Joel Tutein is a frustrated man. He has every right to be so. For a decade now he has worked — as the top National Park Service official on St. Croix — to develop a joint management plan with the local government to administer the Salt River National Park and the territorial park adjoining it. For a decade, the local government has balked at the idea.
During the recent discussions about the expanded Buck Island National Monument, the local government argued that the federal government was taking submerged lands that belonged to the Virgin Islands. That issue is complex, because the expanded national monument takes in submerged lands that would have fallen under the control of the East End Marine Park that is being established by the local government with the help of the non-governmental sector.
In some ways, the local government had a legitimate gripe about the expansion, because it was, contrary to apparent standard operating procedure, trying to preserve vital resources.
In the case of Salt River, the local government's efforts to preserve have consisted of little efforts, if any. That is why Tutein has decided to take on the task of management with or without — and in this case, without — the local government's assistance.
The fact that the National Park Service is expanding its holdings around Salt River is proof that it is serious about preservation. That work bodes well for the future of the area. What remains a problem is the land held by the V.I. government. Several important natural history and archeological treasures exist on the V.I. land holding. These treasures will go unprotected if the local government does not act quickly to develop a management plan. Unprotected treasures usually become unwanted refuse.
The local government has proven that it is capable of taking action to preserve resources. The East End Marine Park may well be a shining example of the beauty of St. Croix's natural ecosystems if it can be implemented properly. Coastal Zone Management is working hard to see that it is. The community is also doing its part to see that this vital resource is protected.
If the issue at Salt River is that the local government does not have the wherewithall to protect the area properly, perhaps the National Park Service should be allowed to manage the resource for it. Even better still, perhaps the president of the United States could declare the heritage site at Salt River a national monument. Unlike Buck Island, the acreage needed would be small; but more important, nothing effective is being done at present to protect such a small yet significant area.
Where there is no controversy of usage, preservation should be the top priority. It is time to act before it is too late.

Editor's note: Source columnist Bill Turner, executive director of the St. Croix Environmental Association, was formerly a teacher and vice principal at the high school level in Puerto Rico.
We welcome and encourage readers to keep the dialogue going by responding to Source commentary. Letters should be e-mailed with name and place of residence to source@viaccess.net.

Publisher's note : Like the St. John Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.

Joel Tutein is a frustrated man. He has every right to be so. For a decade now he has worked — as the top National Park Service official on St. Croix — to develop a joint management plan with the local government to administer the Salt River National Park and the territorial park adjoining it. For a decade, the local government has balked at the idea.
During the recent discussions about the expanded Buck Island National Monument, the local government argued that the federal government was taking submerged lands that belonged to the Virgin Islands. That issue is complex, because the expanded national monument takes in submerged lands that would have fallen under the control of the East End Marine Park that is being established by the local government with the help of the non-governmental sector.
In some ways, the local government had a legitimate gripe about the expansion, because it was, contrary to apparent standard operating procedure, trying to preserve vital resources.
In the case of Salt River, the local government's efforts to preserve have consisted of little efforts, if any. That is why Tutein has decided to take on the task of management with or without — and in this case, without — the local government's assistance.
The fact that the National Park Service is expanding its holdings around Salt River is proof that it is serious about preservation. That work bodes well for the future of the area. What remains a problem is the land held by the V.I. government. Several important natural history and archeological treasures exist on the V.I. land holding. These treasures will go unprotected if the local government does not act quickly to develop a management plan. Unprotected treasures usually become unwanted refuse.
The local government has proven that it is capable of taking action to preserve resources. The East End Marine Park may well be a shining example of the beauty of St. Croix's natural ecosystems if it can be implemented properly. Coastal Zone Management is working hard to see that it is. The community is also doing its part to see that this vital resource is protected.
If the issue at Salt River is that the local government does not have the wherewithall to protect the area properly, perhaps the National Park Service should be allowed to manage the resource for it. Even better still, perhaps the president of the United States could declare the heritage site at Salt River a national monument. Unlike Buck Island, the acreage needed would be small; but more important, nothing effective is being done at present to protect such a small yet significant area.
Where there is no controversy of usage, preservation should be the top priority. It is time to act before it is too late.

Editor's note: Source columnist Bill Turner, executive director of the St. Croix Environmental Association, was formerly a teacher and vice principal at the high school level in Puerto Rico.
We welcome and encourage readers to keep the dialogue going by responding to Source commentary. Letters should be e-mailed with name and place of residence to source@viaccess.net.

