Highlights for the week ending April 16th

Climate change curricular lessons
This semester we are devoting our curricular lessons in schools to the critical topic of climate change.  As part of the initiative, this week our Educational Manager Javier Cardona, and AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer Helen Angell, facilitated climate change curricular lessons for public school students at the Pachín Marín School in Hato Rey; Juan Ponce de León School, and República de Colombia School in Río Piedras. Through a mask creation workshop, the students learned about the estuary, its flora, fauna, and the effects of climate change to our tropical ecosystem.

Kids in the community of Piñones learned about cartography, zero waste, and vermicompost
As part of our ongoing community capacity building initiative, on April 13th, twenty-three (23) students from the Emiliano Figueroa School of Piñones took three (3) workshops offered by our VISTA volunteers and contractors.  Ysabel Díaz offered a cartography workshop where she presented the results of a pollution identification mapping project that is taking place within our watershed; Rosana Betancourt presented a Zero Waste model; and our geographer Roberto Morales did a vermicompost workshop.  This initiative is part of our  Estuary Guardians School Program.

Active participation on the First Jobos Bay Mangrove Festival
An exciting new event that took place in one of our key estuarine partner's watershed during this weekend was the Jobos Bay Mangrove Festival ("Festival del Manglar").   Our AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers Laura Fidalgo, Ysabel Díaz, Diana Ferro, and Laura Horta attended several workshops and performed bird census on this National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR). Their participation in these workshops served to expand their knowledge of different estuarine environments and community involvement in Jobos Bay.  April 15th, 2016.

 

Community Capacity Building Event  
On April 16th we welcomed into our office 30 citizens interested in learning about non-profit corporations in our community capacity-building workshop named "El ABC de las Corporaciones Sin Fines de Lucro (CSFL) ("The ABC of Nonprofit Organisations").  Our VISTA volunteers Marina Moscoso and Victoria Solero coordinated the workshop that was offered by students of the Corporate Law Clinic of the Inter American University of Puerto Rico and their professor, Manuelita Muñoz Rivera. During the event, they discussed all aspects of the creation and operation of a non-profit organization. The participants also received information on funds availability and the basics of proposal writing, information provided by our grant writer, Isabel Rosa. This capacity building activity is part of the efforts of our VISTA team who is currently working in the development of several economic opportunities and strategies to overcome poverty in our communities through environmental stewardship.

Educacional booth
In this week, we continued our outreach education

initiatives through the setup of educational booth in different events. This time in the “Feria Para La Naturaleza” from the Para la Naturaleza Organization at Muñoz Rivera Park in San Juan.  Our volunteers received hundreds of visitors that learned about the Estuary and its ecological richness.

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: http://estuario.org/index.php/noticias/685-bandera-verde-para-la-laguna-de-condado

Highlights for the week of April 9th

News Editorial

Our Sanitary Discharge Identification and Elimination Project received an important mention on April 3rd, 2016 in the editorial of the most significant newspaper on the island. El Nuevo Día highlighted our project as one of great importance and that should be replicated in other regions. The editorial points out how the work done by our team has significantly improved the conditions of the San Juan Bay estuary.

Here's the link:

http://www.elnuevodia.com/opinion/editoriales/gestionmodelicadelprogramadelestuario-editorial-2181687/

Guardians of the Estuary in Piñones:

On April 4th, the AmeriCorps VISTA group of volunteers, lead the Guardians of the Estuary from the Emiliano Figueroa Elementary School in Piñones in different activities. The initiative in this school is part of the VISTA's ongoing efforts towards creating environment-based economic opportunities in the community of Piñones.

Educational and environmental field trip by the San Juan Bay

Our Education Manager Javier Cardona, and other members of our Program, guided a group of 130 students and 10 teachers of the Segunda Unidad Pedro Fernández school of Naranjito, by the San Juan Bay in Old San Juan. The event took place on April 8th, 2016. Firstly, the group went to our Visitor Center. In addition, they interacted with the field and learned more about the San Juan Estuary Program, the flora and fauna and the importance of environmental volunteer work. Furthermore, the students had the opportunity to do water monitoring exercises, beach cleaning and classify various types of debris or trash in beach sand.

Puerto Rico Water Quality Monitoring Day Event

The San Juan Bay Estuary celebrated the greatest water quality monitoring event throughout the island on April 9th.  During the event, more than 700 volunteers visited over 150 monitoring stations in rivers, creeks, lakes, lagoons and the beach to perform colorimetric water quality tests.   The event covered more than 40 municipalities of the Island, from the mountains to the ocean. It was coordinated by the SJBE Outreach Manager, Gladys Rivera, with the support of SJBE staff, volunteers and the collaboration of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources and their Jobos Bay Estuarine Reserve, the Environmental Quality Board and other organizations and groups.

