Birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, 1755 Offices of �HCS

NEVIS HISTORICAL NEVIS HISTORICAL NEVIS HISTORICAL NEVIS HISTORICAL

AND AND AND AND

CONSERVATION SOCIETYCONSERVATION SOCIETYCONSERVATION SOCIETYCONSERVATION SOCIETY

P.O. Box 563 Charlestown, Nevis,

Eastern Caribbean 00109 Caribbean

FIRST CLASS MAIL

AUGUST 4th – Public Holiday … Emancipation Day - Culturama Activities & Horse-racing organized by Nevis Turf and Jockey Club at Indian Castle Race Track 5th – Public Holiday …Culturama Street Parade and Last Lap jump up 9th – Caribbean & International Food Fair… An exotic display of food and drink, art and craft, from around the world. Held at the St. George’s Rec-tory from 11:00 a.m. until 9:30 pm. For details, contact (869) 469-3441 SEPTEMBER 16th - National Hero’s Day...Public Holiday 19th - Independence Day Anniversary... Public Holiday. St. Kitts/Nevis attained Independence from Britain in 1983. o Military Parade at Grove Park o Horseracing organized by Nevis Turf and Jockey Club at Indian Castle Race Track 20th – Independence Road Run – Nevis Cycle & Triathlon Club, Interna-tional Beach Clean-up. OCTOBER 17th – 19st - NICHE – Nevis International Culinary Heritage Exposition – A culinary program including cooking demonstrations, lunches and dinners, cheese and wine tasting, and more. TBA … 15th Annual Coastal Cleanup organised by the Nevis Historical and Conservation Society November TBA - Nevis Off Road Triathlon - Nevis Cycle & Triathlon Club 30th – Horseracing … Thanksgiving races organized by Nevis Turf and Jockey Club at Indian Castle Race Track

The Journal of The

NNNNEVISEVISEVISEVIS H H H HISTORICALISTORICALISTORICALISTORICAL & C & C & C & CONSERVATIONONSERVATIONONSERVATIONONSERVATION S S S SOCIETYOCIETYOCIETYOCIETY

Mission

The Nevis Historical and Conservation Society exists

to promote effective management of the historical, cultural and natural resources of the

island of Nevis for the benefit of all of its people.

Issue 85 January-March 2009

GPS/GIS Training Started for Biodiversity Project

On March 28th and 29th, as part of the new Nevis Biodiversity Project, the Nevis Historical and Conservation Society (NHCS) was pleased to hold their first “GPS/GIS Train-the-Trainers Workshop” with more than a dozen local students and educators. The NHCS arranged for Ms. Erin Haney, an envi-ronmental consultant and GIS expert from Vermont, USA to conduct the two day workshop, using funds supplied by the British High Commis-sion (Barbados), the Strabon Project (French Embassy St. Lucia), and the Nevis Peak Pro-ject (OECS). The Canadian High Commission (Barbados) Canada Fund, supplied the funding for all the equipment used both for the GPS/GIS training and the Biodiversity Project in general. The GPS portion of the training took place, Saturday, March 28th at the ruins of Fort Charles, outside of Charlestown. Training commenced with a brief history of the fort and its role in the history of St. Kitts & Nevis by noted local historian and author, Vincent Hubbard. Students were then given instructions on the theory and practical use of the new Garmin 60CSx GPS units recently supplied to the Biodiversity Project by The Canada Fund. Students learned how to navigate the GPS units many screens and func-tions, and how to record and modify location ‘markers’ into the units. (continued on page 4)

The Gathering Baobab Tree

Inside this issue:

Director’s Message 3

The Nevis Peak Project 5

Major Donation to Archives 7

Nevis begins Reef Survey 8

Geocaching 9

Opening of NHCS Labs 11

Economic of Caribbean Climate Change

13

The Nevis GPS/GIS ‘Train-the-Trainers’ Team of 2009

Nevis Historical and Conservation SocietyNevis Historical and Conservation SocietyNevis Historical and Conservation SocietyNevis Historical and Conservation Society

OFFICERS & EXECUTIVE BOARD 2007- 2008 Clara Walters >>>>>>>>>>....President Lincoln Hoffman.>...>>>..>>.Vice President Jenny Lowery>>>>>>>...>>>.Secretary David Robinson>>>>>...>>>....Treasurer Arthur Anslyn>>>>>>...>>>>.Gov. Rep. Shari Maynard >>>>...>>>>.. Youth Rep.

