The court ruled that: the investments made by the squatters in the Nariva Swamp were destroying a protected area; that they were not property improvements and therefore could not give rise to an equitable interest in the land. The Main Ridge Forest Reserve in Tobago has the distinction of being the oldest forest reserve in the western hemisphere, having been declared in 1764. The reserve was established expressly for watershed management purposes (Toppin-Allahar, 2001). However, the forestry legislation, as noted by Toppin-Allahar (2001), is directed at the regulation of production forestry on publicly owned lands and weak on the issue of deforestation on private lands and watershed management, including the control of forest fires.