Parting Word(s)

One of the things I wanted to write about in this blog is the lessons that I learn in the 5 weeks I am here. As I was getting ready to leave St. Croix I've been focusing on ending well- both by finishing the work I set out to do and by reflecting on my time here and what I've learned. Although I've learned many things, I will only highlight the main four:

1)I've learned what the saying "wherever you go, there you are" really means:

To me it means being comfortable being by myself, learning to trust my gut and and to rely on my judgment to make the most of the time I've been here. I've found that in being more centered within myself I've established more meaningful relationships with the people I've met here, and that while I'm sad to leave, I am also very excited to see my friends and family back home- who are a big part of who I am.

2) I've learned about the richness and complexity of place:

It's been some time since Holly Nelson mentioned St Croix to my class and during a presentation in our junior year. Since that time I've gotten to know the place on several different levels- there was the GIS presentation by Rutgers students who'd never stepped foot on the island. Then the google searches before my first visit. Next our 5 day visit to the island with a packed itinerary of people to talk to and places to see. And then a semester of studying and mapping from afar, and reflecting on each moment from that trip. And now there's now. Each of these forms of interaction led to different levels of understanding of place. Some of the strangest moments to me after being on island for 5 weeks is when I come across a place that I visited while here before. Despite how eager I was to understand St. Croix at the time, I am always struck by my impression of the place back in August 2010, and my knowledge of it now. And yet I have only been here a few weeks- imagine the richness that would exist in my mind were I hear longer! The learning curve that there is in learning a place is absolutely fascinating, but it is also somewhat frightening because I now realize how much effort is required to get far enough along that curve to truly understand the place in which we design. And if we do not understand the place, how can we design spaces that work within the culture they reside?

(photo credit: Vanessa Ayala)

(photo credit: Vanessa Ayala)

3) I've learned to be trans-disciplinary:

David Goldstein and I discussed this term a little bit while I was here- specifically what the difference is between inter-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary. Inter-disciplinarity has been preached to me throughout my undergrad education. What I've realized here in St. Croix is that Landscape Architecture IS in and of itself inter-disciplinary already- the skill set we posses are those of an environmentalist, artist, engineer, architect, graphic designer, urban planner and more all at once. This is why it is sometimes difficult to explain what it is we do to the public- because we CAN do a lot and still call ourselves Landscape Architects. The challenge therefore isn't to be INTER-disciplinary- we should already be that- but to work TRANS-disciplinarily- or across the disciplines with skill sets and focuses very different from ours. This is the challenge: to work with the psychologists, anthropologists, doctors and biologists and collaborate with them just as we do with engineers and architects.

While here I've seen this happening, and participated in it myself. My partners in this experience were anthropologists, biologists, artists, hotel owners, librarians, students, science professors and more. On Monday I attended part of the EPSCoR conference, and was thrilled to learn an incredible amount about marine life- information that is applicable to the work of a Landscape Architect.

4)I've discovered new interests- both personally and professionally:

Getting my open water diver certification was one of the highlights of this trip. As a landscape architect I felt it was really important to see for myself the benthic landscape that terrestrial landuse affects. The excitement of swimming with a school of bright blue fish or seeing a green sea turtle in the surf if a feeling I want my children and grandchildren to experience, and the realization that I can contribute to the protection of reef ecosystems is empowering.

I also did not realize when I agreed to come here that David Goldstein (the Park Interpreter) studied a topic that was so closely related to my own interests. As an anthropologist he has studied indigenous agriculture and the way that people have grow food and sustained themselves for centuries. Our conversations in the car on the way to and from work have been inspiring and stimulating and has given me fresh ideas for my application to the Fulbright.

I rented a car for my last few days on island, and had the chance to drive around to all the places that I had wanted to visit but didn't have access to beforehand. Yesterday morning, with just a few hours before I had to board a plane, I drove my little rental car into the rainforest to visit Nate Olive and the Sustainable Farm Institute. I had forgotten how off roads it was, and with all the rain the drive was slick with mud- I prayed the whole time that I wouldn't end up over the edge and tumbling down the mountain. I'd been reluctant to admit to myself that I was really leaving St. Croix because I hoped that I'd be back, but I didn't know when, or in what capacity. In the short time I spent at the farm I realized something: I will most definitely be back in St. Croix- we have unfinished business. The past five weeks have really given me clarity on the direction I'd like to take Landscape Architecture, and the ideas and practices of the farm are so wrapped up in all that I've been exploring that I just know I'll be back before too long.

So for now St. Croix this departure isn't a goodbye- it's a see ya later!!!

