Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Highlights for the week ending May 14th

Work plan and grant submitted:
One pivotal annual effort of the SJBEP is to submit its annual work plan and grant.  We thank Titin Foundation, Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, Municipality of San Juan, and Proyecto Enlace for their support providing matching funds for our annual grant with the National Estuary Program.   Thank to this grant we will continue our on-the-ground habitat restoration and enhancement activities, as well as our Visitor Center, education and communications program and the SJBEP’s offices.  

Old San Juan and Bay Educational Field Trip for over 150 Students:
This was a successful week for our educational initiatives. Our AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteers and other members of the SJBE guided four (4) different groups of students from Amiga School in Dorado, Juan Antonio Corretjer School in Ciales, Onofre Carballeira Umpiere School in Cataño and Carmen Delia Colón Martinez School in Aibonito, through the San Juan Bay in Old San Juan. On May 9th, 10th, 12th and 13th, these students enjoyed a wonderful educational trip that began with a short workshop in our Visitor Center. The students and teacher interacted in the field and learned about the San Juan Estuary Program, the flora and fauna and the importance of environmental volunteer work. The students also had the opportunity to do water monitoring exercises, beach cleaning and classify various types of debris or trash in beach sand.


Book Donations:
On May 9th, our AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers made the fourth donation, from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus to the library of the Emiliano Figueroa Elementary School in Piñones.  This is part of the ongoing VISTA initiative to identify economic growth opportunities based in the environment in the community.

Lionfish population control pilot project:
Our AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer, Ivangs Rivera Aponte, M.S., with the assistance of fellow volunteers Diana Ferro, Victoria Solero, and Laura Horta, led a third lionfish population control activity. On May 14th, 14 volunteers participated on the event. They performed a lionfish inventory in the artificial modules and mangrove planting project of the SJBEP located north of the Condado Lagoon. Five lionfish were captured. After this activity, Ivangs Rivera held a talk about this invasive species to people in the area.



Visitor Center
This week our Visitor Center continued receiving dozens of tourists, students and general public in an interesting journey through the past and present of the Martín Peña Channel communities. On May 14th, sixty-four (64) members of the Puerto Rico Historic Building Drawing Society visited our Center to appreciate the building structure and to receive a talk about the SJBEP actions, the importance of the San Juan Bay estuary and the relevance of be part of the volunteers efforts.  

Green Flag for the Condado Lagoon
This week, enterococcus readings for the Condado Lagoon complied with the federal standard. Here's the link to the report:

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