Creating a more resilient environment on St. Croix

What a Spring it was for St. Croix Environmental Association! It kicked off with our first-ever Earth Month campaign and, thanks to YOU, we exceeded our goal! Matching gifts from Hotel Caravelle, our Board of Directors, and GlobalGiving, plus a call from The Buccaneer on Earth Day saying they wanted to donate the remaining portion of our goal, resulted in nearly $12,000 toward creating a more resilient environment on St. Croix. Here's how we're putting it to good use:

For starters, we just had a very exciting weekend! SEA has been planning a bird viewing hut at Southgate Coastal Reserve for years and, finally, all the conditions were right -- weather, supplies, permits -- and we began construction! Our vision for the bird hut is a place where the community can safely and respectfully observe the diversity of resident and migratory birds of St. Croix. With a little luck, the bird hut should be open by the end of the year.

Across the salt pond, on the beach side of Southgate, we welcomed a hardworking group of volunteers from Diageo USVI. This month, Diageo USVI is matching gifts made to our SEA Creatures summer camp program and their employees gathered to do a beach clean-up to further their impact.

We hosted our 26th annual Earth Day EcoFair on April 24 at the St. George Village Botanical Garden. 537 students ranging from grades 3-6 participated in activities geared toward creating future environmental stewards. SEA staff led two education stations. Our resident expert of all things with wings, Jennifer, shared about the environmental importance of bats and how we can help care for them. The students were even allowed to observe sleeping bats, learning how to respect and appreciate their roosting space. Green thumb and edible gardener, Romina, helped each class use a repurposed egg carton to start moringa seeds to take back to their classrooms. She talked with the students about the environmental and medicinal benefits of moringa trees.

At Southgate, SEA staff and volunteers conduct bird surveys twice a month to monitor the status of the bird populations on the salt pond. A healthy and diverse bird community is an indicator of a healthy salt pond/mangrove ecosystem. Fortunately, the Southgate Pond is looking great! During our last survey we saw 21 different bird species, including some very recently hatched white cheeked pintails (a type of duck), a juvenile Wilson’s Plover, and several juvenile Little Blue Herons.

We joined in the worldwide celebration of Sea Turtle Week by sharing fun facts about the hawksbill, green and leatherback sea turtles that visit St. Croix. SEA began monitoring Southgate beach for sea turtle activity in March, but there have been no turtle activities thus far. The absence of leatherback nests is disturbing, and seems to be part of a regionwide decline, but we are hopeful to see hawksbills and greens begin to nest very soon.

Last, but not least, shortly after planting 150 native trees at Southgate, we were able to procure a container to store all of our planting and maintenance supplies. This will make us much more efficient as we care for the trails, trees and bird hut!

SEA has some exciting events on the horizon. We hope you might be able to join us!

• Evening Biobay Kayak Excursion at Salt River
• Green on the Green Golf Tournament at Carambola Golf Club
• Public Snorkel Clinic

And follow us on Facebook to see photos from our Coral Conservation Corps and SEA Creatures summer camp programs.

A heartfelt thank you goes out to all who support SEA's mission of environmental conservation, education and advocacy on St. Croix.