Buck Island Adventures

On my second to last day on the island I woke up at a quarter to four (yikes!) drove to Judith's Fancy to pickup my new friend Moko, and drove out to Point Udal- the easternmost point in the US- and watched the sunrise. It was absolutely beautiful, and very cool to be able to say that on that day we were the first in the whole country to see the sun.

Moko at dawn

The road back towards center island- notice buck island to the right

The marina we set out from.

Then we joined Kirsten, another National Park intern who works with the turtle program, and Clayton and Jamie, two of the park biologists, on a boat to Buck Island. From 7AM to about 4PM we roamed the island doing various turtle preservation tasks. First we worked on the rat catching project- an especially horrible sounding job as I am truly terrified of the creatures. Luckily the islands rat population has been almost completely eradicated so all that we were doing is testing what the population level is by setting up traps at night, checking them in the morning and recording the findings.

St. Croix... a pot of gold?

Buck Island dock

Beautiful reef from the scenic overlook

Monitoring the traps

We spent the rest of the day excavating hatched turtle nests. This is normally an illegal thing to do- but for the day I was wearing my scientist hat and working as a park volunteer and so it was allowed. The nests we were digging were suspected or confirmed nests that should have already hatched. We were digging to determine how many eggs hatched, how many didn't, and if the ones that didn't were fully developed or not at all. Sounds simple enough, but KIrsten, Moko and I dug and dug at a lot of different suspected nest sites and didn't find anything. We did find eggs at two sites, and the smell was horrible!

There are excursions to buck island, and although there aren't very many people who go on them (and even fewer locals) they pose some risk to the nests that litter the beach but go undetected by the inexperienced eye.

This particular nest was supposed to be a sure thing- several thorns and a hole big enough to bury myself we gave up...

Our first successful nest- AND the easiest to dig up!

Moko and Kirsten recording data

This nest was sad- one turtle laid here, and then another one dug it up and lay hers right on top. Not only does this mean the data couldn't be collected, there were a high number of undeveloped eggs, and we found two fully developed hatchlings that never opened their eyes or made it to the surface.

Want to SCUBA?

My first morning on island I met really great group of people who were in town for a wedding. They were spending a week in St Croix scuba diving and site seeing before the wedding, and the sister of the bride turned out to be a dive instructor at Cane Bay Dive Shop- just 8 minutes down the road from where we were staying. Every morning at breakfast they'd talk about what they saw, encourage me to sign up for classes and then they'd get in their blue jeep and head off for that day's dives and activities. It took me that weekend and the next to hop on the bandwagon, but the more I thought about the mysterious deep the more I realized that if I didn't take advantage of the diving here I would regret it for the rest of my life.

I am not a marine biologist, but I can tell you that coral reefs occupy only .1% of the world's ocean floor, yet 25% of marine fish species live in this ocean habitat (2010 NOAA). The sad news is that we have seen a 24% coral cover loss worldwide, and this number is from a study done in 2004- the percentage is probably a lot higher now. There are proximate drivers of degradation that include the relationship and ratio of algae and other organisms, disease, bleaching, slowed growth rates and low reproduction. But the underlying reasons for those causes of coral death are sediments and other land-based pollution, physical damage (also known as death by a thousand paper cuts), overfishing, climate change and ocean acidification. On top of that, the venomous Indo-Pacific Lionfish has now entered St. Croixs waters. Equipped with an exotic and highly successful hunt and defense strategy this fish has already impacted the reef ecosystem, and there is no easy solution to managing their population. All this is to say that the reef is in trouble, and while scientists are scrambling to better understand the threats on reef habitat and how to improve the situation, there is no end in sight.

This is a really cool critter- if you touch it with the tip of your finger it retracts so fast that it seems to disappear!

The terrible Lionfish! Don't they sort of look like monsters?

I don't know what this fish is called, but he seems somewhat affectionate

So I decided to become a certified open water diver. St. Croix has some of the best coral in the world, and with all the stresses on it I wanted to see it before it was too late. Also, there are certain parts of the equation that are within the realm of a Landscape Architect to protect- namely the sediments and land based pollution part. Through proper planting, grading and other site work Landscape Architects have the opportunity to decrease these stresses on reefs. I felt that seeing the reef ecosystem with my own eyes I would better appreciate what an incredible resource it is and why it must be protected.

