Our highlights for the week ending January 24th

University of Puerto Rico partners with the SJBEP to complete our estuarine oral history project:  The University of Puerto Rico’s School of Communication devoted a graduated course to the oral history project of our organization. In this course, offered by professor Mario Roche, the students conducted a series of in-depth interviews to community leaders of our watershed.  Dialogo newspaper is currently publishing a summarized version of the interviews, as follow:

Elena Resto Torres, from the Capetillo community:

ttp://dialogoupr.com/la-isla-del-diablo-un-sitio-como-cualquier-otro/

José “Chago” Santiago Reillo, from the Cantera community:

http://dialogoupr.com/jose-chago-santiago-para-nosotros-este-infierno-ha-sido-bueno/

Hideliza Román, Caimito community

http://dialogoupr.com/ya-este-no-es-mi-caimito-se-convirtio-en-lujo-para-los-ricos/

Rosa Hilda Ramos, Cataño community

http://dialogoupr.com/rosa-hilda-ramos-el-aire-de-catano-esta-limpio-no-da-cancer/

César A. Carrero, Condado community

http://dialogoupr.com/cesar-a-carrero-y-la-transformacion-del-condado/

Manuel Lulo Rivera, La Playita community

http://www.uprrp.edu/?p=7773

EPA releases the National Coastal Condition Assessment 2010 Final Report The National Coastal Condition Assessment 2010 Report finds that more than half of the nation's coastal and Great Lakes nearshore waters are rated good for biological and sediment quality, while about one-third are rated good for water quality. In almost all coastal waters, however, contaminants in fish tissue pose a threat to sensitive predator fish, birds, and wildlife. The National Coastal Condition Assessment is part of a series of National Aquatic Resource Surveys (NARS) designed to advance the science of coastal monitoring and answer critical questions about the condition of waters in the United States. The report can be found at the following link:

http://www.epa.gov/national-aquatic-resource-surveys/ncca

Meeting with the DNER’s Secretary:  The SJBEP’s Executive Director and the Scientific Director of the entity met on Friday, January 22, 2016 with the Secretary of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, Hon. Carmen Guerrero, to discuss several ongoing projects, with emphasis on the acquisition of land on riparian areas of the SJBE watershed.  This project is part of current year’s matching fund as part of our annual EPA grant.  

Our highlights for the week ending January 17th

Recycling efforts in San Sebastián Street Festival: During the four days of festivals, from January 14  to January 17, the San Juan Bay Estuary Program joined the Municipality of San Juan’s Puerto Rico Recycling Partnership and manned one of 20 recycling stations scattered throughout the island of Old San Juan.

New historian and communicator for our visitor’s center: The San Juan Bay Estuary Program welcomes historian Dr. Ruth García and communicator Lourdes Hernández to our team. They will be leading our historic documenting efforts for the communities of the Martín Peña Channel and other communities from the estuary area. In addition, García and Hernández will manage exhibits in our new visitor’s center in Old San Juan.

Clean-water efforts in Las Curías lake: Since October 2015, the San Juan Bay Estuary Program joined the association of residents of Las Curías and the Municpality of San Juan in planning ways of eradicating, without the use of pesticides, an outburst of giant salvinia threatening the Las Curías lake. The constant monitoring and reporting on enterococcus levels by the SJBEP have led a strong partnership with the Municipality of San Juan, who initiated in December 2015 and January 2016 the maintenance of septic tanks for the residents in an effort to improve the water quality of the lake.

Christmas bird census: On January 3, 2016 we conducted our yearly Christmas Bird Census,which was organized by our AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer and Biologist Stephanie Camacho. The census took place simultaneously in three areas: the Luis Muñoz Rivera Park in northern San Juan, the community of Piñones in Loíza, and Las Curías in southern San Juan.