Alice Alexis Tessa Howell Ken Evelyn Vince Hubbard Morrice Tyrell Mackie Tross,

Almon Dasent Chris Thompson

STAFF John Guilbert>>>>..>>...Executive Director Paul Diamond>>...>...Senior Technical Officer Gail Dore>>>.>>Ag. Curator for Collections & Museums Gennifer Broadbelt>...Manager, Museum Shops Assistant Archivist Troylin Evelyn>.....Shop Attendant, Membership Nicholette Walters>>>>>>.Business Officer

COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS Archives & Museums>>....>>>Marcia Myers Membership Services>>>>>..Miriam Knorr Finance>>>>..>>>>.. Chris Thompson Buildings and Grounds>..>....David Robinson Policies and Regulations>....>>...Oral Martin Nevis Field Studies Centre>..>.Paul Diamond Historian>>..>>>..>>.Vincent K. Hubbard Environmental Education>.>>...Miriam Knorr Historic Preservation>>>....Suzanne Gordon Youth Education>>..>.>>...Shari Maynard Conservation & Bio-diversity>...Miriam Knorr & Captain Arthur Anslyn

NEWSLETTER

Editor>>>>>..>>..>>>> Paul Diamond General e-mail>>>....>...nhcs@sisterisles.kn Web Page>>>>>>.....>.. www.nevis-nhcs.org

NEVIS HISTORICAL NEVIS HISTORICAL NEVIS HISTORICAL NEVIS HISTORICAL

and and and and

CONSERVATION SOCIETYCONSERVATION SOCIETYCONSERVATION SOCIETYCONSERVATION SOCIETY

Low Street, Charlestown P.O. Box 563

Charlestown, Nevis Eastern Caribbean

Tel: 1 (869) 469-5786 Fax: 1 (869) 469-0274

Nelson Museum 1 (869) 469-0408 Fax: 1 (869) 469-0407

Clare Walters cwalters@nevis-nhcs.org

John Guilbert jguilbert@nevis-nhcs.org

Paul Diamond pdiamond@nevis-nhcs.org

Gail Dore gdore@nevis-nhcs.org Troylin Evelyn

tevelyn@nevis-nhcs.org Gennifer Broadbelt

gbroadbelt@nevis-nhcs.org Nicholette Walters

nwalters@nevis-nhcs.org

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Are you an American taxpayer? If you are an American taxpayer, you can pay your membership fees and make a donation to the NHCS through NEVKIT, a charitable foundation established in 1986 for American taxpay-ers to support historical and conservation activities in the Eastern Caribbean. Please send your check, payable to NEVKIT with NHCS noted in memo section, for member-ship—cost noted in the box on the left (all but $5 is deductible) and a donation in the amount of $________for total check of $__________to: The NEVKIT FOUNDATION P.O. Box 484 Charlestown, Nevis Eastern Caribbean 00109

FOLLOW THE TRAIL TO FOLLOW THE TRAIL TO FOLLOW THE TRAIL TO FOLLOW THE TRAIL TO THE THE THE THE

NHCS...NHCS...NHCS...NHCS... Become a Member!

You’ll receive: ...Newsletter emailed or snail mailed directly to you ...An active voice in Nevis’ environmental future ...Free use of archives and library ...Free admittance to museums ...10% discount on gift shop items ...Staff expertise concerning environmental issues ...Opportunity to become an Executive Board member HOW MUCH does it cost to become a member? ( ) Single Member EC $50.00 (US $20.00) ( ) Family Member EC $75.00 (US $30.00) ( ) Corporate Member EC $400 (US $150.00) ( ) Life Member EC $1350.00 (US $500.00) Plus EC $13.50/US$5.00 for postage outside of Nevis

NAME____________________________________________________________ ADDRESS ________________________________________________________ EMAIL ADDRESS__________________________________________________ CITY______________________________ COUNTRY______________________

You’ll receive an acknowledgement from NEVKIT with our taxpayer identification by return mail.

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WHY FILMS/VIDEOS/DVD’S NEED BOOKS BY ROSEMARY WILLIS SULLIVAN

The NHCS has many program, projects and committees running all the time, some on-going some one-time only affairs. So if you have a skill or even just an avid interest in Nevis history, culture or heritage place drop by and introduce yourself. We are particu-larly interested in people with experience in video production, mapping/surveying, bird watching, marine biology, botany, events promotion, fund raising, photography, micro-biology, fresh water ecology, and just about anything else, we would love to hear from you. (Right: The Nevis Biodiversity Committee)

INTERESTED IN GETTING INVOLVED IN THE NHCS?

