Today was a big day! After sitting in the passenger seat for two weeks I finally slid over to the driver's side and drove the full sized pickup out of the yard and off to UVI (University of the Virgin Islands). And let me tell you- I've driven just as big a truck through Manhattan, but with the giant concrete walls, the very narrow gate and the many obstacles to avoid in the yard I wasn't just nervous about driving on the left side of the road.
Once I got to the campus I met with several people including Shelly the Librarian, Betsy Rezende a anthropology professor, Nick Drayton the EPSCoR Coordinator, Bernard Castillo a science professor and Olasee Davis, an extension specialist. And now I have three very cool, very exciting NEW PROJECTS!!!
1) A new exhibit, that will show the history of landuse planning in Salt River, to be featured at the EPSCoR conference on Dec 4th.
2) A lecture!!! I, Sarah Nitchman, little girl from Queens, am giving a lecture in UVI's biggest auditorium on Dec 1st on public open space, Landscape Architecture, and the work my class did last semester.
3) The biggest, most involved project of all: organizing a public design charette that will bring together 3 stakeholder groups to talk about how to design or plan for the future of Easter week beach camping within Salt River Bay. Around Easter all the beaches on St Croix are filled with families who live there for a week (or more)- bringing couches, stoves, refrigerators, generators and boomboxes with them. This big party is a tradition that goes back generations, and is a huge part of the small island culture that make St Croix great. It is also a hot button issue for the locals because although the beaches on St Croix are public, hotels and residential communities have been laying claim over them by making it difficult for locals to access them, and the number of beaches truly accessible to the public are dwindling. The beach at Salt River has been used this way since the tradition began, but there is a conflict of interest because the nearby residential communities don't want the disturbance or the crime they associate with the camping, the Park Service and environmentalists have an issue with the destruction of archaeological remains on the site, as well as garbage and harm to the nearby mangroves.
As a landscape architect I am realizing more and more that our role is not simply to pick up a pen and draw, but also to engage community, and unify and direct it to achieve great things. My first step in this project will be to find people who camp at Columbus Landing, interview them and record their experience of Easter week, their desires their concerns and whatever else they will tell me. This is so important because it will be one of the first time someone has actually written and organized all this information, and material we walk away with can be used to better serve the needs of this particular group of park users. Additionally, through speaking with people I hope to identify leaders and representatives within the camping community that could be asked to participate in a design charette in the future.
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