Virgin Islands Wetland Restoration

USVI Bird Habitat Restoration

Project Description

The USVI is home to a rich Caribbean culture and hosts visitors from around the world. It is also a major stop for seasonally migrating birds that visit our wetlands. Declines in bird counts over the last two decades and damage to the coastal wetlands they live in highlight the need to restore the habitats that brought them here in the first place. As such, the DPNR Division of Fish and Wildlife is spearheading an effort to evaluate the potential to evaluate the condition of wetlands across the territory and develop restoration plans for sites that need the help.

Horsley Witten Group (HW), Geographic Consulting, St Croix Environmental Association, and Birds Caribbean are enthusiastic partners in supporting DFW’s efforts to bring back the birds. Here, you can explore our progress and access information on VI birds and wetlands.

Media

Video, news and pictures of the activities from this project - from the field and around the web.
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This page provides links to geospatial data on wetlands, mangrove areas of interest, and locations of bird and mangrove surveys. All of our field work for this project is mapped and overlaid on the most recent base layers.

View Map

We have hosted several workshops and trainings through this project.
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HW and Geographic Consulting used five historic, land-cover classification maps of the U.S. Virgin Islands to identify over 118 sites with mangrove wetlands across the territory.
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The St. Croix Environmental Association, in partnership with Birds Caribbean, completed bird surveys in important wetland sites. Bird survey methodology followed the Caribbean Waterbird Census (CWC) Level 1 (Site Inventory). Site surveys were conducted once in the dry season and once in the rainy season. All results were uploaded to eBird. In St. Thomas seven sites were surveyed.
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