Highlights for the week ending May 7th

Climate change curricular lessons:

This week, our Educational Manager Javier Cardona and AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer Helen Angell facilitated climate change curricular lessons for public school students at CREARTE. On April 3rd and May 4th , sixteen (16) and thirteen  (13) students, respectively, acquired  important knowledge about climate change and its consequences in our communities.  

Water Quality Volunteer Monitoring Program:

This was a very active week for our Monitoring Program. On May 2nd, our Water Monitoring Program Coordinator, Harold Manrique, monitored 7 creeks as part of our Riparian Pilot Protect.

For results of parameters measured visit the following link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1E_1ZKwZ0nIINSGOVnZPQj2OB1C035lSxyLYERh5Mp0U/edit?usp=sharing

Also, on May 3rd, our Coordinator monitored the Las Curias lake for fecal bacteria (Enterococcus and E.Coli). The samples were sent to the laboratory and will be available in two weeks. Finally, on May 5th we monitored the Condado Lagoon as part of the Condado Lagoon Estuarine Reserve Enterococcus Monitoring Project. On average, the Reserve meet the federal standard of 35CFU/100mL reporting a total of 29.61CFU/100mL.

Link to the results:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19yi2BOweCNrhtjqJTaFcLWr4fAvd9KULoK0icZ4wJTk/pubchart?oid=644539262&format=interactive

Beach Cleaning and trash categorization of 625 pounds of debris:

Today Puerto Rico is cleaner thanks to the action and example of the Estuary Guardians of the Miguel Melendez Muñoz School, in Bayamón. 625 pounds of trash were collected, cataloged, and weighed in a huge beach cleaning and marine trash workshop. On May 7th, parents and teachers joined the students in the coastal area between Isla de Cabra and the old river mouth of the Bayamon River in this environmental and community initiative. Our Education Manager Javier Cardona, and the AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer Rosanna Betancourt, coordinated the successful activity.

Lionfish population control pilot project:

On May 6th our AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer, Ivangs Rivera Aponte, M.S., led the second lionfish population control activity. Four volunteers participated in this event. This day about fourteen (14) lionfish were counted in the area of artificial modules and nine (9) in the mangroves area north of Condado Lagoon. Some of them were captured. After this interesting activity, Rivera-Aponte held a briefing and a workshop for people in the area. They learned about the lionfish, its risk to the marine ecosystem and about consumption of the species as a control alternative.