Highlights for the week ending September 24th

Water Quality Monitoring Program with Volunteers (WQMPV):

For the week of September 19th to September 22nd we visited the 24 monitoring stations around the San Juan Bay Estuary Watershed. A total of 10 volunteers joined our Water Quality Monitoring Coordinator, Harold Manrique, and collected data from eight different parameters during a 4-day period. Each trip our volunteers also collected water samples to measure colonies of fecal bacteria. The analyses were performed in our own facilities in Old San Juan. 

Bird Census in Old San Juan:

On September 20th, our Visitor Center was the starting point for six (6) volunteers who conducted a bird census, led by our AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer, Laura Fidalgo, MSc, who showed them strategies to locate and identify bird species in the area. More than a dozen different birds were identified.

We want to share this particular photograph taken this week by our AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer, historian Laura Horta. It’s a bird’s nest made with garbage, seen in the estuarine area of Alto del Cabro, close to the Condado Lagoon Estuarine Reserve. This image serves as an alert to the damage that trash can do to our environment.

This week several of our activities were canceled or rescheduled by the blackout suffered by the island between September 22 and September 23.

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.  

Highlights for the week of September 10th

This week the San Juan Bay Estuary Program said goodbye to our former Executive Director for the past eleven (11) years, Dr. Javier Laureano. He will be working as the Director of Clean Water Division at the EPA’s Region 2 Division, located in New York City. We congratulate Dr. Laureano and wish him great success. In turn, we welcome our new Executive Director, Brenda Torres, MEM & LEED AP.  Brenda served as a Board member of the SJBEP for 11 years. Her leadership and commitment to the Program will help us continue to achieve greater social and environmental justice for our estuary communities.

9.6.2016. Water Quality Monitoring Program with Volunteers

This week six (6) volunteers supported our Water Quality Monitoring Coordinator, Harold Manrique, in sampling water from six (6) monitoring stations at the San Juan Bay.

09.01.2016. Inventory of current and past adaptations to climate change in the Martín Peña Channel Communities

This week we continued developing activities for the Inventory of Current and Past Adaptations to Climate Change Project. Our Climate Change Community Coordinator, geographer Roberto Morales, conducted a workshop in Santiago Iglesias Pantín School in the community of  Barrio Obrero using urban music and creative composition. The workshop was provided by four urban local artists: Vladi, Robertito Chong, and Yambo y Keila, and facilitated by Fabiola Robles and Omar Pérez. This project is sponsored by the New York Community Trust, and will help us explore climate change community adaptation strategies and create a vulnerability and risk geodatabase.

9.9.2016, Coastal Profile in Piñones Beach:

Continuing our Citizen Science and Dune Restoration initiatives, our Habitat Restoration Specialist, biologist Ivangs Rivera, MSc, guided eight (8) volunteers to monitor and draw a profile of the coastline of Piñones. These results help us track down and scientifically document dune migration in the zone.

9.10.2016. Rain garden at the Condado Lagoon

On Saturday, September 10th, we held a remarkable activity at the Estuarine Natural Reserve of the Condado Lagoon: The creation of a rain garden that collects rainwater, allows it to soak into the ground and filters it to the water bodies in a cleaner way. MillerCoors sponsored this initiative, with thirty (30) corporate volunteers. We gave them the opportunity of restoring eroded areas of the lagoon by planting 40 red mangrove trees; testing the quality of the waters, and classifying microplastics found in the sand. The event was well documented and widely covered in radio, TV and social media. This important initiative was part of our ongoing efforts to provide citizen science opportunities to our denizens.  Gladys Rivera, our Outreach Manager, led the events of the day with the support of AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers and other staff members of the San Juan Bay Estuary Program.