I got certified at Cane Bay, and it took me a total of 3 days, over the course of 2 weekends and a few days of bookwork. The first time I tried breathing underwater in the pool I panicked- it was hard to trust a piece of equipment to keep me breathing, and the feeling of it was so foreign. But very soon I got the hang of breathing and even managed to remove and then clear my mask while underwater. My certification process required bookwork, quizzes and an exam, 5 confined water dives in a pool and 4 open water dives. I completed my certification last Saturday with a group of Cub Scouts on a boat in Fredericksted, and have been on two more dives since then. I would encourage anyone who is even slightly interested to learn to dive, or at least snorkel. The human body isn't equipped to spend time underwater, and so it can be very easy to go about your day to day business and never think about what is out there and what affect you might have on it. But the truth is that know it or not you are affecting it, and I think that if more people had to face the landscape that is in decline, improvement in the way we manage our land might happen a little faster.

Working on my skills... using a compass

Boy-scout on the left, me on the right

Shannon the dive instructor and I

It's hard to tell from this image but the coral was actually very beautiful and colorful

Photo Credit: the Cane Bay Dive Shop photographer whose name I do no know

Beach Camping

EASTER CAMPING AT COLUMBUS LANDING:

Although Salt River Bay has 1015 acres worth of park land and water, most of it is on the East side of the bay, and feels somewhat inaccessible to visitors who have to drive through the gated community of Judith's Fancy to get to it. That's why most people who know about Salt River experience it from the West side, and area called Columbus Landing because that is where Columbus is supposed to have landed back in 1493 when he stopped at St. Croix for fresh water. Columbus Landing is home to rich archeological remains- the only ceremonial ballcourt from the indigenous people was discovered right next to the current parking circle, and the road drives over shell middens (or indigenous garbage piles) from that era. Fort Sale, the oldest earthen fort within the US control, lies just West of the drive- covered by invasive vegetation. The mangroves in that area which serve to filter sediments and pollution from runoff before it enters the bay have to contend with litter, foot traffic and broken branches.

Today the site is used throughout the year by tourists and locals alike, but the most heavy use happens around Easter weekend when families set up camp along many of St. Croix's beaches. While this is a well known Crucian tradition, there is a lot that is still a mystery- specifically at this particular beach. The age of the tradition, the length of time spent on the beach, the intensity of use, and the activities involved in camping are matters that are often generalized and possibly misunderstood.

OUR RESPONSE:

In order to better understand the way the beach is used, and what needs the camping community might have, I recently began a study that involves interviewing Columbus Landing campers about their experiences, and recording them so that those who make planning decisions for the park will understand the users they affect. The campers, the upscale residential community nearby, environmentalists and archeologists all have different relationships to the site, and therefore different perspectives on what use is appropriate. The emotions that accompany these positions often run deep, and are further intensified by class, race and political differences that on this island seem especially sensitive. I have observed a fear of being taken advantage of that has lead to people choosing sides, planting their feet and fighting with all they have. This approach to differences and conflict can be divisive and perpetuate the problems.

As Landscape Architects my colleagues and I have the opportunity to design within communities that sometimes odds with each other. We know that design is a process that involves compromise and weaving together many different components within one landscape, and so we are equipped to tackle some of this polarization to achieve agreements on the proper planning and design. In some cases this takes the form of a design charette, focus groups or an extensive survey of stakeholders. The study that I am currently working on will at minimum contribute to our understanding of a particular stakeholder group for the park, but my hopes are that through the process we can identify leaders within that community who we can begin to invite into the design dialogue and potentially a design charette.

UVI Talk

Yesterday I got my first taste of what it might feel like to be a professor. I was asked by Bernard Castillo, a Chemistry and Physical Sciences professor at the St Croix campus of the University of the Virgin Islands to give a lecture. So from at 2PM I stood in front of a few dozen UVI students and talked about what Landscape Architecture is, the work my class did at Salt River Bay last year, and how that relates to their lives. Although my younger siblings would say I'm an expert when it comes to giving lectures- I was so nervous! I've never given a professional lecture all by myself- but it turned out to be easy when I remembered that I was talking about something I am both familiar with and passionate about. By the end I was excited to find that not only had the students stayed awake the whole time- they were interested in what I had to say and asked so many really good questions! The best part of it all when two freshmen girls approached me and asked how they could volunteer with the Park Service and get involved with the project!

Today made me laugh at the phrase "those who can- do, those who can't- teach" because I felt completely inspired and fulfilled through my interactions with those students. I know that in my own life the professors that have deeply inspired me are also really great do-ers. I believe that it is part of the landscape architect's job description to teach- perhaps not within the setting of a classroom or a university, but every time they interact with a client, or shape the land they have the opportunity to teach ecological responsibility, instill a love for nature and improve the way people relate to one another within the landscape. If that isn't doing- I don't know what is!