FIVE BLUES LAKE NATIONAL PARK, BELIZE: A CAUTIONARY MANAGEMENT TALE

Management of protected karst areas is constrained by the inherently dynamic nature of karst landscapes, but this may be manifest in unexpected ways. Unanticipated developments do not change the fundamental nature of the karst landscape, but they may have major implications for management, and they may have drastic impacts on visitor numbers and revenue streams.

Five Blues Lake National Park is located within the Indian Creek Valley in the Hummingbird or Northern Boundary Fault Karst of central Belize. The park was established in 1991 and enlarged in 1994 to comprise approximately 1640 hectares (4000 acres). Uniquely among Belize's national parks, it is managed by a local NGO - The Friends of Five Blues Lake – with the income being used for park upkeep and management and for local community development.

Although there are many karst attractions within the park, notably caves, dry valleys, conical hills and serrated ridges, the principal visitor focus is the four hectare (10 acre) Five Blues Lake itself. The spectrum of blue shades is visually stunning, the lake is important ecologically, and visitors use it for swimming and boating.

Between 1986 and 2006 water levels in the lake remained relatively stable, with only minor seasonal fluctuations, but between July 20-25, 2006 the lake disappeared, the water draining underground via what was described as a whirlpool. Without the lake, visitors abandoned the park, revenues declined precipitously and the park and its access road were all but abandoned.

Visitors reported that the lake had refilled in late June 2007, since when access has been improved and facilities redeveloped. Visitor numbers, however, continue to lag well behind those pre-drainage, and the park's managers are understandably concerned about the cause of the sudden drainage and the future viability of a park centered on an iconic feature which may or may not be present at any given time.

The lesson of this episode is that karst landscapes, and particularly hydrologic features, are inherently dynamic over even very short periods of time. Their management and promotion within protected areas needs to take this into account, emphasizing variability and change, and avoiding a focus on conditions which may not prevail at any given time.