Now that the NHCS Oral History Video Editing Suite/lab is operational, a training programme in video pro-duction and editing will soon be implemented. This is the first of many tutorials on the basics of film making. When you begin to make a movie, you have an idea, a story you want to tell. It is necessary to raise money to make a movie. If you start with making a video, it is still necessary to have money for equipment, loca-tions, actors or “voice-overs” Even if you make a documentary, filming actual events without actors, you often need fees to pay for closing off streets or public spaces for periods of time. You need money for someone to do the “voice over” so that what you want to say about what the images are saying is read by someone with a good voice and good diction. So you need a producer. The producer is the person who raises the money, organizes the equipment, locations and hires the director and the assistants to organize “the shooting schedule” etc. All those people in the credits at the end of a film. To find a producer for your project, you need a “film treatment”. A film treatment is a short description of your film idea. Most producers respond best to a “story board” along with the film treatment. A story board is a visual script along with the words that will be spoken or the actions directed. The story board will include images of the main locations/actions in your film, with the words which the film will communicate along with these images. In fact, a good story board is like a book of photographs with text.

So this is why learning how to make a book of images and words to tell a story is one of the first steps in making a film. Think of one of your favorite films, watch one of your favorite film, and see if you could make a picture/story book out of it. This “backwards project” is fun. Take your favorite novel and make a story board of it>.like a comic book. Or join the Oral History Project of the Nevis Historical Conservation Society and learn many such skills which could launch you on a career as a film writer/director. And be sure and see all the films you can (sometimes old black and white films can teach you a lot about film-making). For the newest films, watch for the Nevis Film Festival in May 2009. Film treatments of books or ideas, story boards, interviewing techniques, photography and oral history books and then>lights, action, camera!!!

The NHCS Oral History Committee has experts in the fields of video production, photography, publishing and broadcast media.

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HOW THE ECONOMIC CRISIS HAS IMPACTED THE NHCS

None of us have gone untouched by the recent turn of events related to the world economy. Here on Nevis a number of events have caused concern for our organization. To begin with, one of our life members, the Nevis Four Seasons Resort has closed its doors for an indefinite time. We don’t know if the economic crisis has played a part in its closure, or if it is strictly the results of Hurricane Omar that brought the Five Diamond resort to its knees. The end result is the hotel is closed, - 600 employees are laid off and airlift to the island has come to a near stand still. We are very thankful to the Nevis Island Administration for keeping Winair flying to Nevis from St. Martin. The NHCS among other organizations have felt the sting from this event along with the fact that people aren’t spending money to travel; make donations for tax benefits or participat-ing in events of fundraising like they have in past years. Our three major fundraising events did not reach their goals this year as they have done in the past. The turn out for our an-nual fashion show was extremely low partly due to horse racing being held on the same day. The Silent Auction had a nice crowd, but we should have placed minimum bids on most of our items, as they went for very little. The results are in on the House & Garden Tour, and we made nearly as much as previous years. There are still some outstanding payments for advertising to the H&G brochure which will bring the income to previous year’s returns. Regardless, the funds we make may not be enough to get us through the year. Let’s just hope there is a quick turn around in the econ-omy; airlift returns and the Four Seasons finds its way back to life. What are we doing to combat these down trends? In a mes-sage to my staff recently I stated: There is also a need for us to assess our current economic situation due to the decline of tourism and the loss of jobs by many of our relatives, friends and neighbors. The NHCS will do all that it can to keep current salaries whole and provide a work environment with the necessary people, supplies and equipment to remain functional. However, it will require us all to manage our resources better. Such as, turning off lights and AC when not in use. Limit the number of cell phone calls made from the land line; reduce the amount of personal calls; use scrap paper instead of clean sheets of paper for note

