Greetings visitors and friends!
Earth Day is the most popular non religious holiday in the world and celebrated annually on April 21st by half a billion people of over 175 countries globally. To raise awareness for the prevention of environmental degradation, volunteers and communities unite to experience and learn how they can reduce their ecological footprints.

In honor of this occasion, multiple agencies are collaborating to facilitate this Earth Day event including Environmental Association of St. Thomas, UVI-Center for Marine and Environmental Studies, Coors Light, Department of Planning and Natural Resources, Budget Marine, Friends of Christmas Cove, and the St. Thomas East End Reserve Management Planning Group. Volunteers will be encouraged to “Make Earth Day Everyday” with educational presentations about the importance of watershed protection, water quality results in the adjacent marine protected area, and how they can be involved in the St. Thomas East End Reserve Management Planning efforts. This unique clean-up was inspired by community concern for the restoration and conservation of USVI’s most critical coastal habitats: mangroves, saltponds, sea grasses, and coral reefs. Together, these habitats work to provide the most fundamental ecological services including sediment control, flood water management, essential fish habitat, tourist attractions, shoreline protection, coastal integrity, and clean water.

We hope residents will support the community clean-up of one of St. Thomas’s most important and highly impacted watersheds. A watershed is the area from which water flows through guts, gutters, culverts, and drains into a common body of water, in this case Jersey Bay, also known as the Benner Bay Mangrove Lagoon Area of Particular Concern, more recently the St. Thomas East End Reserve, and then the Caribbean Sea. The watershed includes all living things, ourselves, our communities, our schools and our businesses. The nature of this flow to the ocean is what can potentially disturb ecosystems, water quality, and negatively impact our economy.

To participate please meet for registration and briefing on April 18th from 8am to 9am on the Bridge to Nowhere. The first 100 volunteers registered receive a T-Shirt, Pizza, and refreshments. The clean-up efforts will occur from 9-12pm. Small debris removal materials such as gloves and trash bags will be provided, but contributions in the way of specialized heavy equipment, tow trucks, or large debris removal expertise is much appreciated. Please contact Dalma Simon, EAST 774-1837, or Lihla Noori, UVI, 693-1392, for more information about this community-based collaborative Earth Day event.

Or log on to www.usaservice.org to confirm attendance, our zip code is 00802.

Thank you,
Jason Budsan
V.P. for the Environmental Assoc. of St.Thomas- St.John

PS- Thank you Coral world for also hosting an Earth day event! Please lend your support to both events folks, every little bit helps our islands and your world.