Publisher's note : Like the St. Thomas Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.

Today is the deadline for government employees to pre-register for the Government Employees' Retirement System's pre-retirement planning workshop at 9 a.m. Wednesday, July 23, in the GERS conference room at No. 3005 Orange Grove, St. Croix.
Information will be provided on Social Security, Medicare, health insurance coverage, GERS benefits, investing in a financially secure future, and more.
Seating is limited so please register early. Deadline to pre-register is Friday, July 18, 2003. For additional information or to pre-register, call Ann Forbes-Samuel at 773-5480.

July 13, 2003 — The Government Employees' Retirement System invites government employees to participate in a pre-retirement planning workshop at 9 a.m. Wednesday, July 23, in the GERS conference room at No. 3005 Orange Grove, St. Croix.
Information will be provided on Social Security, Medicare, health insurance coverage, GERS benefits, investing in a financially secure future, and more.
Seating is limited so please register early. Deadline to pre-register is Friday, July 18, 2003. For additional information or to pre-register, call Ann Forbes-Samuel at 773-5480.

Publisher's note : Like the St. Croix Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.

The Paradise Worship Center will present a financial seminar and out-of-debt Bible conference at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, July 17 and 18.
Contact pastor O. D. Joseph for registration information at 775-0021 or 771-2432.
The events will be held in the Caribbean conference room at the Holiday Inn / Windward Passage Hotel.

July 13, 2003 – An earthquake measuring 4.0 on the Richter scale was felt on St. John and St. Thomas minutes before 10 a.m. Sunday.
The earthquake, centered 15 miles east of Anegada at 18.71 degrees north latitude and 64.18 degrees west longitude, occurred 39 miles below the earth's surface, according to the Puerto Rico Seismic Network.
A few hundred miles away, at 2:15 p.m. Saturday, the Montserrat Observatory began reporting heavy ash moving west from pyroclastic flows from the Soufriére Hills Volcano. As of Sunday morning the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Web site reported that the volcano had exploded, spewing enough ash to close airports in neighboring St. Martin, St. Kitts and Anguilla.
Closer to home, the ash found its way onto vehicles and porches on St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix. By Sunday night, flights were being canceled in and out of Cyril E. King Airport as well, due to ash in the air. A V.I. Port Authority spokesperson on St. Croix said there had been no flights cancelled into the Henry E. Rohlsen airport on that island as of 8 p.m. Sunday, but reports on NOAA's Web site indicate the ash is headed toward St. Croix and Puerto Rico.
Travelers should contact the airlines to check for cancellations.
According to Roy A. Watlington, science professor at the University of the Virgin Islands, "The location of this earthquake was near the area that has been historically active for earthquakes and has no relation to the Montserrat volcano activity."

Publisher's note : Like the St. Thomas Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.

July 13, 2003 – An earthquake measuring 4.0 on the Richter scale was felt on St. John and St. Thomas minutes before 10 a.m. Sunday.
The earthquake, centered 15 miles east of Anegada at 18.71 degrees north latitude and 64.18 degrees west longitude, occurred 39 miles below the earth's surface, according to the Puerto Rico Seismic Network.
A few hundred miles away, at 2:15 p.m. Saturday, the Montserrat Observatory began reporting heavy ash moving west from pyroclastic flows from the Soufriére Hills Volcano. As of Sunday morning the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Web site reported that the volcano had exploded, spewing enough ash to close airports in neighboring St. Martin, St. Kitts and Anguilla.
Closer to home, the ash found its way onto vehicles and porches on St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix. By Sunday night, flights were being canceled in and out of Cyril E. King Airport as well, due to ash in the air. A V.I. Port Authority spokesperson on St. Croix said there had been no flights cancelled into the Henry E. Rohlsen airport on that island as of 8 p.m. Sunday, but reports on NOAA's Web site indicate the ash is headed toward St. Croix and Puerto Rico.
Travelers should contact the airlines to check for cancellations.
According to Roy A. Watlington, science professor at the University of the Virgin Islands, "The location of this earthquake was near the area that has been historically active for earthquakes and has no relation to the Montserrat volcano activity."

Publisher's note : Like the St. Croix Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.

