Editing Rafael Trujillo (section)

==Environmental policy==
[[File:Río Yaque del Sur, RD.jpg|thumb|Yaque del Sur River in 2018; Trujillo was known for his pro-conservation policies for the natural environment of Dominican Republic and built a huge nature reserve around this river.]]
The Trujillo regime greatly expanded the Vedado del Yaque, a nature reserve around the [[Yaque del Sur River]]. In 1934 he banned the [[slash-and-burn]] method of clearing land for agriculture, set up a forest warden agency to protect the park system, and banned the logging of pine trees without his permission. In the 1950s the Trujillo regime commissioned a study on the hydroelectric potential of damming the Dominican Republic's waterways. The commission concluded that only forested waterways could support [[Hydroelectricity|hydroelectric dams]], so Trujillo banned logging in potential river watersheds. After his assassination in 1961, logging resumed in the Dominican Republic. Squatters burned down the forests for agriculture, and logging companies clear-cut parks. In 1967, President [[Joaquín Balaguer]] launched military strikes against illegal logging.<ref name="Diamond p."/>