We are excited to share with you the final piece of a disaster recovery project, funded by a grant from Global Giving. The overall goal of our project, entitled Protecting Our Wildlife: Learning from the Past & Preparing for the Future, was to teach St. Croix residents to prepare their outdoor environment for potential natural disasters and to take action to protect wildlife when destruction hits. This month, we completed and released four videos, each with tips for supporting wildlife before and after hurricanes.
LEARNING FROM THE PAST
St. Croix Environmental Association and our partners learned a lot from the hurricanes of 2017. Our early bird surveys indicated that nectar and seed eating birds were severely impacted; we observed that bees and other pollinating insects were starving; and it is estimated that we lost 20% of our fruit-eating bats. In the immediate aftermath of the storms, in partnership with BirdsCaribbean, SEA distributed 300 bird feeders and 800 pounds of bird seed across the island community. The feeder and seed giveaways sparked an interest in wildlife and we received many requests for more opportunities to aid in wildlife recovery.
PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE
Watch and share our video series with information about how to help wildlife before and after hurricanes. These tips are vital for protecting wildlife during hurricane season in the Caribbean, but also apply to other extreme weather, like the droughts that are becoming more frequent. We’ve even included some fun craft projects, like a DIY bird feeder and bee watering floats.
Supporting Wildlife
Supporting Birds
Supporting Bees
Supporting Bats
Thanks to a donation from VI Lottery, we will also soon have more hummingbird and seed bird feeders to give away. SEA relies on support from our community to provide environmental education, conservation and advocacy programs. Whether you are able to make a gift, become a member, volunteer, or share our posts, we appreciate your support!
Southgate We have been hard at work at Southgate Coastal Reserve, creating a community place for learning, walking, bird watching, and more. Recently groups of volunteers from Lutheran Social Services, the National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy helped with the installation of our tables and benches, trail maintenance, tree planting, and trash clean-up
Youth Education Educational Activity Kits were created and distributed to 60 St. Croix youth during the first two weeks of September. We have a long waiting list of students for the next round and look forward to distributing more kits soon! This program is supported by VI Lottery.
Watch GoToStCroix.com’s video as they walk along the trail to our bird blind overlooking Southgate Pond