Field Notes

Geographic Consulting Signs USVI Tree Law Contract

Geographic Consulting signs USVI Tree Law Contract We are proud to announce we have signed a contract to write a comprehensive Tree Law for the US Virgin Islands. Geographic Consulting’s team of arborists has become the leading authority on roadside trees

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Introduction to The Project Blog

The Project Blog Introduction This location is the source for updates and the latest information of new and on-going projects by Geographic Consulting LLC. Geographic Consulting provides a wide range of Environmental Services and conducts both large and small natural resources

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WELCOME To Geographic Consulting’s Sea Turtle Blog, from the Sandy Point Wildlife Refuge

Welcome to Geographic Consulting’s Turtle Blog. We conduct a sea turtle monitoring project at the Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands that consists of nightly patrols to intercept nesting leatherbacks during the early summer months and

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Leatherback Sea Turtles! Blog post #1

5/2/2012 Leatherback Sea Turtle nesting season is now in full swing with an average of 5 adult, female Leatherback Sea Turtles nesting per night! The Sea Turtle Nesting Monitoring Team at Geographic Consulting is anticipating a busy season, and the crew

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Hawksbill Turtle Arrives at Sandy Point.

June 4, 2012 It is June and leatherback season seems to have peaked, with averages still steady at about 5 Mamas per night. Just over a week ago, 10 turtles came up on Sandy Point in one night. A record for

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Dawn turtles!

5/20/2012 Welcome turtle fans! Female leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) usually nest at night and “Dawn Turtles” are what sea turtle monitors call those females that arrive on the beach when the sun is starting to rise. They make technicians stay

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Tropical Nursery Manual Now Available

We are pleased to announce the release of the much anticipated Tropical Nursery Manual from the USDA Forest Service. The full title of the publication is Tropical Nursery Manual: A Guide to Starting and Operating a Nursery for Native and Traditional Plants

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Geographic Consulting and USFWS host Nigel Marven on the beach

Geographic Consulting’s turtle crew had a fun time hosting Nigel Marven last week. Some of us were a little star struck by the Wildlife adventurer that first became famous during his time with the BBC Natural History Unit and now makes

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Leatherback Sea Turtle Nesting Season 2014, Underway at Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge

The Leatherback sea turtle nesting season of 2014 is underway at Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge. Night patrols began on April 1 this year and we have been so busy with start up and other projects that this is our first

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Tropical Nursery Manual from USDA Forest Service on the Way

USDA Forest Service will publish the Tropical Nursery Manual next month. Forest Ecologist, Brian Daley of Geographic Consulting is a co-editor of the handbook, has co-authored the introduction and contributed photography. Dr. Daley has over 15 years experience propagating native trees in

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Geographic Consulting Field Crew “Releasing” a native tree planting at Salt River National Park

Geographic Consulting is working with National Parks Service this week doing one of the things we do best; Forest restoration and monitoring.   In July, 2012 Geographic Consulting partnered with National Park Service and others at Salt River National Park in

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Excavating Leatherback Sea Turtle Nests

[The end of the turtle season was demanding on our schedules and other projects conspired to make this blog post fairly late.]   Night patrols at the Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge concluded for the season on July 31, 2013. In

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Ground Breaking Ceremony at Estate Spanish Town Solar Project with WAPA and Toshiba

Today in Estate Spanish Town St. Croix, WAPA, Toshiba and their project partners took part in a public ground breaking ceremony. The open plot across the street from Diagio is the future site of over 14 acres of solar panels that

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Conclusion of Leatherback Sea Turtle Night Patrols for 2013

It’s the middle of July which means that Geographic Consulting’s night patrols have come to an end for the 2013 season. Although there are still a few leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea) laying nests at Sandy Point Wildlife Refuge in St. Croix USVI, they are

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Conclusion of Leatherback Sea Turtle Night Patrols for 2013

