Dogs – Helping and Harming Petrels on Dominica
A recent expedition to Dominica, as part of EPIC’s ongoing efforts to find new Black-capped Petrel nesting locations, was aided by a sniffer dog named Africa and her handler. Sniffer dogs can be trained to find all sorts of things, including burrow-nesting birds like petrels. Yet, two hundred years ago in Dominica, pet dogs used by colonists led to the disappearance of petrels who were hunted for food. Will dogs that once hurt the petrel population on Dominica be the helpers that discover their elusive nesting grounds so that they can be protected in the future?
Sint Maarten Pelican Team Makes a Difference
The Caribbean Brown Pelican is the national bird of St. Maarten. There have been alarming reports of sick and dying birds, along with declining numbers in recent years. Concerned about the health of this important seabird, EPIC is researching the status of the island’s Pelicans and promoting their protection.
EPIC is Now Part of the 1% For the Planet Program
EPIC is proud to announce our acceptance as an environmental partner in the 1% for the Planet global network of businesses, individuals, and environmental organizations tackling our planet’s most pressing environmental issues. If you are a one percent business partner, please connect with us!
First U.S. Virgin Islands Project Announced
Safe, clean, and affordable drinking water is not readily accessible to school children, or the wider community, in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) due to a complex set of factors. Children must bring single-use plastic water bottles to school daily to stay hydrated in the warm climate, which is costly and further exposes them to […]
Congratulations Anderson Jean, Stanford Law School’s 2022 Bright Award Winner!
Co-Founder of the leading Haitian conservation organization Action pour la Sauvegarde de l’Ecologie en Haiti (ACSEH) and Environmental Protection in the Caribbean’s (EPIC) Haiti Project Manager for the Black-capped Petrel Conservation Program, Anderson Jean, has been chosen as the 2022 Bright Award Winner. The Bright Award is given annually to an “individual who has made significant contributions in the environmental preservation and sustainability area.”
Cay-Hill Community Council hosts its first Community Cleanup
Updates about this project, student applications, and clean-up dates will be posted on EPIC’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/epicislands. Project coordinators Riddhi Samtani and Laura Bijnsdorp can be reached at projects@epicislands.org for enquiries and collaborations.
The Caribbean Seabird Webinar Continues with Natalia Collier
A step-by-step will be helpful for figuring out how best to monitor seabirds from land or sea in a variety of habitats. A team of experts will be on hand to answer your questions. Register at bit.ly/CaribSeabird-Webinar3.
Hike Sint Maarten!
Upcoming Hike Dates and Locations:
*Sunday 4th September – Naked Boy Hill – Map
*Sunday 2nd October – West Coast Trail – Map
*Sunday 6th November – hike to be determined, Watch this Space!
*Sunday 4th December – hike to be determined, Watch this Space!
Teaching Environmental Education in Haiti
It’s a bit dark in the classroom as there is no electricity for lights in the village of Boukan Chat, Haiti. The children have settled into the small school building at the center of town. Dressed in their school uniforms, sitting on wood benches, they wait for the teacher to start class. They hear a commotion from the back of the dark room and turn to see a six-foot tall Black-capped Petrel walk into the room flapping its wings.
First Petrel Nest Found on Haiti’s Highest Peak
In May, a small team of Haitian petrel biologists pulled out of the small dusty town of Jacmel, and headed their pick-up truck northeast. They eased it up the heavily rutted road to begin their expedition to see if endangered Black-capped Petrels nested on the mountain called Pic La Selle. Due to the remote nature of that area, few biologists had visited it for more than 60 years, when some of the first known Black-capped Petrels in Haiti were found there by David Wingate during expeditions in 1961 and 1963.
Naming the Many Seabirds of the Grenadines
A seabird identification workshop in the Grenadines archipelago is helping to increase the capacity of law enforcement to protect important seabird populations on remote offshore islands. During the two-day training, participants learned to identify species in the field and familiarized themselves with local conservation threats, they may encounter in their work, such as poaching.