Links to the news:

http://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/700voluntariosmonitoreanlacalidaddeaguaenlaisla-2184925/

http://www.noticel.com/noticia/188862/sobre-700-ciudadanos-cientificos-participan-en-el-dia-de-monitoreo-de-calidad-de-agua.html#.Vwlx0m1rWN8.facebook

http://touch.metro.pr/noticias/mas-de-700-personas-monitorean-calidad-en-la-isla/pGXpdi!axd5y6XnuWMVg/

In preparation of this event, several events were held prior April 9th, as follow:

Water Quality Monitoring Day’s Leaders Workshops

On May 30th and April 2nd our Outreach Manager, Gladys Rivera, led two workshops for over 45 group leaders of the Puerto Rico Water Quality Monitoring Day. The workshops were held at the Environmental Quality Board (EQB) HQ in San Juan and the Jobos Bay National Estuarine Reserve in Salinas respectively.  The events were supported by Nancy García from EQB, Ernesto Olivares of Jobos Bay, and AmeriCorps VISTA Members.

Macroinvertebrates’ workshops

More than 70 volunteers that will perform macroinvertebrate identification as part of the PRWMD event received hands-on training in three workshops held in Utuado, Luquillo and Río Piedras.  These workshops, coordinated by Gladys Rivera, were offered by James Kurtenbach, Biologist and expert in the field from EPA Region 2 as part of an EPA initiative to promote citizen science activities in the Caribbean. The events were also supported also by the Environmental Quality Board personnel, the National Forest Service El Yunque and the office of Bosque Modelo in Utuado.

Bacteriology Tests Pilot Project Workshop

A selected group of volunteers of the Puerto Rico Water Monitoring Day event participated in a special workshop where the 30 participants were able to learn about bacteriology test that can be performed without the need of an incubator, the Aguagenx Compartment Bag Test method.  This workshop was lead by Jim Ferreti (EPA Region 2) with the help of Harold Manrique (SJBE Water Quality Monitoring Program Coordinator). Twenty one water samples were analyzed for Total Coliform and E.Coli.  The samples were prepared and analyzed by the citizen scientists during the workshop. Incubation time for the method was 48hrs, the participants had the options of returning to our office to observed their results or being informed via email.

As part of the efforts to improve our scientific method, the workshop coordinators ran all the samples through the Idexx Colilert method in order to compare both analyses. We have the results of both methods ready to be analyzed and compared in order to determine which method will be ideal for the use of general public.

Highlights for the week ending April 2nd

San Juan Bay Water Quality Monitoring Program with Volunteers (WQMPV)

For the week of March 29 to April 1, the San Juan Bay Water Quality Monitoring Program with Volunteers (WQMPV) went to the field to visit 24 monitoring stations around the San Juan Bay estuary Watershed. A total of 13 volunteers joined the WQMPV coordinator and collected data of eight water quality parameters during the 4-day monitoring period.

Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers

We were part of the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers in San Francisco, CA, presenting our Sanitary Discharge Identification and Elimination Project. Our Executive Director, Dr. Javier E. Laureano and the geographers Roberto Morales and Omar Perez were representing the SJBEP.

Fiddler Crab Workshop

On March 28th and 29th, our Educational Manager Javier Cardona, led three workshops about the fiddler crab and other species from the San Juan Bay estuarine area. At Juan Ponce de Leon Montessori School in Guaynabo, about 70 students enjoyed reading the story of Puerto Rican writer Zulma Ayes which served as a starting point for painting and do some movement exercises like fiddler crabs.

Climate change curricular lessons

Our AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer Helen Angell, facilitated brand new climate change curricular lessons for public school students at the Onofre Carvalleira School in Cataño and the Carlos Conde School in Carolina, on March 31st and April 1rst, respectively.

Puerto Rico Water Quality Monitoring Day

On March 31st our Outreach Manager Gladys Rivera, and our AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer Nancy García, headed a workshop for the group of over 30 leaders who will be participating in Puerto Rico Water Quality Monitoring Day. We also provided monitoring materials, t-shirts and other important materials for the big day. The workshop was hosted at the Environmental Quality Board headquarters.

Highlights for the week ending March 26th

SJBEP Billboards Educational Campaign

We’ve started an educational campaign about the SJBEP and our Internet page. With giant billboards, citizens can learn more about the bodies of water that are part of the San Juan Bay Estuary.

The National Estuary Program received endorsement for next year’s budget

Last week, 52 members of United States Congress endorsed the budget request for the National Estuary Program. In a bipartisan petition, those Members of Congress legitimized the importance of the NEP ongoing work. The Residence Commissioner of Puerto Rico in Washington, Pedro Pierluisi, signed the petition supporting the SJBEP.  