A message from the A message from the A message from the A message from the

Executive Director Executive Director Executive Director Executive Director ----JJJJoooohhhhnnnn GGGGuuuuiiiillllbbbbeeeerrrrtttt

taking; recycle whenever we can, etc. Here are a few steps I have already taken: - Reduced the gardener's monthly salary by 25% until the economic stress is gone. - Reduced the NHCS marketing on the Info Channel by 25%. - Not replace the loss of the Hamilton Museum attendant until the economic stress is over. However, this may have to happen once our volunteers are no longer here. - There is now a freeze on any major shop purchases until further notice. - Conduct an inventory of all office supplies and make sure we use up what we have before buying - Better control of water and soft drink sales. - Follow up with the Ministry of Tourism. (The Premier agreed to give a response to the MOU). - Create fund raising guidelines to curb expenses (suggested by treasurer). - An idea from one of our members – offer internet access service, which we will put in place very soon. Things that I am considering, if things get worse: Stop fuel allowance for staff Solicit donations from members. Ask for members to send us their small change. Removal of fax lines. Restructure (reduce) current wages/salaries. We currently have enough funds to carry us through the next 8 months (give or take one month), if we are frugal and vigilant with our spending habits. I encourage your support of these measures and I encour-age you all to come up with other ideas and ways to re-duce our expenses and waste during these trying times. As always, we look forward to your comments. Thanks for your support. As you all know, we are a small staff, and there is very little fat for us to trim off what we currently do, and how we do it. Fortunately, we do have sufficient funds in our grants account to complete the projects currently before us, and will aggressively seek new grants and do our best to build in administrative fees for our services. What a challenging year this will be!

After students were comfortable using the GPS de-vices, they were broken up into groups and tasked with creating a GPS survey of various portions of the old fort and the surrounding headland. Students learned how to record positional data outlining all ar-eas of the historic ruins including fortifications, the moat, the power magazine and cistern, and even the positions of individual cannons within the ruins. To end the days training, local naturalist and tour guide Jim Johnson, explained how GPS units are also used to conduct high-tech treasure hunts, called ‘Geo-caching’. Popular worldwide, Mr. Johnson has recently introduced ‘Geo-Caches’ to Nevis and already at least 100 people have travelling to Nevis specifically to find them. Basically, a Geo-cache is a small sealed box or vessel that contains a log book and perhaps a few small trin-kets. Once hidden, the location of the boxes or “Geo-Caches” are recorded via GPS, and then posted online, often with a rhyming clue. Then other Geo-caching enthusiasts download the caches coordinates into their personal GPS units, and try to find them. Once found, they sign the log book inside (to prove that they found it). The cache is then replaced in its hiding place for the next person to find at a later date. By coincidence, one of Mr. Johnson’s geo-caches was located within the fort walls, and stu-dents were given its coordinates to input into their GPS units and tasked to find it. It didn’t take long for them to locate the hidden ‘pirates treasure’ sign the log book, and replace it back in its hiding place. Geo-caching is an excellent and fun way for people to learn how to use GPS technology, and the students used it to show that they had indeed learned some-thing from their first days training. As part of the ongoing GPS/GIS training over the com-ing weeks/months, the NHCS intends to include crea-tion and placement of Geo-Caches as an integral part of the training process. The second day of the workshop took place at the NHCS’s brand new Biodiversity Lab located within the

4

Museum of Nevis History at Bell Vue. Though the lab is not 100% completed, it is almost fully operational and this occasion marked the first time it has been used. Utilizing several laptop computers, GIS mapping soft-ware, and a digital projector, again all supplied by the Canada Fund, students were shown how to download their GPS data from the previous days surveys into their computers, and using two pieces of GIS soft-ware, Map Source and Map Maker, they were able to

begin to create simple yet accurate maps of Fort Charles and sur-rounds. Ms. Haney also demonstrated how it is possible to import satellite or ae-rial photos such as from Google Earth into the GIS software, so that students can overlay their collected survey data onto them and create their own maps tailored for specific purposes, such as monitoring coastal erosion, mapping archaeo-logical sites, or defining the bounda-ries of the proposed Nevis Peak National Park. The day’s lessons ended by stu-dents being given the coordinates to another of Jim Johnson’s geo-caches, at the nearby Bath Hotel; It didn’t take them long to locate it. Though originally planned to be only a two day workshop, the students

were so eager and enthusiastic about learning the basics of GPS/GIS, that Ms. Haney has generously agreed to give further advance instruction on mapping the following Saturday at the Biodiversity Lab (April 4th). As this project continues and the students become more proficient with the technologies, they will be ex-pected to not only develop and work on various re-lated projects but also act as trainers themselves and pass along their technical skills to other students and local stake holders. I am sure we can expect to hear a lot more about this project and its achievements in the coming months. Further project details, photos and video will shortly be available on the Biodiversity website (www.bio-diversity-nevis.org), the NHCS YouTube Channel, the Society’s Newsletter and other media outlets.

