The first protected forests in Puerto Rico were designated not for their ecological value but for their
industrial timber utility in the form of
Spanish Crown Lands under the
Inspección de Montes, the equivalent of the Spanish Colonial Forest service.
El Yunque, for example, was the first forested area to receive this designation in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico became a territory of the United States in the aftermath of the
Spanish-American War in 1898 and, in 1903, President
Theodore Roosevelt set aside these former timberlands to proclaim the Luquillo Forest Reserve, the first ecologically protected area in the island. Meanwhile, on the state level, colonial governor
Arthur Yager set aside
mangrove forests along the coasts of Puerto Rico for their ecological value between 1918 and 1919:
Aguirre,
Boquerón,
Ceiba, and
Guánica. The latter had its boundaries extended in order to protect a large tract of
dry forest, a type of ecosystem that used to be common in the Caribbean but had now almost completely disappeared. These became the first state or territorial-level protected forests in the island and, in December 1919, ownership of the federally protected forest tract in the westernmost portion of the Cordillera Central passed to the territorial government, making the
Maricao Forest the first woodland to receive this designation. By 1935 all the newly protected woodlands of Puerto Rico under were consolidated as part of the
Caribbean National Forest, which was then divided into the areas of the
Sierra de Luquillo (
El Yunque) and the
Cordillera Central (
Guilarte and
Toro Negro). In addition to their natural resources these areas were also managed as tourist attractions, something that is evident in the territory-wide construction projects of visitor infrastructure by the
Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930s
Roosevelt presidency. Many of these structures and buildings today possess historical and architectural value, and some are listed in the
National Register of Historic Places as
New Deal Era Constructions in the Forest Reserves of Puerto Rico (1933-1942). A notable example of these is the
Santa Ana Observation Tower, popularly called
La Torre de Piedra. It was during this time that the ownership of the western portions of the Caribbean National Forest passed to the territorial government, creating Toro Negro in 1934 and Guilarte, which was separated from the latter, in 1935. In the following decades, previously designated natural reserves such as
Carite,
Guajataca and
Rio Abajo were given the additional designation of state forest. Several of the forest, such as
Bosque del Pueblo,
San Patricio and
Monte Choca, have gained their protected designation thanks to the actions of
grassroots movements and local community actions. == List of Puerto Rico state forests ==