Volunteers planting a Cobana negra tree during our Estuary 360 project. This is a citizen science and watershed-based ongoing initiative. The Cobana negra is a tree in danger of extinction.
Members of the community and students from the Martín Peña Channel area installing a work of art as part of the Proyecto Enlace, G-8, and Murals and Gardens of the Estuary initiative.
Hudson River Foundation Director, Clay Hiles, with SJBEP Executive Director, Javier Laureano visiting one of the murals of the San Juan Bay Estuary Program.
Board members of The Nature Conservancy visited the San José Lagoon with the Chair of Bank and Finance of the Management Conference, Ramón Lloveras San Miguel (5th to the left) and the Executive Director of the SJBEP, Javier Laureano (1st to the left).
A sea of plastic about to be recycled at IFCO plant, Caguas PR. This is one of the sites to be visited during our Trash Free Waters Conference 2014 on June 4-5.
Close up view of the Carolina Municipal Landfill, one of the best managed in Puerto Rico.
Compost processing area at Vivo, Caguas PR. 1/4 of the Island's municipal solid waste in comprised of organic waste.
Yo Reciclo Styrofoam recycling facilities at Caguas PR.
SJBEP and the Solid Waste Management Authority of Puerto Rico visited the Niños Salvando al Mundo Ecological School in Caguas, a zero waste school.
Members of the Co-Management Committee of the Condado Lagoon Estuarine Reserve met to discuss the progress of the Lagoon's Management Plan.
ESTUARY
360: Citizen science to enhance and
restore our ecosystem On March 1st, 2014 we celebrated the second edition of Estuary 360, a watershed-scale effort of citizen science,
ecosystem restoration and water quality monitoring.
135 volunteers worked in 13 locations, planted 137 trees, collected 1,700 lbs. of trash and monitored 6 bodies of water. Our Outreach Coordinator, Gladys Rivera, is the key person of our staff working on the initiative, showcased in the following media links:
135 volunteers worked in 13 locations, planted 137 trees, collected 1,700 lbs. of trash and monitored 6 bodies of water. Our Outreach Coordinator, Gladys Rivera, is the key person of our staff working on the initiative, showcased in the following media links:
Rehabilitation
of the Martín Peña’s bridge through Gardens and Murals of the Estuary- For the
last month the San Juan Bay Estuary Program has been working every day with
schools of the Martín Peña communities in collaboration with the Proyecto Enlace, the San Juan Municipality, and the Group of the Eight Communities (G-8) to
restore the bridge. The children of the
community used the scientific illustrations of our Scientific Illustrator, Adriana Ocaña, to paint
large-scale murals that were installed on the bridge. The coordinator of this important project was
our Gardens and Murals of the Estuary Coordinator, Claudia Senior. We thank our great friends of Enlace for this new opportunity to join forces. The inauguration activity received ample
media coverage, such as the following links:
http://www.metro.pr/plus/rescatan-puente-martin-pena-mediante-arte-comunitario/pGXncD!zMWbnZttZxdfk/
The
Governor of Puerto Rico joined the environmental agencies of the Island and the
SJBEP to promote locally the Earth Hour-According to the World Wildlife Fund: “On
March 29, 2014, hundreds of millions of people around the world in over 7,000
cities in 162 countries turned off their lights for Earth Hour, our annual
display of commitment to protect the planet. In the United States…over 50,000
people joined the movement along with major landmarks, cities and businesses,
including the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Chrysler Building and
the Empire State Building in New York, the Willis Tower in Chicago, the Gateway
Arch in St. Louis, the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., and the Space
Needle in Seattle…”
Locally, the Governor’s Mansion turned off their lights as well
as the Environmental Agencies Building:
The Hudson River Foundation
Director visited our entity- On Monday, March 17, we received the
visit of Clay Hiles, Executive Director of the Hudson Bay River Foundation. We
took Mr. Hiles on a tour of our Estuary that included visits to the Capetillo
Urban Forest and Community Garden, as well as the Martín Peña Channel and the
Cantera Project. The day concluded with a boat tour of the San José,
Torrecillas, and Corozos Lagoons. During
the weekend, Hiles shared with our Executive Director, Javier Laureano, to
craft a partnership between both organizations.