Links to the news: http://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/creanjardindelluviaenlalagunadelcondado-2239902/

http://m.wapa.tv/detalle/noticias/locales/crean-jardin-que-atrapa-y-filtra-el-agua-de-lluvia_20131122279426.html

Video:

https://www.facebook.com/ciudaddelasaguas/videos/627648260728340/

9.10.2016. Underwater trash cleanup at the Estuarine Natural Reserve of the Condado Lagoon:

Our Habitat Restoration Specialist, biologist Ivangs Rivera, led an underwater trash removal at the Condado Lagoon with the support from the University of Puerto Rico’s Capitulo Estudiantil de la Sociedad Ambiente Marino (CESAM), and the collaboration of La Federación de Remo de Puerto Rico. Dozens of volunteers were divided in two groups: the divers grabbed trash from the bottom of the lagoon, and others picked up trash from the surroundings. A total of twelve (12) trash bags, two hundred (200) glass bottles, tires and other plastics were collected underwater and on the sand.

Link to the news:

http://entreparentesis.com/2016/09/se-realizo-una-limpieza-submarina-y-costera-de-la-laguna-de-condado/

Highlights for the week ending September 3rd

08.31.2016: Riparian and restoration projects across the San Juan Bay Estuary watershed

Part of our staff and AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers performed a site visit to the Ausubo Creek riparian restoration project. We completed a tree inventory with the objective of measuring and monitoring project’s performance and success after two years of implementation. Moreover, the staff provided maintenance to the Cobana negra– an endangered tree species planted in the site -  by removing the undesirable vines that were growing all over the trees and impairing healthy individuals.  The project area cover was quantified and a full report will be available by the end of September.  Our Scientific Director Dr. Jorge Bauzá coordinated the activity.  We thank our Habitat Restoration Specialist, biologist Ivangs Rivera and our Fauna and Flora specialist AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer Laura Fidalgo, MSc for their support and collaboration.     

09.01.2016: Inventory of current and past adaptations to climate change in the Martín Peña Channel Communities:

Our Climate Change Community Coordinator, geographer Roberto Morales, led the first meeting with the Environmental Patrol Group in the Santiago Iglesias Pantin School. Morales introduced the kids to several artists who will be working with them. This is a project sponsored by the New York Community Trust to explore climate change community adaptation strategies and to create a vulnerability and risk geodatabase.

09.01.2016 Estuarine Water Quality Volunteer Monitoring Program

This week we completed our annual Water Quality Monitoring Program audit. The SJBEP’s Scientific Director Dr. Jorge Bauzá, conducted the audit, certified that all the required steps before, during, and after a monitoring event are followed implementing our Quality Assurance Project Plan and thus certifying the development of good quality data.  The audit was performed successfully with a “pass” score. All recommendations will be discussed directly with the Water Quality Monitoring Coordinator, Harold Manrique.

9.03.2016: Estuary Cinema at the Condado Lagoon

Last Saturday we presented “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” at the Jaime Benitez park at the Estuarine Reserve of the Condado Lagoon. Dozens of people enjoyed this epic film under the stars.

Highlights for the week of August 27th

08.23.2016 New volunteer group training:

Twenty-two new volunteers became part the San Juan Bay Water Quality Monitoring Program citizen science project. The volunteers participated in an introductory water quality workshop that took place in our visitor center in Old San Juan.   They were selected from a list of 60 applications and will be with us for at least 6 months. During the week of August 30th, volunteers will be participating for the first time in the water quality monitoring field trips.  Our Water Quality Volunteer Monitoring Program Coordinator, Harold Manrique, and our Outreach Manager, Gladys Rivera coordinated the activity.  

08.27.2016 Micro-plastic beach cleanup

Sixteen (16) volunteers from the Maria Reina Academy in Guaynabo -and their teacher Yiria Muñiz- participated in a micro-plastics collection event at the Piñones dune restoration area in Loiza. The volunteers, used the 5-Gyres Institute protocol to collect sediment samples from 12 one-meter-quadrants to identify and count plastics particles or pieces. The study covered 100 line-meters of the beach.  They will analyze the samples in their classroom as part of their science course.  

We are coordinating a second event in an estuarine beach to compare plastic content by square meter in both beaches.  A preliminary assessment of the samples at the site showed a low content of visible micro-plastics particles and few plastics pieces. The use of 5-Gyres protocol is part of a collaborative citizen science initiative that the US EPA Region 2, Clean Water Division, Trash Free Water Program is developing with us.  This event was led by our Outreach Manager, Gladys Rivera, with the support of our AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer Rosana Betancourt.