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!
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
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.”
Caribbean seabird field work is rarely without its challenges: rough seas, foul weather, impenetrable thickets of thorny bushes, and brutal heat. Now we can add festivals to our list! We do this vital work because we care about seabirds and want to ensure they are here for generations to come.
At sunset, off the island of Hispaniola, an adult Black-capped Petrel circles over the Caribbean Sea, waiting for darkness. It’s under the cover of darkness that this species flies inland and heads to its nesting grounds on the high forested peaks of the island. Some nights the petrels will accidently strike hazards, falling to the ground stunned, often never being able to continue their journey to the nesting grounds.
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.
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.
Another year of activity related to the Black-capped Petrel, aka Diablotin, has come and gone. The conservation action plan calls for nine strategies to enable conservation and address threats. Analysis suggests that no single strategy can result in a population increase but, by pursuing a number of strategies in synergy, we can achieve a positive population trajectory into the future.
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!
A recent analysis of climate change impacts for Sint Maarten shows how major storms, which are increasingly common, will have a profound effect on the Small Island Developing State (SIDS) of Sint Maarten in the Dutch Antilles. Annual damage estimates to Sint Maarten from major storms are USD $3 million. And by the year 2100, a worst-case scenario could result in 47% of Philipsburg and 29% of Cole Bay being flooded.
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.
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.
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.
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.
EPIC will resume offering free monthly hikes with the first one on the Fleming property, Sint Maarten on Sunday 5th June. The hike starts at 6am at the Cole Bay end of the Causeway bridge and heads up to the UTS ball at the top.
Researchers have confirmed a sighting of an Endangered Black-capped Petrel (Pterodroma hasitata), known locally as “the Diablotin bird,” in flight over Dominica earlier this year. If nesting is confirmed, Dominica would be the second known nesting island for Black-capped Petrel in the world.
Earth Day press coverage of EPIC in the Daily Herald: the leading newspaper for St. Martin and the northeast Caribbean.
Thank you to our donors, volunteers, and staff for the many hours of work that included monitoring remote seabird colonies in the Grenadines, rebuilding a recreational birdwatching hut on Sint Maarten, and teaching children about healthy watersheds in Haiti. These inspiring activities continued during 2021, which was a very challenging year as we all navigated the effects of a global pandemic. Read our 2021 Annual Impact Report to learn more.
Dominica, West Indies – In May of 2007, a bus driver was leaving the Dominican village of Trafalgar heading towards the capital city of Roseau. Passing through the village of Padu, he noticed an odd-looking bird on the road. Curious, he stopped and got out to have a look. Upon closer inspection, this was a bird he had never seen in Dominica before. Something was off about this bird, perhaps it was injured or stunned in some way, so the bus driver picked the bird up, put it on his lap, and continued his bus route to Roseau.
A successful training session on Sint Maarten expanded the number of trained volunteer hike leaders and increased the island’s eco-tourism capacity. Twelve participants, including tour guides and educators, completed the training, hosted by Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC) and funded by Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds (PBCCG). It was held in space donated by Samenwerkende Fondsen Cariben and Resources 4 Community Resilience on April 3rd.
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.
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.”
We’re sharing this message today in celebration of two big changes within our non-profit organization. EPIC now has a new logo and website. When we founded EPIC more than 20 years ago, we wanted to make a difference….
Message from EPIC Executive Director Tabitha Stadler – I want to personally thank you for your continued support. 2021 was a tough year for us all, as we experienced the effects of a global pandemic. EPIC used this time for introspection and strategic growth. We are excited to share some new developments with you…
Entertain, educate and enliven your day with EPIC’s weekend social media Caribbean trivia, starting up on February 5, 2022, and posted weekly.
“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
The Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds has been a vital supporter of the EPIC Sint Maarten Foundation since 2013, awarding our non-profit more than $80,000 for eight conservation projects including…
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…
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…
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…
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.
Join our team of supporters on #GivingTuesday and give an EPIC gift because….
The Grenadines Seabird Guardians is a group of volunteers that travel to remote, uninhabited islands to monitor and protect seabirds and habitats in this vast archipelago that includes the nations of Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
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.
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.
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
Invasive mammals, such as cats, rats and mongooses are known threats to seabirds throughout the Caribbean and beyond. Detecting them on remote, offshore, and difficult
A working group, comprised of diverse stakeholders, is exploring conservation issues affecting the remote, uninhabited islands of the Grenadines and mapping out actions to protect the native wildlife found there.
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,
Tourism is the top employer and economic driver of Sint Maarten, which is an opportunity to expand sustainable tourism activities. Moving towards this goal, the
A great way to fight litter is to create something beautiful out of it! Artists did just that during our Waste to Art competition held
One of our greatest challenges is in the preservation of our beautiful blue ocean waters and safeguarding clean freshwater for all. Help us elevate the
It is a cold and windy night along the La Visite Escarpment in south-central Haiti. The clouds form and then dissipate as they stream along
The winners of the Waste to Art competition held under the theme “Amazing Seabirds: Our Birds, Our Islands, Our Future” were announced by Environmental Protection in
Throughout 2019-2020 Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC) has focused efforts to build upon previous investigations in the Grenadines island chain to document invasive mammal
This was a year of great changes for everyone. Despite these challenges, EPIC’s staff, volunteers and supporters continued working towards a sustainable future for the Caribbean region.
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)
We finally got out on the water on Saturday, November 7, with a group of 18 adults and older children who kayaked out of Simpson
EPIC continues to be a leading advocate for the conservation of the endangered Black-capped petrel in the Caribbean region. Our program for the species touches
Thank you to all the volunteers and supporters who helped EPIC navigate the challenging waters of 2020. We are especially grateful to the members of