July 13, 2003 – An earthquake measuring 4.0 on the Richter scale was felt on St. John and St. Thomas minutes before 10 a.m. Sunday.
The earthquake, centered 15 miles east of Anegada at 18.71 degrees north latitude and 64.18 degrees west longitude, occurred 39 miles below the earth's surface, according to the Puerto Rico Seismic Network.
A few hundred miles away, at 2:15 p.m. Saturday, the Montserrat Observatory began reporting heavy ash moving west from pyroclastic flows from the Soufriére Hills Volcano. As of Sunday morning the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Web site reported that the volcano had exploded, spewing enough ash to close airports in neighboring St. Martin, St. Kitts and Anguilla.
Closer to home, the ash found its way onto vehicles and porches on St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix. By Sunday night, flights were being canceled in and out of Cyril E. King Airport as well, due to ash in the air. A V.I. Port Authority spokesperson on St. Croix said there had been no flights cancelled into the Henry E. Rohlsen airport on that island as of 8 p.m. Sunday, but reports on NOAA's Web site indicate the ash is headed toward St. Croix and Puerto Rico.
Travelers should contact the airlines to check for cancellations.
According to Roy A. Watlington, science professor at the University of the Virgin Islands, "The location of this earthquake was near the area that has been historically active for earthquakes and has no relation to the Montserrat volcano activity."

Publisher's note : Like the St. John Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.

There is a simple, equitable solution to funding a waste-management authority: Everybody pays to dispose of their waste, with the cost determined solely by how much solid waste they create.
Here’s the way it works – and we know it works because it’s a model developed successfully in Germany. You buy an official garbage bag to dispose of your trash. The bag looks very much like your standard brown paper bag except that it’s lined with a wax paper-type material. It’s about 3 feet high, costs about $3 and is the only legal method for disposing of household garbage.
If you create less garbage, you use fewer bags. This encourages composting, recycling, compacting and a more acute level of consciousness about wasteful packaging.
In the Virgin Islands, compliance might be tricky, at least initially, but that’s not an insurmountable obstacle. We’d recommend a strong public education campaign before the program is implemented and continuing once it’s in place. Clearly we’d need to post regulators at the islands’ dump sites – maybe even provide little air-conditioned shacks for them – and do regular spot checks at late-night hours. Encourage the citizenry to take down license plate numbers of violators and report them to a special Public Works hotline. And penalize violators with steep fines.
At the landfill, implement and strictly enforce tipping fees. That way businesses or people who create the greatest waste will pay the most. To combat the problem of midnight dumpers, either secure the islands’ dumps properly or station a watchman at each entrance. Again, impose heavy fines for violators.
After collecting enough fees to support the waste-management authority, any additional revenues would roll over into the General Fund.
This program – if properly administered – could be in place in a matter of months. Seems to us it’s worth a try.
Publisher's note : Like the St. John Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice.. click here.

There is a simple, equitable solution to funding a waste-management authority: Everybody pays to dispose of their waste, with the cost determined solely by how much solid waste they create.
Here’s the way it works – and we know it works because it’s a model developed successfully in Germany. You buy an official garbage bag to dispose of your trash. The bag looks very much like your standard brown paper bag except that it’s lined with a wax paper-type material. It’s about 3 feet high, costs about $3 and is the only legal method for disposing of household garbage.
If you create less garbage, you use fewer bags. This encourages composting, recycling, compacting and a more acute level of consciousness about wasteful packaging.
In the Virgin Islands, compliance might be tricky, at least initially, but that’s not an insurmountable obstacle. We’d recommend a strong public education campaign before the program is implemented and continuing once it’s in place. Clearly we’d need to post regulators at the islands’ dump sites – maybe even provide little air-conditioned shacks for them – and do regular spot checks at late-night hours. Encourage the citizenry to take down license plate numbers of violators and report them to a special Public Works hotline. And penalize violators with steep fines.
At the landfill, implement and strictly enforce tipping fees. That way businesses or people who create the greatest waste will pay the most. To combat the problem of midnight dumpers, either secure the islands’ dumps properly or station a watchman at each entrance. Again, impose heavy fines for violators.
After collecting enough fees to support the waste-management authority, any additional revenues would roll over into the General Fund.
This program – if properly administered – could be in place in a matter of months. Seems to us it’s worth a try.
Publisher's note : Like the St. Croix Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice… click here.