On Saturday, July 14, the National Park Service will host a free family event at Fort Christiansvaern Park from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event is to raise safety awareness when boating and recreating around the water. The event is hosted by the National Park Service, and several other agencies have donated time and resources to the event: Virgin Islands Waste Management, V.I. Police Department, VITEMA, Department of Health, V.I. National Guard-Weapons of Mass Destruction Unit, St. Croix Rescue, Veteran’s Administration, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, and the V.I. Department of Planning and Natural Resources divisions of Archives and Museums, Fish and Wildlife, and Environmental Protection and Education.
Fun Day participants can register for library cards or check out books with a library card from the Libraries and Archives-DPNR Bookmobile. Kids can sign up to participate in the Governor’s ‘Reading 5’ Summer Challenge. The EcoVan from the East End Marine Park-DPNR will be on site to talk about marine protected areas around St. Croix. Also the Department of Health, the Veterans Affair counselor, and other local and federal agencies will be available to provide information and answer questions about their current and future programs. The VIPD will have a K-9 demonstration at 11 a.m. Then from noon until 2 p.m. NPS will offer boat rides and safety demonstrations in the Christiansted harbor, and St. Croix Rescue will run through some event scenarios beginning at 2:15 p.m.
On Saturday kids (10-14 yrs.) can sign up for the National Park Service’s Reef Ranger Program that will start in the late summer and run through the first part of the school year. This program will expose children to safe boating practice and offer a snorkel clinic at Buck Island Reef National Monument. Participants can also find out about NPR’s Junior Ranger program where kids can volunteer at Buck Island, Salt River, and Christiansted. Volunteering with the National Park Service helps the community in protecting the island’s resources for generations to come. To sign up, please look for National Park Service booth.
For additional information please contact Chief Law Enforcement Officer Harris at 773-1460, ext. 234 or visit the park Web site at www.nps.gov/chri.
The Christiansted National Historic Site is celebrating its 60th Anniversary in 2012. NPS hopes that everyone has an opportunity to come and visit the park to see some of the oldest buildings in the Federal Registry that the National Park Service maintains for the public trust, including the Slave Market/West India and Guinea Company Warehouse and Fort Christiansvaern.