In celebration of National Volunteer Week, NRCS Caribbean Area held an awards ceremony to honor our 16 fiscal year 2016 Earth Team volunteers on Friday, April 15th at the Mayagüez Field Office. Read more...
In celebration of Women’s History Month, we recognize the achievements of four women customers and partners who have been leaders in conserving Puerto Rico’s natural resources. Read more...
Cada Marzo celebramos el Mes Histórico de las Mujeres, y nos gustaría cerrar el periodo de celebración de este año honrando a varias mujeres que son excelentes ejemplos en la agricultura. Deseamos reconocer los logros de cuatro clientas y colaboradoras quienes han sido líderes en la conservación de los recursos naturales de Puerto Rico. Leer mas...
Guánica Bay’s coral reefs are being buried by sediment from the Loco River Basin, where eroding agricultural land and river banks lose tons of sediment to the sea each year. Riverbank erosion along the Río Loco has eaten away large sections of agricultural land, changing the course of the river. Sediment transported downstream after each rain event is deposited into Guánica Bay, smothering coral reefs, seagrass beds and other aquatic ecosystems. NRCS has calculated that as much as 6,000 tons of sediment per year were eroding from the two largest segments of Río Loco’s failing river banks. Read more...
Improving soil health on our limited and threatened agricultural land provides many benefits to farmers. It improves water quality, increases soil water availability, enhances nutrient cycling, and increases soil carbon sequestration. All while meeting farm production needs with better quality, less energy use and reduced chemical and pesticide inputs. Read More...
Cuando mejoramos la salud de nuestros terrenos agrícolas, tan limitados, nuestros agricultores se benefician porque se mejora la calidad y cantidad del agua disponible, el ciclo de nutrientes y se aumenta la materia orgánicaen el suelo. De esta manera el rendimiento de sus cosechas aumenta, a la vez que reducen el uso de fertilizantes, plaguicidas y el consumo de agua de riego. Leer mas...
Many rural communities in Puerto Rico have become distressed, with rough environments, lack of economic opportunity and lack of healthy, fresh food. Under the USDA StrikeForce Initiative for Rural Growth and Opportunity, USDA agencies partnered with local Soil Conservation Districts to increase participation rates in the Puerto Rico Summer Food Program and to foment food security, natural resource conservation and agricultural development in underserved, rural communities. Read more...
Muchas comunidades rurales de Puerto Rico han llegado a ser afligidos, con ambientes adversos, la falta de oportunidades económicas y la falta de alimentos sanos y frescos. Bajo la Iniciativa USDA StrikeForce para el crecimiento rural y la oportunidad, las agencias adscritas al USDA asociaron con los Distritos de Conservación de Suelos locales para aumentar las tasas de participación en el Programa de Alimentos de Verano Puerto Rico y fomentar la seguridad alimentaria, la conservación de los recursos naturales y el desarrollo agrícola en las comunidades marginadas, y rurales. Leer mas...
Hurricane Irene hit Puerto Rico on August 21, 2011 with 75 mph winds and pummeled the island with torrential rainfall up to 3 days after, causing widespread damage from flooding, severe erosion and landslides. After President Obama signed an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico, NRCS provided disaster assistance to six (6) local communities that suffered damage to watershed areas. Through the Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) program, NRCS helped clear and stabilize streambanks in these communities to reduce threats to life and property from watershed damage from erosion, debris, and sediment. Read More...
Puerto Rico's Conservation Districts were born in 1947 and actively worked to promote conservation on the island until around 2004, when they lost their State Committee Executive Secretary. Now, ten years later, the Conservation Districts are ready to take on a new millenium. Read More...
After years of inactivity, a group of farmers and former district supervisors begun a journey to re-activate the Este Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) in early April 2014 that culminated last week with the award of a $700,000 Resource Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) grant to reduce severe and prolonged flooding (right), re-channel flood waters to Río Guayanés, eliminate stagnant water ponding and improve water quality in the Yabucoa valley watershed. Read more...
The Caribbean Area NRCS is helping to combat Climate Change by adopting and implementing several initiatives to improve farm energy efficiency and increase carbon sequestration. Converting land to forest, grassland or other perennial vegetation helps remove carbon from the atmosphere. Likewise, reducing on-farm energy use reduces greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere. Additionally, NRCS is an active member of the USDA Caribbean Climate Sub Hub. Read more...
Puerto Rican farmers, Jose V. Fabre and Duamed Colón, have been saving energy, water, time and money by growing Canavalia ensiformis (sword bean) and Crotalaria juncea (Sunn hemp) cover crops with their banana and plantain crops. Read more...
The Hope and Carton Hill / Yellow Cliffs residential area lies in the upper reaches of the Solitude watershed on the East End of St. Croix. These neighborhoods have almost 5 miles of very steep, mountainous, unpaved roads. The roads are deeply rutted and have many gullies, and erode and carry storm water and large amounts of sediment during rain storms. All of this runoff and sediment washes into the main gut (stream) of the watershed; carrying an estimated 112 tons of sediment per year – 11 times higher than under natural conditions – into the coral reef habitats of Solitude Bay and the STXEEMP. NRCS and project partners worked together to develop a road drainage master plan and install practices to reduce road erosion in the neighborhood. Read more...
Limited-resource farmer, Jose M. Martinez, uses EQIP funding to improve pasture quality and plant productivity, increase water supply for livestock, reduce soil erosion and animal stress, and improve his beef cattle's health. Read more...
Throughout the Caribbean Area, NRCS works with landowners to protect our unique habitats and endemic species. The Guanica Bay-Rio Loco Watershed Project and the Shade Coffee Initiative are examples of two multi-agency efforts to preserve and protect coral reef and forest ecosystems in Puerto Rico. Read more...
The Caribbean Area makes every effort to include beginning, limited-resource and socially-disadvantaged farmers in our programs. In Ciales, PR, Arecibo Soil Conservation Technician, Linnette Rosado, is working with limited-resource farmer Ernesto Santiago Miranda to conserve resources on his coffee farm. Read more...
Land-based sources of pollution - storm water runoff from roads, parking lots, industrial areas, farms and lawns that carries dirt, oil, bacteria, pesticides, fertilizers, and other toxic chemicals - is the biggest cause of pollution to Caribbean Area coastal waters. Every drop of rain that landowners can keep on their property helps to keep our coastal waters less polluted. To help capture stormwater, the Virgin Islands RC&D Council installed the USVI's first-ever rain garden to provide public education and outreach to the St. Croix community on how individuals can help lessen storm water flooding and pollution problems in the territory. Read more...