EPIC to Collect Data on Littering Habits of St. Maarten Residents
A new awareness campaign titled “Why do we litter? – Sint Maarten” was kicked off in May by Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC) Sint Maarten Foundation and includes more than a dozen neighborhood clean-up events during 2022. With the collected data the researchers aim to formulate sustainable and actionable follow-up steps to prevent litter on the island.
Free Hike-Guide Training Offered on Sint Maarten
EPIC Sint Maarten invites people interested in becoming volunteer hike leaders to participate in a free two-hour training session this Sunday April 3, 2022, at 9 – 11 a.m. at the SFC/R4CR office (the old WIB branch) on AT Illidge Road.
EPIC in the News – Caribbean Compass
Check out the recent edition of the Caribbean Compass -The Caribbean’s Monthly Look at Sea & Shore – for two awesome articles about EPIC. See page 10 for “From Two to Team: The Story of EPIC” and page 11 for “Conserving the Black-Capped Petrel.”
Conservationists Pen Action Plan to Protect Extremely Elusive and Endangered Seabird
“Conserving the Diablotin” informed by a decade of exploration and research January 28, 2022—The Endangered Black-capped Petrel is a seabird so secretive that ten years ago, only one active nest had ever been located and monitored. Despite this tremendous gap in knowledge, the International Black-capped Petrel Conservation Group created an action plan in 2012 to […]
Community Helps Identify Restoration Sites
Deciding which sites are most important for restoration takes a community effort. The knowledge and experience of Working Group members are crucial for making informed decisions. In this case, the subject was non-native mammals that damage island biodiversity and…
Tumultuous Times Brought by Haiti Earthquake
EPIC team members were visiting petrel nesting sites, high in the mountains of Haiti, when they received text messages on 14 August at about 8:30 a.m., that a massive 7.2 earthquake was rocking their homes. The team quickly made their way back to discover…
Island Conservation Takes Off with Drone Training
Monitoring wildlife can be challenging in remote or difficult to reach places. The use of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), also known as a drone, is one method for ensuring that local enforcement agencies can monitor and protect wildlife, such as seabirds which nest on uninhabited islands in the Grenadines. Learn more…
Haiti Relief Shelters for Les Cayes
THANK YOU to all the generous and caring supporters who responded to our request and donated towards Haiti Relief. We raised more than $4,000 and were able to ship supplies and shelters directly to Les Cayes, where EPIC teams live and work.
We are all so grateful. Thank you again.
Taking to the Air to Protect Seabirds
This is the season when migratory seabirds, such as terns and gulls, return to the Grenadines islands to nest. This abundance of birds, that may number in the thousands, unfortunately attracts poachers who collect eggs and chicks from these nesting colonies.
Taking Care of Sint Maarten
With pandemic restrictions easing, the EPIC Sint Maarten Foundation was able to get out and join our partners and volunteers in providing three socially-distanced events to care for natural areas in the last few months.
How Pride Protects Wild Places
Conserving wildlife and wild places takes many forms. Research is important to understand what is going on with a species. Conservation stewardship activities are vital to slowing down and reversing harm to plants and animals. Education plays a valuable role in explaining to people why wild things and wild places are important. But another aspect […]
Burning of Protected Areas and Seabird Harvesting Illegal
As we enter the dry season, the public is reminded to not set fires on offshore islands as fires have negative effects on natural areas, both on land and in the ocean. Many islands in the Grenadines are refuges for wildlife, including globally important populations of nesting seabirds, and all are sensitive to fires and […]
Litter Removed from Offshore Islands to Protect Wildlife
As part of its commitment to reducing man-made threats to seabirds and other marine and island biodiversity, the organization Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC) has sponsored coastal litter cleanups on several uninhabited seabird breeding islands of the transboundary Grenadines, namely Mabouya, White, Sandy, and Petit Rameau. To date, hundreds of pounds of garbage have […]
