas (4,682 acres) were ceded to Puerto Rico's Department of Agriculture for forestry purposes. This resulted in the Toro Negro State Forest.  Since 1962, approximately 120 cuerdas have been planted to eucalyptus, mahoe, kadam  and Honduran pine. In 1962, Toro Negro had 6,817 cuerdas (6,621 acres), representing 11.32% of Puerto Rico's state forests. In 1962 the Area Recreacional Doña Juana was added to Toro Negro.  In April 1970, a land exchange which included the Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture purchase and transfer of 1,677 acres (1,727 cda) forest lands adjacent to Luquillo Experimental Forest in exchange for the complete transfer of Toro Negro forest lands to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
  The lower elevations of Toro Negro used to be important coffee-producing plantations, however, the entire forest is especially critical for water and soil conservation. Today, the amount of tree foliage coverage in the forest ranges from 81% in the moist forest zone to 99% in the lower montane wet forest zone. The forest was named for the Río Toro Negro, one of nine rivers that flow out of the forest, and the name of one of the barrios in the Ciales portion of the forest.
caption: Bosque Estatal de Toro Negro
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