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One Project + Eight Years = A Microcosm of IRF’s Mission On May 1, 2008, in a ceremony at the J.R. O’Neal Botanical Gardens in Road Town, Tortola, the island of Sandy Cay was formally transferred from the estate of philanthropist, conservationist, and entrepreneur, the late Laurance S. Rockefeller, to the people of the British Virgin Islands, to be cared for in perpetuity as a protected natural area and recreational site by the BVI’s National Parks Trust (NPT). The transformation of Sandy Cay from a privately owned island (albeit one that had always been open to the public) to its emergence as the BVI’s newest national park had been planned over an eight-year period, with Island Resources Foundation serving as the critical link between the donor’s expectations and the BVI’s aspirations. The Sandy Cay Program, 2000-2008, is but one of the over 200 individually funded, island-focused projects implemented by Island Resources Foundation since its establishment 36 years ago. As such, it is perhaps not conspicuous. It was not, for example, the longest—our technical assistance program for environmental NGOs in the Eastern Caribbean was active for well over a decade. It was not multi-island in scope—as was the Foundation’s better-known Country Environmental Profile series. It did not reflect, as had many of the Foundation’s endeavors, insular initiatives on a global scale. What is unique about the Sandy Cay Program—from the Foundation’s perspective—is that this cluster of activities, known collectively as “Sandy Cay”, eventually encapsulated so many of the components central to IRF’s mission, all tied together in a neat program package named after the island which was at the center of everything. At the commencement of this effort, there were two men—Laurance S. Rockefeller, who had purchased Sandy Cay more than 40 years ago and then nurtured and enhanced the island to create a unique managed-wilderness landscape, and the late Dr. Edward L. Towle, founder of Island Resources Foundation and a leading protagonist for Caribbean environmental concerns since the 1960s. The two had partnered many times before, in both the American and British Virgin Islands and in the wider Caribbean region. Neither lived to witness the closing phases of their last joint effort. Yet both were men of extraordinary vision and both would appreciate that, in the end, the British Virgin Islands acquired more than the island itself and, in the end, Island Resources Foundation had overseen a program that mirrored the essential objectives of the organization itself. The transfer ceremonies in the BVI were attended by the Foundation’s president, Bruce Potter, IRF trustees Dr. LaVerne Ragster and Nicolas Drayton, and key members of the IRF Sandy Cay project team—Judith Towle, Jean-Pierre Bacle, Barbara Lausche and Lloyd Gardner. This time together in Tortola provided an opportunity for all to reflect on what the Sandy Cay program had meant to the Foundation. continued on page 2 . . . 1718 P Street NW, Suite T4 Washington, DC 20036 202/265-9712; fax 232-0748 6292 Estate Nazareth #100 St. Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands 00802 340/775-6225; fax 779-2022 123 Main Street, PO Box 3097 Road Town, Tortola BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS VG1110 Tel. and Fax: 284/494-2723 Via the Internet at: irf@irf.org i s l a n d r e s o u r c e s F O U N D A T I O N WE INVITE YOU TO VISIT IRF’s UPDATED AND REDESIGNED WEB SITE www.IRF.org Sandy Cay Photo by Bruce Potter [May 2, 2008] Sandy Cay … continued from page 1 andy Cay was both a program of forward planning for the future of Sandy Cay and institutional strengthening for protected area manage- ment in the British Virgin Islands. The project was initially focused on the island itself—its habitats and ecosystems. Over time, it evolved as a longer- term program of sustained and targeted assistance for BVI institutions, laws and policies that support conservation and protected area management. BIODIVERSITY RESEARCH — Initially, the Foundation was engaged by Mr. Rockefeller to investigate Sandy Cay’s environment and its natural carrying capacity in the face of increasing touristic use. More than a dozen researchers participated in studies to document and evaluate the island’s natural resources while, at the same time, projecting what was required to conserve them in the future. RESOURCE PROTECTION — Mr. Rockefeller and others engaged in the Sandy Cay Program had, early on, concluded that the BVI’s National Parks Trust was the logical entity to ensure the island’s long-term protection. To move toward this objective, IRF and NPT cooperated in initia- tives