Weekly Estuary Update
Greetings from the estuary! Below, we share opportunities for collaboration, volunteering, and training this week, through initiatives and actions planned to benefit the ecosystems of the San Juan Bay Estuary and its communities.
Family Day Trip to County Lagoon
Come to the Estuary Family Day Out! Stop by Jaime Benítez Park in the Condado Lagoon Estuarine Nature Reserve on Saturday, October 5, 2024, starting at 3:00 pm. We will have the following activities:
[3:00 pm] Sports activity
[4:30 pm] Interpretive walk through the Reserve (with Green Contact hours)
[5:30 pm] Trivia: The Bats of Puerto Rico (with hours of Contacto Verde)
[6:30 pm] Story reading: Canito, the fishing bat (with Green Contact hours)
[7:00 pm] Estuary Cinema Presents: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
We look forward to seeing you! See more information at: estuary.org/events.
Closing of the Internship on Education and Awareness in the Management of Resources and Waste in the Estuary
We thank students Camila Rodríguez, Ailani Ocasio, Jeremy Torres, and Sean Duclerc , who recently completed an internship in the Estuary's aquatic waste management area. As part of this effort, they supported the development of a regional education and action platform with the watershed's municipalities, focused on recycling, reducing, and properly disposing of materials.
The students offered nine workshops across the watershed (Bayamón, Canóvanas, Cataño, Guaynabo, Loíza, San Juan, Toa Baja, and Trujillo Alto, and one virtual workshop during Estuary Week). They also supported the organization's events, such as the most recent International Coastal Cleanup , the Annual Meeting of the Intermunicipal Watershed Resource and Waste Management Network , and activities for National Estuary Week . A total of 108 people were reached, including municipal employees, youth, children, and residents from various estuarine communities. We thank the representatives of the Intermunicipal Watershed Resource and Waste Management Network who assisted in coordinating these workshops in their municipalities.
The following is a note written by a student:
“My name is Camila Rodríguez, and I recently participated in the Education and Awareness Internship. I want to express my deep gratitude for the opportunity to have participated in the internship with the San Juan Bay Estuary, where I specialized in waste management, particularly the handling of used vegetable oil in the municipalities of the Intermunicipal Network and the watershed. This experience not only allowed me to acquire practical knowledge about the environmental challenges in our region, but it also gave me the opportunity to contribute directly to sustainable solutions for managing this waste.”
I encourage those interested in environmental issues to consider internship opportunities at this and other non-profit organizations focused on conservation and sustainability. I thank the Estuary team again for their support, trust, and opportunity.
Documenting biodiversity in the County Lagoon
As the closing event for National Estuary Week, on Saturday, September 28, 2024, we conducted a series of biodiversity documentation walks in the County Lagoon Estuarine Nature Reserve. The walks included documenting birds, marine life, vegetation, and terrestrial life. We concluded with a nocturnal wildlife documentation walk in the Reserve.
We were joined by approximately 32 participants, who recorded over 173 different species in nearly 630 observations across 8 field trips. See the catalog of documented species HERE.
We thank everyone who participated in this celebration, our estuarine citizen scientists, and especially the Coquí Project and the Puerto Rico Bat Conservation Program, for their support and validation of the data obtained. Until next time!
White House and USACE visit to the Estuary
On the morning of October 3, Estuario offered a boat tour of the San Jose Lagoon to the Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Brenda Mallory, Colonel Charles “Chuck” Decker, of the Caribbean District of the United States Corps of Engineers along with their respective work groups, accompanied by the Enlace Project Corporation.
At the Buena Vista Community Center in Santurce, community leaders welcomed us to hear Colonel Decker's perspective on the importance of community involvement in infrastructure improvement processes. He shared his view of Puerto Rico as a model of resilience applicable to other tropical regions. The Enlace Project presented the efforts of the Caño Martín Peña, the Land Trust, and the G8 to achieve the ecological restoration of the Caño Martín Peña.
