Estuario Weekly Update
An estuarine greeting! Below are the events, initiatives, and collaboration opportunities scheduled to benefit the communities and ecosystems of the San Juan Bay Estuary.
Family Day
Don’t miss the next Family Day of the Condado Lagoon Natural Estuarine Reserve, on Saturday, February 1, 2025, starting at 2:00 p.m. at Jaime Benítez Park. The theme of the Family Day will be: Protecting wetlands for our common future, in commemoration of World Wetlands Day. We will have the following activities:
[2:00 p.m.] Sports activity
[3:00 p.m.] Kayak tour (1 hour of Contacto Verde. Certain rules apply. Learn more at estuario.org/eventos.)
[4:00 p.m.] Trail tour (1 hour of Contacto Verde)
[5:00 p.m.] Educational Talk: Wetlands of the San Juan Bay Estuary Basin (1 hour of Contacto Verde)
[6:00 p.m.] Wetlands Trivia (30 minutes of Contacto Verde)
[7:00 p.m.] Cine del Estuario Presents: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
See more information at: estuario.org/eventos. See you there!
Results of the Gamaliel Pagán Hernández Christmas bird census
This holiday season, the SJBEP conducted its traditional Gamaliel Pagán Hernández Christmas bird census, from December 14, 2024 to January 5, 2025, as part of Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count.
In short:
We conducted 25 censuses in 18 regions connected to the San Juan Bay Estuary
We documented a total of 104 species of birds
193 volunteers joined us
12 endemic species and 33 migratory species were observed
We appreciate the support of our volunteers and citizen scientists. Thank you also to the Scouts, leaders, and parents who participated as part of their requirements to receive the Bird Study Merit Badge; as well as the managers, administrators and entities that allowed us access to their natural areas.
Check out the photos posted to our social media!
You can see the detailed report of the documented species, including dates, locations and photos via eBird, here.
School activities in the Condado Lagoon Natural Estuarine Reserve
The SJBEP is offering educational activities for student groups at Jaime Benítez Park, from interpretive tours, workshops and other activities related to the topics of biodiversity, ecosystems, water quality, green infrastructure and coastal resilience.
Spaces are available Monday through Friday, between 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., for groups of all levels (K-12), from public, private or homeschoolers, with a maximum of 30 participants per activity. These activities count towards Contacto Verde hours.
To coordinate, write to us at: [email protected].
Recycle your Christmas tree
Recycle your Christmas tree through one of the following initiatives within the San Juan Bay Estuary watershed:
Municipality of Guaynabo: Recycle your Christmas tree by transforming it into compost
From 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on the following dates and locations:
- Tuesday, January 14, on Santa Ana Avenue (in front of the Supermercado Pueblo)
- Thursday, January 16, on Esmeralda Avenue (in front of Claro)
- Tuesday, January 21, in the parking lot of the Coliseo Mario “Quijote” Morales
- Thursday, January 23, at Crissy Gonzalez Park (Ave. San Patricio)
Recycle your Christmas tree with Para la Naturaleza
Monday through Saturday, January 13 through 31, from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Para la Naturaleza nursery in Jardín Botánico Sur, Río Piedras (and other locations around the Island).
Certification for Citizen Scientists
Below are the events scheduled for the coming weeks. See more information at: estuario.org/ccc.
Microplastics Characterization and Reduction Module
Workshop—Microplásticos y otros desechos acuáticos; Tuesday, January 21, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. via Zoom
Coastal Resilience Module
Field experience—collection and propagation of coastal vegetation; Saturday, February 1, 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. in Piñones
Field experience—ecological planting assessment; Friday, February 7, from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Condado Lagoon
Employment/Contract Opportunities
Support Estuario with your refund
This new tax season, use your refund to donate towards the conservation and management actions of the ecosystems of the San Juan Bay Estuary.
Allies who want to contribute can do so through the total or partial donation of their refund, directly from their Individual Income Tax Return Form.
This method is possible thanks to Act 48 of 2009, which established the San Juan Bay Estuary Special Fund.
Look for the option “Contribution to the San Juan Bay Estuary Special Fund,” located in line 1B of the “Refund” box of your form.
Our restoration, conservation and management actions are possible thanks to the donations, collaboration and volunteering of residents, businesses, institutions, and friends of the interconnected bodies of water that make up the estuarine watershed. The San Juan Bay Estuary Program is a 501c3 non-profit corporation that designs, implements, and tracks restoration actions to improve the quality of bodies of water and associated ecosystems within the San Juan Bay Estuary system and its watershed.
See other means of donating to Estuario: estuario.org/donate/.
Weekly water quality monitoring
Evaluation conducted Thursday, January 16, 2025. We have a GREEN flag for Condado Lagoon. We recommend avoiding the area that exceeded the Beach Action Value water quality parameter for enterococci of 70 CFU/100 ML. Remember to avoid all bodies of water during rain events.