designed to strengthen the Trust’s capacity to manage and protect not only Sandy Cay but all parks under the Trust’s stewardship. Most sig- nificant was the development of a new System Plan for BVI Protected Areas, covering the years 2007-2017. The Foundation has provided similar counsel and professional planning assistance for Caribbean park development since the 1980s. CAPACITY BUILDING — Increasing the confi- dence of Mr. Rockefeller and his associates in the institutional strengths of the National Parks Trust was key to the success of the program. Sandy Cay did not exist in isolation, and therefore the Trust’s organizational growth and professional develop- ment emerged as critical components of IRF’s collaboration with, and assistance to, the National Parks Trust. An unusual aspect of this collabora- tion resulted in the drafting and approval of formal Operational Procedures for the NPT Board, the only statutory body in the BVI to develop an Operational Manual to guide its actions. ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND LEGISLATION — The Sandy Cay Program significantly streng- thened the policy and legal framework for the BVI’s protected areas. The most far-reaching product produced was the new National Parks Act (2006) and the Regulations thereto (2008). The Act is a modern piece of legislation reflecting interna- tional policy, standards and practice; it perhaps provides the most up-to-date and effective frame- work for protected area management in the insular Caribbean. At the end of the Sandy Cay Program, our attention turned again to the island itself, the gift of Laurance Rockefeller to the people of the British Virgin Islands. Ellen Pomeroy, an executor of the Rockefeller Estate, wrote to IRF after the transfer ceremony, reflecting on a truism that perhaps best sums up the eight-year effort: “The Sandy Cay project underscores the adage that it is not easy to give things away — if you are trying to do it well!” S PHOTO CAPTIONS (PAGE 3) 1 Dignitaries at the Sandy Cay Transfer Ceremony at the J.R. O’Neal Botanical Gardens, May 1st, 2008 (l-r): Dr. Michael E. O’Neal, Chair, BVI National Parks Trust Board and Presi- dent of H. Lavity Stoutt Com- munity College; William S. Moody, Distinguished Fellow of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund; Ellen R.C. Pomeroy and Clayton W. Frye, Jr., Executors of the Estate of Laurance S. Rockefeller; and Joseph C. Smith Abbott, Director, National Parks Trust. 2 The Honorable Ralph T. O’Neal, OBE, Premier of the British Virgin Islands, speaking at the Transfer Ceremony. 3 Clayton “Wes” Frye, Jr., Ex- ecutor of the Rockefeller Es- tate, speaking at the Premier’s Dinner on April 30th at Little Dix Bay Resort, Virgin Gorda. 4 NPT Director Joseph Smith Abbott (l) and Honorable Omar W. Hodge, Minister of Natural Resources and Labor, following Minister Hodge’s signing of the official declara- tion making Sandy Cay the BVI’s newest national park. 5 Rockefeller Estate executor Ellen R.C. Pomeroy being recognized at the Sandy Cay Transfer Ceremony. In front row (l-r): Lloyd S. Gardner, IRF environmental consultant for the Sandy Cay Program; Dr. LaVerne E. Ragster, President of the University of the Virgin Islands and IRF Trustee; Judith A. Towle, IRF Vice President and Coordi- nator of the Sandy Cay Pro- gram; Ellen Pomeroy; and Barbara J. Lausche, environ- mental lawyer for the Sandy Cay Program and IRF Trustee. 6 Photographed at the Premier’s Dinner at Little Dix Bay Resort are (l-r) IRF’s Judith Towle and Sandra Ward, Communi- cations Director, Premier’s Of- fice and one of the coordina- tors of the Sandy Cay transfer ceremonies. 7 Attendees at the Premier’s Dinner in honor of the transfer of Sandy Cay (l-r): IRF Trus- tee Dr. LaVerne E. Ragster, Honorable Dancia Penn- Sallah, Deputy Premier of the British Virgin Islands; Kincey Potter; and Bruce G. Potter, President of Island Resources Foundation. 8 IRF’s Jean-Pierre Bacle, who, with Chris Thomas of Resortscapes (not pictured), provided tours of Sandy Cay on May 2nd as part of the official transfer proceedings. 9 Jost Van Dyke primary school students who visited Sandy Cay on May 2nd with other participants in the Sandy Cay transfer events. PHOTOS PROVIDED BY THE BVI GOVERNMENT INFORMATION SERVICE, JOSE GARNHAM, AND BRUCE POTTER. Oh Sandy Cay, oh Sandy Cay We’re happy you’ve come back to we. (to the tune of “Oh Christmas Tree”) Students from the Jost Van Dyke Primary School serenaded participants en route to Sandy Cay on May 2nd with an original composition dedicated to Sandy Cay. The students first sang the Sandy Cay “anthem” at the formal transfer ceremony held at the Joseph R. O’Neal Botanical Gardens in Road Town on May 1st.