Antilles Rapid Assessment
Method- SJBEP staff scientists Dr. Jorge Bauzá and Dr. Ricardo Colón
were invited to provide their input on the development of the Antilles Rapid
Assessment Method, an effort led by the DNER to assess the status of Puerto
Rico’s wetlands. During the workshop “Assessing the current condition of PR
wetlands” our scientists also developed important collaborations to initiate
wetland assessment projects within the San Juan Bay Estuary.
Working with turtle community
groups- Keeping up with the implementation of our annual work plan, on
March 20, we met with all the sea turtle monitoring groups of the San Juan area
to develop strategies that will unify the efforts of the monitoring groups and
to offer the support of the SJBEP to their current projects. We thank Dr. Carlos Diez for inviting us to
join these efforts of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources.
Unauthorized Sewage Discharges Task Force- On
April 3, 2014 our Scientific Director, Dr. Jorge Bauzá, coordinated the first
meeting of the Unauthorized Sewage Discharge Task Force. The idea behind the
creation of the Task Force is to address one of the most important and
persistent problems affecting the water quality of our Estuary: the
identification of non-point sources of contamination via sewage. On the other hand, the Scientific and
Technical Committee met on April 1, 2014.
Cleanups in the Condado Lagoon offers
materials for marine debris exhibit and art workshops-
During the month of March 2014 we have been able to clean the bottom and
fringes of the Condado Lagoon, taking out of the body of water thousands of
pounds of debris. We are using several
materials (mostly glass bottles) to setup a marine debris exhibit, and reuse
the bottles as part of our arts and crafts workshops.
Board members from The Nature Conservancy
visit the San Juan Bay Estuary On March 2, 2014 we received a
visit from board members of The Nature Conservancy, conservation-focused NGO with
world-wide presence. Our executive director, Dr. Javier Laureano, toured all
the water bodies of our estuary with the visitors and began the discussions to
share information about several projects, including our
Waste management in Puerto Rico: a preliminary
tour in preparation for our June 2014 workshop “TRASH FREE WATERS: EFFECTIVE
POLICIES, AN AGENDA FOR ACTION” On
March 5, 2014 the SJBEP staff, along with Marilyn Vicens from the Puerto Rico
Solid Waste Authority visited several sites that have shown exemplary solid
waste management strategies. This visit was part of the preparations for our
upcoming workshop “Trash free waters: An agenda for action”. Our first stop was
the Ecological School Niños Salvando al
Mundo, where we learned about their zero-waste initiatives.
We then
headed to the Yo Reciclo Styrofoam
recycling center in located in Caguas, Puerto Rico. After that we visited a sea
of plastic at the IFCO recycling plant in Caguas, evidence that this material
widely found in our oceans is not garbage but raw material to produce jobs and
other products. The Vivo composting
plant was another of our stops in Caguas. This location receives organic waste
from several municipalities, which is then composted and sold at accessible
prices to the general public. Our last stop was the landfill of the
municipality of Carolina. This landfill is one of the best managed in Puerto
Rico.
Second meeting of the Commission for the
Co-management of the Condado Lagoon- Citizens, businesspersons,
government representatives, scientists and persons from the community met at
the second meeting of the Commission, a mechanism of participatory democracy
sponsored by the SJBEP, the DNER and the Municipality of San Juan. We discussed several issues of concern to the
members of the Commission, including marine debris, direct contact with the
water, our new citizen guide, the use of the Lagoon for Olympic rowing, and the
contract of Estudios Técnicos to draft the management and conservation plan of
the Lagoon.