Water Quality Monitoring Program with Volunteers

This week we raised the green flag for the Condado Lagoon, as part of the Condado Lagoon Estuarine Reserve Enterococcus Monitoring Project. We monitored five stations for fecal enterococcus. On average, the reserve met the federal standard of 35CFU/100mL reporting a total of 3.16CFU/100mL.

Sanitary discharge identification and elimination project article

Local newspaper “El Nuevo Día”, published an article on March 27 about our sanitary discharge identification and elimination project. Last week, the research team of the Project conducted several interviews and made contacts with community leaderships, as well as state agencies, for the information of this educational and successful article.

Here's the article:

http://www.elnuevodia.com/Interstitial/?oasSitePage=elnuevodia.com/interstitial&oasReturnPage=http://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/identificanyeliminandescargassanitariasenzonametropolitana-2179125/#

Highlights for the week ending March 19th

Climate change curricular lessons

On March 16th, our AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer Helen Angell and our Education Manager Javier Cardona, facilitated climate change curricular lessons for public school students at Onofre School in Cataño.

Guardians of the Estuary in Piñones

On March 16th, the AmeriCorps VISTA group of volunteers led the activities for the Guardians of the Estuary from the Emiliano Figueroa Elementary School in Piñones. The group of 20 guardians took a workshop about mangroves and crabs in the Piñones beaches. Also, they had the opportunity to read the story “El cangrejo violinista” and made their own violinist crab in crafts.

Visitor Center

On March 17th our Visitor Center received a group of students from The Lorenzo Coballes Gandía School, in Hatillo.  The group of fifty students learned about the history of the Martín Peña Channel Communities, the environmental and social problem in the channel and the importance of the rehabilitation of this body of water. Also, our Education Manager, Javier Cardona, accompanied the student in an educational and environmental field trip through the San Juan Bay and Old San Juan. During the trip the students participated in water quality monitoring exercises, beach cleaning practices and other fun activities in the coast area.

The Recycling Plant and Packaging, and Landfill of Carolina

On March 18th our AmeriCorps VISTA visited the Recycling Plant Packaging and Landfill of Carolina. This initiative is part of the interest in developing recycling skills of our volunteers and the importance in the San Juan Estuary Program to learn more about those topics.

Water Quality Monitoring Field Trip

On Friday, march 18, our Coordinator of Water Quality Volunteer Monitoring Program, Harold Manrique, went on a water quality monitoring field trip with the specialized school "Crearte". Two teachers and six students joined our coordinator in executing water quality monitoring exercises that involved measuring parameters such as dissolved oxygen, nutrients, pH, turbidity and more. This is part of our "Guardianes del Estuario" initiative of our education program.

Coastal Profile in Piñones Beach

On March 19th our AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer, Ivangs Rivera, MSc led a group of volunteers in another successful coastal profile in the area of Piñones. This event is part of our Citizen Science and Dune Restoration initiatives.

Highlights for the week ending March 11th

The San Juan Bay Estuary Program welcomes new AmericCorps VISTA volunteers:

On March 7th we welcomed two new AmeriCorps VISTA, Laura Fidalgo and Rosana Doras, to our team as part of the On Site Orientation Training (OSOT). We introduced the new members in an educational tour around Old San Juan and shared some knowledge about SJBEP and the AmeriCorps VISTA’s importance.

Book Donations

On March 10th, our AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers made the second donation to the library of the Emiliano Figueroa Elementary School in Piñones, as part of the VISTA initiative to identify economic growth opportunities based in the environment.

Informative Table

On March 8th, 9th and 10th we continued our outreach education initiative through the setup of informative tables in conferences. The activity was part of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) celebrated in the Puerto Rico Convention Center.

Water Quality Monitoring Program with Volunteers

On Thursday 10th, we monitored the Condado Lagoon as part of the Condado Lagoon Estuarine Reserve Enterococcus Monitoring Project. We monitored 5 stations for fecal enterococcus. On average, the reserve meet the federal standard of 35CFU/100mL reporting a total of 1.78CFU/100mL. 

Environmental Fair

On March 8th, our AmeriCorps VISTA group of volunteers participated in the Environmental Fair at the María Reina Academy. This activity was part of our educational and informative goals.   

Visitor Center

On March 11th our Visitor Center received a group of students from TASIS School. The group of thirty students learned more about the history of the Martin Peña Channel communities, the environmental and social problems in the channel and the importance of the rehabilitation of this ecosystem. Also, our Education Manager, Javier Cardona, accompanied the student in an educational and environmental field trip by the Martín Peña Channel and the eight communities.