It’s the middle of July which means that Geographic Consulting’s night patrols have come to an end for the 2013 season. Although there are still a few leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea) laying nests at Sandy Point Wildlife Refuge in St. Croix USVI,

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Internesting Threats for Leatherbacks

The nesting season for leatherbacks  (Dermochelys coriacea) at Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge in St. Croix has been underway for three months.  At this point, most of our turtles have  nested at Sandy Point multiple times.  Some turtles that have nested seven

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Beach Dynamics on Sandy Point Wildlife Refuge

Most sea turtle monitoring projects have several components of nightly beach work in common.  These usually involve the identification and tagging of nesting turtles, collecting morphometric data, and marking and protecting nests.  However, each project does things a little bit differently

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Busy Nights at Sandy Point Wildlife Refuge

Nights at the Sandy Point Wildlife Preserve in St. Croix have been busy lately with lots of leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea)  nesting activities. Sea Turtle Biologists from Geographic Consulting have had quite a few nights with more than five nesting leatherbacks and 

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Geographic Consulting partners with a a renewable energy company to survey endangered plants

  Geographic Consulting has recently partnered with Tibbar Energy to further our survey and mapping activity on the federally endangered plants. Our previous work was summarized in this publication for the Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources.  This most recent

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25 Years of Nesting on Sandy Point

The  leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) nesting season is finally in full swing. We have been seeing at least 3 nesting turtles per night and have had some nights with up to 5 turtles. We have also been surprised that not only

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Geographic Consulting Appears in the March USDA – NRCS newsletter

The USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service has just released the March, 2013 issue of their newsletter. Geographic Consulting and our work on assessing endangered plants of St. Croix get a nice mention on page 2. You can download a copy of

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Printed Booklets on Exotic Invasive Species Have Arrived

Our printed booklets have arrived and look pretty good. They discuss the ecology of exotic invasive species and which species affect forest health in the US Virgin Islands. They are available for free download HERE. If you would like some of

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2013 Leatherback Sea Turtle Nesting Season Underway at Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge

Well that long anticipated and exciting time has finally arrived!  Leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) nesting season has officially begun on Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. That means Geographic Consulting’s blog entries will begin again.

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Report; Population Assessment of the Endangered St. Croix Ground Lizard (Ameiva polops), Protestant Cay

Geographic Consulting has completed and released their report on the Endangered St Croix Ground Lizard (Ameiva polops) population at Protestant Cay, St. Croix US Virgin Islands. The report was prepared for the US Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources,

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Introducing Geographic Consulting’s newest addition; Hema Balkaran – Biology Research Analyst

It is my pleasure to introduce the newest member of the Geographic Consulting team. Hema Balkaran and I worked together when I was a Research Specialist at the University of the Virgin Islands and Hema was a student. She was always

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Rapid Assessment of Endangered Plant Species, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands

  Ecologists at Geographic Consulting have completed field data collection on three populations of Buxus vahlii and one population of Catesbaea melanocarpa.  All plants were marked with Trimble GPS units, flagged and tagged with numbered metal tags in our preliminary work. Accuracy tended to

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Leatherbacks, hawksbills, and greens!

July 6, 2012 It’s been a while since we’ve updated you all on the leatherback project. Good news is, all 3 species of sea turtle are nesting on Sandy Point: the leatherback, hawksbill, and green!! Leatherback activities have slowed dramatically, but

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Plant Conservation Task Force for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Our friend, Colin Clubbe of the Kew Botanical Garden has just posted a well written and informative summary of the recent Plant Conservation Workshop in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.   Please follow this link for the details     http://www.kew.org/news/kew-blogs/ukots/plant-conservation-task-force.htm  

Exotic Invasive Species of the US Virgin Islands; Forest Health

    Each year invasive exotic species cause both billions of dollars in damage and the extinction of many native species. The threat of invasive organisms is considered the second greatest threat to global biodiversity, after only habitat loss.   Geographic

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Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands Plant Conservation Workshop.