The Sandy Cay Program emphasized what has always been at the center of IRF’s approach to island development: THE APPLICATION OF SOUND SCIENCE TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM SOLVING. IRF’s conservation priorities have always encouraged expansion of a Caribbean environmental ethic, protection of land for public use, and the creation of partnerships between public and private sector interests. The strengthening of indigenous institutions has always been an integral part of IRF’s mandate. The Foundation has long maintained that NGOs and quasi-governmental entities have a major role to play in the management of insular environments. For more than three decades, IRF has assisted island governments in the establishment of environmental policies, guidelines, legislation and regulatory procedures that strengthen resource management, physical planning, and the development control process. Events to Mark the Official Transfer of Sandy Cay 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Program Updates and Other News about IRF at researchers (pictured below, left to right) Kevel Lindsay (IRF) Dr. Gary Kwiecinski (University of Scranton) and Jean-Pierre Bacle (IRF) are part of a three-year study team that is surveying the Virgin Islands’ only remaining native mammals — bats. Mysterious and often linked to the supernatural, bats are nevertheless important to the eco- logical wellbeing of the Virgin Islands because of their ability to control in- sects and disperse plant seeds for regeneration. According to IRF ecolo- gist Kevel Lindsay, “Bats help to keep nature in balance, and we need to be able to protect them.” The IRF team is working with biologist Dr. Renata Platenberg of the V.I. Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW), with funding provided under a grant to DFW from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The objective is to determine the status of the local bat population on St. Thomas and St. John and to develop conservation strate- gies that address population decline. Lindsay and Bacle hope to continue their research with scientists in the British Virgin Islands. Two bat species appear rare in the islands currently under study — the fig-eating bat, a fruit bat endemic to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and the Brazilian free-tailed bat that is fairly widespread in the Caribbean but seems very rare in the Virgin Islands. “We need to understand more about why it is so rare in Virgin Islands,” said Lindsay, “and if this is because of human activities, we need to take appropriate steps to restore a better balance.” t a May 2008 meeting of IRF’s Board of Trustees, President Bruce Potter reluctantly accepted the resignations of long- serving trustees, Henry Wheatley and Charles Consolvo. Henry was first elected to the IRF Board in 1973 and Charles in 1978, representing a combined service to IRF of 65 years. President Potter thanked both for their commitment and loyalty and for their decades of support for IRF and its conservation mission. From the beginning of their joint board tenure in the late 1970s, Wheatley and Consolvo constituted the Board’s Finance Committee, only one area of governance in which they provided wise and judicious counsel to IRF’s management team. They will be sorely missed as trustees, but each has confirmed they will continue their support of the Foundation and its programs. he 2007 Euan P. McFarlane Award for Outstanding Environmental Leadership in the Insular Caribbean was granted by IRF to the late Dr. I. Earle A. Kirby of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, who passed away in 2005. The Award, including a $1,000 grant, was presented posthumously to Dr. Kirby’s widow at the annual general meeting of the St. Vincent National Trust. “Doc” (as Dr. Kirby was affectionately known) was nominated for the McFarlane Award by the Natural History Committee of the Trust in a tribute that focused on his environmental leadership in St. Vincent, especially as a proponent of the natural environment and archaeology. The McFarlane Award was established by Island Resources Founda- tion in 1987 to recognize annually individual conservation leadership in the insular Caribbean. Contact Judith Towle at jtowle@irf.org for informa- tion about the nominating process for the 2008 Award. RF has begun development of an Environmental Profile for Jost Van Dyke and its neighboring islands in the British Virgin Islands. The Profile is the first phase of a new project to be undertaken by the Jost Van Dykes (BVI) Preservation Society, which designed the 16-month effort to bring a fresh approach to community awareness and understand- ing of the local environment. On the evening of May 6th, the Society hosted a public meeting with island residents to launch the project which is funded by the United Kingdom’s Overseas Territories Environment Program (OTEP). His Excellency, BVI Governor David Peary was in attendance to announce the new project on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office which funds OTEP initiatives. Kevel Lindsay, Clive Petrovic, Jean-Pierre Bacle and Judith Towle attended the meeting representing Island Resources Foundation. Bacle and Towle serve as IRF joint coordinators for the Profile phase of the project. oral reef systems within the Caribbean remain at risk from land-based sources of sedimentation. The lack of adequate empirical data to quantify the effects of land development on sediment production is often cited as a reason for ineffective mitigation strategies. For a decade, IRF’s Dr. Carlos Ramos-Scharrón has been studying the impacts of land development by quantifying sediment production rates at sites in Puerto Rico and St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Data analyses have been carried out by Dr. Ramos-Scharrón to develop comprehensive erosion models that quantify watershed-scale sediment yields. Application of the models as GIS tools will allow land managers in similar areas of the Caribbean to evaluate surface erosion problems and sites at the watershed level and to standardize and improve erosion control strategies. At Fish Bay in St. John, Ramos-Scharrón and his IRF colleagues, in collaboration with local home owners, have applied these new tools to implement best management practices for erosion modeling and sediment control in the Fish Bay watershed. The Foundation’s erosion studies have, most recently, been funded by the Caribbean Coral Reef Institute-University of Puerto Rico, the Gulf of Mexico Foundation, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. B A T I C DONATION INFORMATION IF YOU WANT TO HELP ISLAND RESOURCES FOUNDATION CONTINUE PROGRAMS SIMILAR TO THOSE DESCRIBED IN THIS NEWSLETTER, WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO MAKE A U.S. TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION. IF YOU RECEIVED THIS PUBLICATION BY MAIL, A DONATION ENVELOPE IS ENCLOSED FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE. OTHERWISE, PLEASE SEND YOUR DONATION, PAYABLE TO ISLAND RESOURCES FOUNDATION, TO: ISLAND RESOURCES FOUNDATION 1718 P STREET NORTHWEST, SUITE T4 WASHINGTON, DC 20036 TELEPHONE: 202.265.9712 EMAIL: irf@irf.org IRF researchers pose in front of a cave occupied by a roost of cave bats, located at Boatman Point on the southwest coast of St. John. Dr. Ramos-Scharrón