Representatives from the Maryland-based national nonprofit watershed protection agency Center for Watershed Protection (CWP) toured Coral Bay in the U.S. Virgin Islands last week. The tour marks a first step toward curbing the tide of storm water erosion in the area.

A group of six national and local CWP representatives spent July 31 to August 2 touring both private--with owners' permission--and public land sites in Coral Bay. The tour, intended to help CWP develop a storm water management plan for the area, took participants from the shoreline to the steep slopes of Upper Carolina Valley.

The tour group consisted of two CWP watershed planners; Jennifer Kozlowski, a coral management specialist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; two Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR) representatives; and Coral Bay Community Council President Sharon Coldren.

"The team has gone to a number of sites that represent the many issues faced by the whole watershed," said Coldren.

Some developers, T-Rex St. John, for instance, did not allow the visitors to access their properties. T-Rex St. John leased 10 acres of Moravian Church-owned land in Coral Bay, reportedly to construct a marina, hotel, commercial space and residences. The company's attorney, David Bornn, cited insurance and timing issues in his firm's refusal to allow the team access to the waterfront property.

"There are liability and knowledge concerns," Bornn said. "We simply can't do this at the drop of a hat."

According to DPNR officials, the group was still able to gain an understanding of the various storm water problems affecting Coral Bay and agree that it was an excellent watershed project site. Coral Bay was selected as the site of a CWP pilot program because it "offers an excellent opportunity to highlight collaborative planning and leveraging of multiple federal and local agency efforts as well as protection to vulnerable coral reef resources," according to a DPNR press release.

The Coral Bay watershed management project is the first of its kind to have gained both local and federal support. "There is a lot of interest and a lot of support in this pilot program," said Anne Kitchell, a CWP watershed planner. "There have been a lot of plans devised for this watershed, from visioning meetings to storm water studies, but this is different. This effort is going to pull together all these pieces into one watershed plan."

Kitchell said this latest effort will produce more of a road map for implementation practices, setting it apart from plans that just sit on the shelf. "We're going to take everything and prioritize all the pieces," she said. "Everyone knows what the problems are, so let's think of how to make things work and move forward with this."

CWP officials have only about three weeks to move on this project, Kitchell said. "And then hopefully it will continue after we leave," she added, noting that the biggest problem CWP faces in this project might be the lack of a long-term plan for the island. "Without a comprehensive plan, it makes it really hard to predict what is going to happen. We like to know what the future will look like. Just knowing there is going to be development doesn't help."

Once the plan is devised, it can serve as a model for other watersheds in the territory facing similar storm water threats, Kozlowski said. "We hope this can serve as a showcase project," she said. "... We will come up with some practices and implement them for the first time in the Virgin Islands to actually make a change in the near future. We want to get these things off the table and on the ground."

DPNR and the Coral Bay City Council will host a public meeting tonight to discuss the watershed management plan.

Source: St. John Tradewinds News