Project Evaluation 101 & Beyond Training

To help local project managers succeed in their fields, V.I. RC&D, in partnership with the UVI Cooperative Extension Service, hosted a two-day hands-on Evaluation 101 and Beyond (Project Design & Evaluation) Short Course conducted by NOAA Coastal Services Center trainers. The workshop was designed to help management, education, outreach and research professionals increase their project effectiveness by providing them with the knowledge, skills and tools they need to design and implement projects that have measurable impacts on their target audiences. Participants learned about instructional design theory, performance measures, project development & implementation and evaluation purpose, methods & design. The workshop was held on both St. Croix and St. Thomas for a total of 64 participants representing local government agencies, nonprofit organizations and community groups. For more information about the training, contact the RC&D office at (340) 692-9632 x. 5, or via e-mail: vircd@usvircd.org.

St. Croix Recycling Association

V.I. RC&D, working in conjunction with the V.I. Waste Management Authority, fostered the creation of an association of individuals dedicated to conserving our natural resources and saving energy, money and land space by promoting recycling in the territory. Over 60 St. Croix residents attended the first meeting held in February 2007 to show their interest in forming the St. Croix Recycling Association. The association has been meeting the first Tuesday of every month at the Pearl B. Larsen Elementary School Auditorium to develop local recycling and reuse projects and inform the community about how easy recycling can be. A smaller group has volunteered to act as a steering committee to help create an organizational structure to plan fund-raising and advertising to promote future recycling projects. V.I. RC&D supports the association by serving as a fiduciary, assisting with organizational development, creating and maintaining web pages hosted on the V.I. RC&D website, and printing flyers and other documents. For more information on the St. Croix Recycling Association, contact Ms. Charmin Springer at the V.I. Waste Management Authority at 340-712-4961.

Estate Adventure Nature Trail Enhancement Phase I

V.I. RC&D received wide-spread community assistance this summer to enhance and maintain the trail and its environs. VIWMA provided a student work crew to clean and maintain the trail from the Youth Environmental Summer (YES) program during the week of July 9-13, 2007. The YES students, supervisors and project directors contributed over 390 hours of labor sprucing up the trail. UVI Agricultural Experiment Station staff donated 50 native tree seedlings, mulch and tree protectors, and staff and youth group members volunteered over 200 hours to plant, mulch and weed around the trees, for a total contribution of over $5,000.

Additionally, V.I. RC&D received a $2,700 CommUnity Impact grant from the Home Depot Foundation to purchase equipment, materials and supplies to help our volunteers enhance and maintain the Estate Adventure Nature Trail. Finally, the V.I. Urban & Community Forestry Assistance Program (UCFAP) awarded $11,110 to V.I. RC&D to enhance and expand the Estate Adventure Nature Trail. The grant will fund the building of an educational pavilion, propagating native plant species to replace invasive exotic plants along the trail, and purchasing materials, and supplies to repair damaged sections of the trail. For more information or to volunteer to work on the Trail, contact the V.I. RC&D office at 340-692-9632 x. 5 or vircd@usvircd.org or Olasee Davis at 340-692-4053 or odavis@uvi.edu.

Pond Planning, Design & Contruction Training Workshop

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), in cooperation with V.I. RC&D, We Grow Food, Inc., DPNR-DEP, and UVI-CES, conducted a Pond Planning, Design and Construction Training on September 18, 2007 in support of the partners’ goals to provide education and outreach to improve farm water supply and minimize storm water flooding and pollution. Seventeen training participants representing a local farmer’s cooperative, government agencies, UVI and private engineering firms completed classroom exercises to calculate storm water runoff and learned proper pond planning, design, construction and maintenance methodology. For more information about the Pond training or other VI RC&D projects, contact the V.I. RC&D office at 340-692-9632 x. 5 or vircd@usvircd.org.

USDA-NRCS Engineer, Hilton Miro, disucusses Pond design and maintenance with St. Thomas workshop participants.