Included in the recent V.I. government-Department of Interior memorandum of understanding aimed at restoring the territory’s fiscal health are provisions to preserve the islands’ natural and cultural resources.
While Gov. Charles Turnbull is being criticized by labor leaders for the MOU, which calls for reworking the territory’s collective bargaining agreement laws, instituting 50-50 cost sharing for government workers’ retirement and health benefits and eliminating five paid holidays, the section on enhancing the territory’s natural resources has gone relatively unnoticed.
In order to stimulate local economic growth through sustainable tourism, the MOU commits the administration and Interior to a program of preserving and enhancing the territory’s natural, cultural and historic resources.
A key element is the establishment of what is called the Virgin Islands Conservation Trust, which would maintain and manage resources by creating a network of local parks and recreation trails.
According to Delegate to Congress Donna Christian Christensen, the trust would establish a fund to help establish and manage local parklands. During an interview Thursday, she used the Camp Arawak land at Great Pond Bay as an example. The land was deeded to the government 25 years ago to be developed into a park. For various reasons, most recently because of a lack of funding, the land was never fully used by the government.
Christensen said that elements of the MOU would still have to go before the Legislature for approval.
The program will also include exchanging interests in land, including submerged lands and coral reefs, under federal and local government jurisdiction.
Working jointly, the governments will identify and map submerged land and reefs, place them in sufficient protected status to ensure long-term protection and create the authority needed to establish the V.I. Conservation Trust.
The MOU states that the Secretary of Interior, presently Bruce Babbitt, will do the following:

• Work on obtaining funding and assets for the V.I. Conservation Trust.
• Work with the V.I. government to draft an additional MOU that would implement joint planning and management of the Salt River Marine and Ecological Park.
• With the University of the Virgin Islands, create a consortium to promote understanding of the marine environment, including coral reef ecosystems, and promote marine education and public awareness within the Caribbean.
• Work with the V.I. government and UVI to provide opportunities for students to learn about the stewardship of resources by working with National Park Service experts through a park mentorship program, funded at up to $50,000 per year for fiscal years 2000, 2001 and 2002, subject to the availability of funds.