Earth Partnership staff Cheryl Bauer-Armstrong and Dr. Maria Moreno collaborated with Dr. Robert Mayer with his staff from the University of Puerto Rico Aguadilla Vida Marina to plan and lead two Latino Earth Partnership Workshops in 2023. The Latino Earth Partnership Leadership Workshops were offered to community members, teachers, and students to learn how to restore mangroves to protect our coastal communities and habitats
During the workshop, participants learned:
- mangrove ecology and restoration techniques and processes,
- how to lead restoration work parties to restore mangroves.
- how to establish baseline conditions and monitor post- restoration conditions in the field.
After participating in this workshop, community members lead volunteers in work parties to restore local mangroves by collecting seeds, growing seedlings in nurseries, and planting transplants in the field. An important component of the leaders’ participation is that they co-teach future LEP workshops through Vida Marina. EP worked closely with the UW-Arboretum Restoration Work Party Manager Marian Farrior to integrate the Arboretum training materials for learning leadership skills and practice organizing work parties safely and efficiently. This material was translated into Spanish to be used in Puerto Rico.
Teachers participate to learn how to engage their students in restoring mangroves through the process of hands-on stewardship action. They also learned LEP’s interdisciplinary lessons for teaching in the classroom and in the field. Teachers encourage their students to protect their coastal waters through stewardship actions.
“It is very important that we start restoring these highly vulnerable sites as soon as possible to protect habitats and communities from future extreme weather events.” Dr. Robert Mayer, Professor UPR, Director of Vida Marina
This project is funded by the NFWF (National Fish and Wildlife Foundation)