This week, Dr. Brian Daley of Geographic Consulting is attending a regional plant conversation conference sponsored by the US Forest Service in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. Internationally renowned botanist and taxonomist, Pedro Acevedo provided a detailed description of the plant diversity and

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St. Croix Tree Inventory and Hazard Tree Assessment; Preliminary Results

The casual observer may think the roadside tree population of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands would be rich in diversity because the island lies in the sub tropics. Geographic Consulting recently completed a two year project to assess the major roadside

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Tree Planting for Forest Enrichment on Buck Island, USVI

Native Tree Planting on Buck Island The Geographic Consulting Tree Team had a great weekend with National Parks Service and dozens of volunteers on Buck Island. You can click here to read the Public Service Announcement from NPS explains some of

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Virgin Islands Community and Heritage Tree Law

I am very pleased to announce that a project we have been working on for years is one step closer to becoming a reality. The Virgin Islands Community and Heritage Tree Law is one step closer to passing and becoming part

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Invasive Rat Eradication on Islands

Geographic Consulting has long been a proponent of habitat restoration through the eradication of invasive species as well as re-introduction of the native plants and animals (like the St Croix ground Lizard). Rat eradication is one of my personal favorites because

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Rapid Health Assessment of Mangroves in Coral Bay, St John

Geographic Consulting recently partnered with the Coral Bay Community Council of St john to complete a Rapid Health Assessment of the Mangrove Forests of Coral Bay. This was a significant project made more important in the post Hurricane Irma setting. Irma

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Urban and Community Forestry Grants Now Available for 2018

The 2018 grant cycle for Urban and Community Forestry Grants has begun at the Virgin Islands Department of Agriculture. Organizations and agencies can apply for forestry projects up to $20,000. Follow the link for additional details.   http://geographicconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/UCF-Grant-Cycle-News-Release-2018.pdf    

Forest Restoration Underway at Salt River

We are pleased to share this Press Release from National Park Service regarding our collaborative forest restoration work at Salt River National Park. Since 2012, Geographic Consulting has been growing a wide diversity of native trees in our nursery and helping

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“Whats coming up?” The Native Tree Nursery Inventory – March, 2018

Geographic Consulting’s native tree nursery has a wonderfully diverse selection of native trees available right now in 3 sizes. Our ideal target size plant is 3-gallons, but we have smaller plants too.  The vast majority of plants we produce are for

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Public Notice to participate in the VIDPNR-CZM 309 Program Assessment

GOVERNMENT OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS OF THE UNITED STATES ————0———— DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND NATURAL RESOURCES No. 45 Estate Mars Hill, Frederiksted St. Croix, Virgin Islands 00840   Office of the Commissioner                                                                                                              Telephone: (340) 773-1082 FAX: (340) 773-1716  

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Environmental Baseline Assessment of the South Shore Industrial Complex of St. Croix, USVI

Last year Geographic Consulting conducted a mangrove forest habitat assessment along the south shore of St. Croix. We published a short blog post about the field work at the time. Our field team collected data along evenly distributed transects around the former

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Head cut repair: stabilizing and reforesting stream banks and bed in St. Croix

Geographic Consulting specializes in reforestation, erosion control and wetland restoration. We recently had the pleasure of helping fix one small piece of St. Croix. A gut (also known as an ephemeral stream) on the east end of St. Croix was eroding

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Whats Coming Up? Native Plant Seedlings November 2016

Our Native Plant Nursery has new plant species popping up every week. This brief update comes straight from our nursery benches to tell you what is germinating and what will be ready for outplanting next year. Castela erecta is called goatbush

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UVI, Department of Ag. and Brian Daley to host Arborist Workshop Monday

Brian Daley of Geographic Consulting will conduct an arborist workshop hosted by the University of the Virgin Islands and the VI Department of Agriculture. Tree pruning, propagation, and outplanting will be discussed. Admission is free  

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