The Estuary's executive director, for her part, reported on the Estuary's mission and its trajectory toward achieving regional resilience. This led to the Estuary's new resilience infrastructure manager, Lourdes Pérez Medina, presenting the project to reverse the channeling of the Juan Mendez ravine and the importance of addressing problems by using nature as a solution.
President Mallory closed the meeting by highlighting that the Caño Martín Peña project is an exemplary effort in terms of integration and citizen participation, and congratulated the Caño Corporation staff for the achievements made with the communities.
Ecological assessment of seagrasses
Last Sunday, September 29th, we conducted the most recent field experience for the Coastal Resilience module of the Estuary's Citizen Scientist Certification program. Coordinators Daritzel Cintrón and Agnes Pagán led six citizen scientists in an ecological assessment of seagrass in the County Lagoon.
We appreciate the students' environmental commitment, and they received Green Contact hours certification for their participation. See upcoming activities for the Coastal Resilience module at estuary.org/ccc.
Citizen Scientist Certification
The following are the upcoming scheduled events.
Water Quality Monitoring Module:
Participatory Bird Census Module:
Coastal Resilience Module:
Job opportunities
Technical Support Consultant —The San Juan Bay Estuary Partnership seeks qualified applicants to provide services as a Technical Support Consultant to support Estuario's water quality monitoring and related efforts through technical support, data management, and visualization.
Communications Consultant (Support) —The San Juan Bay Estuary Partnership is seeking a qualified applicant to support the Communications team and execute the Estuario's social media strategy by creating graphic design, video, and written content that can be used for other digital platforms.
Part-Time Faculty —The San Juan Bay Estuary Partnership is seeking qualified applications for a part-time faculty contract with a background in civil engineering for the graduate course “Innovative Approaches for a Sustainable Water Infrastructure.”
Green Infrastructure Coordinator (full time staff position) —The Green Infrastructure Coordinator will be responsible for overseeing all projects related to green infrastructure and coastal resilience to support the implementation of the Estuary Plan, also known as the Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan (CCMP).
Community Liaison —The San Juan Bay Estuary Partnership seeks qualified applicants to work as a Community Liaison under the Juan Méndez Creek (JMC) Restoration Project.
Community Facilitator (RFP) —The San Juan Bay Estuary Partnership seeks qualified applicants to provide services as a Community Facilitator in the Juan Méndez Creek (JMC) Restoration Project.
ESTUARY ARTIST-IN-RESIDENT — The Estuary Artist-in-Residence will focus their work along the Juan Méndez Creek in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Estuary Artist-in-Residence refers to any individual with artistic abilities who can carry out the described project. The project period is one year, beginning March 1, 2025. This application is open to all forms of artistic expression.
Media coverage
Lumarhi J. Rivera. September 29, 2024. Ideas presented to protect the coasts. Environment Today. El Nuevo Día. p.38.
[Download your free copy] San Juan Bay Estuary: History and Research Opportunities
The Estuary is pleased to share the recent publication, San Juan Bay Estuary: History and Research Opportunities ; by Ariel E. Lugo and Jorge F. Bauzá Ortega.
This comprehensive document includes valuable information on research conducted in the estuarine system, calling for these observations, findings, and conclusions to be added to in potential future research.
To arrange for the pickup of a free printed copy, please contact us at 787-725-8165.
Prepare yourself this hurricane season
Prepare for this hurricane season. Download the Estuary Community Hurricane Preparedness Guide and follow its recommendations. Your community's strength and resilience begin at home.
Also visit the Estuary Virtual Community Center , where you'll find vital information, such as relevant emergency numbers and instructions for preparing emergency kits.
Don't panic! Get ready.
Weekly bacteriological monitoring
Assessment conducted on Thursday, October 3, 2024. We have a RED flag for County Lagoon. We recommend avoiding all regions that exceeded the water quality standard for enterococci of 70 CFU/100 mL. Remember to avoid the water during rain events.
