Main Ridge, Tobago

Main mountainous ridge on the island of Tobago

Main Ridge is primarily underlain by the North Coast Schist Group (NCSG), which occupies the northern third of the island of Tobago. The island of Tobago is the main exposed portion of the Tobago terrane, a fragment of crustal material lying between the Caribbean and South American Plates. The rocks of the NCSG are metavolcanic; the underlying igneous rock was laid down during the Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous. led to the elevated horst block separated from the half graben of the southern lowlands by the Southern Tobago fault system. (according to John Stanley Beard's classification of the vegetation of Tobago). In Tobago, these forests are characterised by an emergent canopy of Licania biglandulosa and Byrsonima spicata, Aquatic invertebrates include the decapods Atya innocous, Eudaniela garmani, Macrobrachium faustinum, and the introduced gastropod Melanoides tuberculata.

The Main Ridge Forest Reserve, a forest reserve, is one of the oldest protected areas in the world. The Trinidad and Tobago government submitted the Main Ridge Forest Reserve as a tentative listing for a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011. The area is managed by the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, a department of the Tobago House of Assembly. The Main Ridge Forest Reserve plays an important role in the protection of native biodiversity, particularly endemic plant species. The Main Ridge and the Northern Range (in northern Trinidad) are the areas in the country which support the largest numbers of globally rare plant species. Main Ridge provides critical habitat for three endemic amphibians, Pristimantis turpinorum (Turpin's frog), Mannophryne olmonae (Bloody Bay tree frog) and Pristimantis charlottevillensis (Charlotteville Rain Frog), which are endemic to northeastern Tobago, Plant species endemic to Tobago which have been recorded from Main Ridge include Odontonema brevipes, Duguetia tobagensis, Phyllanthus acacioides, Besleria seitzii, Cybianthus pittieri, Pilea tobagensis, and Justicia tobagensis. The site has a visitor centre and a network of nine trails which allow access to the site. Additional trails were constructed to reduce pressure on the most popular trail, Gilpin Trace, which is prone to over use. The Main Ridge Forest Reserve was named the World's Leading Ecotourism Destination by the World Travel Awards from 2003 to 2006 and the World's Leading Green Destination in 2007 and 2009.

Forests on the Main Ridge were damaged by Hurricane Flora in 1963, and its forests continue to be susceptible to hurricane damage. Given the small size of the area, fires started in surrounding agricultural lands can penetrate deep into the hills. Commercial and subsistence hunting and overuse for tourism pose threats to biodiversity, while the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis poses a threat to endemic amphibians.