Highlights for the week ending September 17th

9.14.2016. Installation of an ashtray at Alto del Cabro

As part of our Trash Free Waters initiative, residents of Alto del Cabro community installed an ashtray right at the entrance of a popular commercial space with the support of our Restoration Specialist, Biologist Ivangs Rivera. This ashtray helps increase awareness on the impact of cigarrete buds on the estuarine ecosystem of the San Juan Bay Estuary; especially on those close to water bodies, such as the Condado Lagoon.  

  

9.15.2016. Macroinvertebrates’ workshop

Approximately twenty (20) of our volunteers and staff members participated in EPA Region 2’s Benthic Macroinvertebrate Training at the Río Piedras River. The macroinvertebrates’ workshop was coordinated and offered by Biologist James Kurtenbach, as part of EPA’s citizen science initiative and the Equipment Loan Program. Participants of the training will develop macroinvertebrates identification activities following EPA’s protocol.

9.15.2016 Region 2 NEP Directors Meeting, New York

On September 15th, EPA Region 2’s Six National Estuary Program directors met with EPA’s clean water division team and Regional Administrator, Judith Enck in New York, to discuss common challenges and share strategies.  The convening served also as a great great introductory meeting for our new executive director, Brenda Torres.  

09.16.2016. Inventory of current and historic adaptations to climate change in the Martín Peña Channel Communities

This week the Inventory of Current and Past Adaptations to Climate Change Project continue. Our Climate Change Community Coordinator, geographer Roberto Morales, introduced a workshop about community-based cartography at the Emilio del Toro School in Las Monjas Community. The workshop was facilitated by Fabiola Robles from ENLACE and our own Omar Pérez. This project - sponsored by the New York Community Trust - will help us explore and discover community adaptation options in the face of climate change. It will also help us develop a vulnerability and risk geodatabase.

09.17.2016 International Coastal Cleanup

We served as regional captain in the area of Peninsula de la Esperanza in Cataño during this year’s International Coastal Cleanup in Puerto Rico. We partnered with the Scuba Dogs Society, who were leading the clean up islandwide. This year’s clean up was well attended, as we were able to attract more than two hundred (200) volunteers from five (5) public schools and residents of Cataño.  Our capable staff and volunteers, led by Gladys Rivera, our Outreach Manager, were able to remove 2,700 pounds of trash, mostly plastics that came from the waters of the bay from this valuable coastal region in the west part of our estuarine watershed.