NATIONAL
ESTUARY
PROGRAM
RECLAIMING AND RENEWING A TROPICAL WATERSHED &EPA
With a watershed area of 242 square kilometers, or 93.44 miles, San Juan Bay Estuary stands as the only tropical estuary in the National Estuary Program-
and the only one to sit outside the continental United States. The estuary program works to steady economic necessities and resource stewardship with
environmentally responsible tourism.
Since 1992, the program has worked to protect major habitats such as coral reefs, mangroves, wetlands, and freshwater marshes. Its primary charge is to
save a long list of Federal endangered or threatened species such as least terns, brown pelicans, roseate terns, and yellow-shouldered blackbirds from extinction.
THE NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM IN ACTION
San Juan Bay Estuary Program
The San Juan Bay Estuary makes
up 33 percent of the remaining
mangrove population of Puerto
Rico, and one of the main con-
cerns of the organization's res-
toration efforts is to rebuild, en-
hance, and secure the mangrove
acreage in the Bay's watershed.
Between 2006 and 2008, the
program and its partners, includ-
ing the Puerto Rico Department
of Natural and Environmental
Resource, planted several spe-
cies of trees on more than 50
acres of wetlands, riparian cor-
ridors, and coastal and urban
areas and forests.
Currently, the San Juan Bay
Estuary Program (SJBEP) is at
work on a comprehensive com-
munity-based Red Mangrove
Restoration Project to restore the
fringes of the 102-acre Condado
Lagoon by planting 800 red
mangrove seedlings. The proj-
ect has received tremendous
support and participation from
local schools, business associa-
tions, local universities, Federal
and local agencies, and resident
associations. The work even
earned an Environmental Pro-
tection Agency Environmental
Quality Award. The program has
also been working to have 1,000
acres of wetland of Cucharillas
Marsh declared as a nature re-
serve. In coming months, the
creation of the first underwater
EFFECTIVE
EFFICIENT
ADAPTIVE
COLLABORATIVE
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interpretative trail of the north-
ern coast of Puerto Rico will be
completed. Development of the
trail involves distributing 30 arti-
ficial reef modules, which will
provide habitat for aquatic or-
ganisms. The trail will also give
visitors opportunities to learn
about tropical marine environ-
ments. Restoration efforts re-
ceived contributions from the
private sector, media corpora-
tions, Federal agencies, and lo-
cal governments and munici-
palities, all of which have
supported the Program's suc-
cess. Private corporations
U Oreal and WalMart joined forc-
es to launch a special fundrais-
ing campaign to help fund resto-
ration projects. As the only
estuary program in the Caribbe-
an, and other tropical estuaries
are afforded a unique opportu-
nity to learn from its challenges
and methods of approach.
Visit www.estuario.org to
learn more about this and other
SJBEP efforts.
EPA's National Estuary Program
(NEP) is a unique and successful
coastal watershed-based program
established in 1987 under the
Clean Water Act Amendments.
The NEP involves the public and
collaborates with partners to pro-
tect, restore, and maintain the wa-
ter quality and ecological integrity
of 28 estuaries of national signifi-
cance located in 18 coastal states
and Puerto Rico.
For more information about the
NEP go to www.epa.gov/owow/
estuaries.
The NEP: Implementing the Clean Water Act in ways that are Effective, Efficient, Adaptive, and Collaborative.
EPA-842F09001
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