FAO Forestry country profiles - forest management

History

Forest management and silviculture

American Samoa has been inhabited for at least 3 000 years. In 1900, American Samoa was formally annexed by the United States with administration initially under the Department of the Navy, and later passed to the Department of the Interior. Up until the 1960s, the economy of American Samoa was largely based on traditional and subsistence practices, with forest management limited to agroforestry practices in home gardens and shifting cultivation. Harvesting of timber has been carried out on an ad hoc basis for domestic household purposes, mainly for posts, poles and other traditional uses. Two-thirds of the land in American Samoa is steep-sloped and mountainous, rendering it virtually inaccessible and unusable for agricultural purposes. Management of these lands is vested in the customary owners, though active management is negligible. Minor forest plantation establishment commenced in the 1980s.