A Management Plan for the St. Thomas East End Reserves (STEER) is being developed using The Nature Conservancy’s Conservation Action Planning (CAP) process with the participation of representatives from community groups, DPNR, UVI, and The Nature Conservancy. It is a five-year, strategic plan that outlines management actions to be taken, funding resources, and recommendations for sustainable and effective management of STEER. It will serve to guide conservation and sustainable use activities in STEER to maximize the ecological, economic and cultural benefits for the USVI community.
As part of the CAP process, a vision for STEER was formed: To restore and maintain a functional coastal ecosystem that promotes sustainable recreation opportunities and community engagement.
The STEER core planning group is now seeking input from stakeholders on the objectives, strategies and action steps that have been developed to address critical threats to STEER resources (this information is available at the Web site below). The objectives, strategies and action steps together form one of the most critical sections of the management plan and will guide activities undertaken in the next one to two critical years of early implementation as well as longer-term (five year) intentions for conservation.
A meeting will be held from 6-9 p.m. on Thursday, April 22, to give stakeholders the opportunity to submit comments. The meeting will take place at the V.I. Montessori School and International Academy Music Room. Anyone living, working, playing, using or with any interest in STEER is invited to bring his or her written comments to the meeting for discussion.
In addition, a sustainable finance plan and a zoning plan for STEER are being developed as part of the plan. Drafts of these sections will be presented at a stakeholder meeting on May 19. On June 2, a meeting will be held for stakeholders to contribute comments and suggestions to the Sustainable
Finance Plan. Another meeting will be held on June 16 for stakeholder comments and suggestions on the zoning plan. Once stakeholder comments and suggestions are incorporated, the management plan will be presented for stakeholder comments in July. The final draft of the entire plan should be ready by August 2010.
For more information about STEER and the process for developing the management plan, visit groups.google.com/group/steer-stakeholders.