NHCS STARTS GPS/GIS TRAINING (CONTINUED FROM FRONT COVER)

Students training students is an inte-gral part of the NHCS’s programmes

VISITERS FIND ANCESTOR ON NEVIS BY JOANNA REFVEM

17

Who could have guessed that a few hours on Nevis would yield such fasci-nation, such joy, and such discovery? In March 2007 my husband and I were traveling around various Caribbean islands on a cruise with his par-ents. When my sister learned of our itinerary she suggested we take a trip over to Nevis when our ship docked in St. Kitts to see the gravesite of a distant relative. Once on shore we soon realized that we had a very short time to accom-plish our task. We hopped on the late morning ferry, arriving just before lunch. The last ferry we could take back to St. Kitts left at around 1p.m. We found a taxi driver who agreed to take us on our exploration. All I knew was that he had been buried at a church in the St. Thomas area. Our driver said he knew of the church and off we went. Once there we scurried around, trying to locate the gravesite. I knew we had the right area from photos my sister had forwarded. After nearly 45 minutes, our driver called out to us to repeat the name – and we soon realized he had discovered the grave! Job Ede (my great, great, great grandfather) was buried at age 63 on July 1, 1844 after spending twenty to thirty years as a plantation owner. Seeing the grave that day was amazing. Much to his shock, I hugged our driver, overcome with a sense of connection to my past. All too soon we had to return to catch our ferry back to St. Kitts. But I vowed I would return. Two years later, in March 2009, we did return, and this time with my aunt Hazel, my father’s sister, Job’s great, great granddaughter. This time we came armed with a lot of research my sister had sent and were motivated to find out more. Here is what we were able to piece to-gether during the week: Job had owned part interest in the Jessup Estate in the early 1800s, and the Calhoun Estate in the 1820s. He was required to release his slaves after the Emancipation act of 1834 and from what we can gather had been unable to make the plantation profitable before or after that event. After his death his son(s) were still saddled with some of his debt. We were able to find Job’s death recorded in books at the NHCS archives, located at The Nelson Museum, along with records of baptisms and weddings of the slaves associated with his estate. No mention could be found of his immediate family, and other records seem to indicate that all of his children were born and raised in his native England. The connection remains, and more adventures in research and discovery will certainly follow in the years to come. Joanna Refvem was born in England and raised in California by her British parents. She became a US Citizen in 1984, and currently lives with her family in North Carolina.

To Be or Not to Be?

Will the NHCS be expanding into The Nevis Heritage Center over the coming year or so? Stay tuned for an official announcement any

day now.

Left: Artist Howard Pain’s conception of what the proposed Nevis Heritage Centre would look like, encompassing both Hamilton House and

Trott House areas

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RIVERS OF TIME: WHY IS EVERYONE TALKING TO PHILLIPA? BY VINCENT K. HUBBARD

From a Report of the Committee of the Society for the Improvement of Pris-ons, Nevis 1824

There are two places of confinement in this island, the gaol and the cage. The gaol is never full, and is considered healthy; but the marshall had lately re-ported it to be in a bad state, and the legislature had, in consequence, ordered an inspection of it to be made by the committee of public buildings. Debtors are separated from criminals in this gaol, and men divided from women; indeed, the goal has never been so full, in the present marshall's time, as to prevent his making the most convenient arrangements. The allowance to a prisoner is quar-

ter of a dollar a day, or food to that value, at the option of the prisoner. In the cage are confined disorderly persons, taken up in the night by the constable, and slaves sent there by their owners, as a punishment. The condition of the cage is good, but the space contracted. Slaves are sent there not only to be confined, but also flogged, by their masters' orders. For crimes, slaves are whipped under the gallows, for misdemeanours, at the cage door. There is no employment of slaves in the cage. The police are stated to be very defective indeed; and notorious offenders against the public peace are said to escape punishment.

CRIME & PUNISHMENT, NEVIS 1824

This book, written by June Goodfield, begins with describing a tombstone from 1683 found some years ago by a Nevisian on Saddle Hill, and preserved. It can be viewed today. Dr. Goodfield took the time and effort to try and find who Philippa Prentice was, where she came from, and when she reached Nevis. This she has done and woven a fascinating story of 17th century Nevis, which is a time from which only the most rudimentary records survive, and hardly anything is known. Not only was her English birthplace discovered, but the name of the ship in which she crossed the Atlantic. The story of her early years in Nevis and England is reconstructed from historical facts as so little is really known of those times.

One very interesting find in the British Archives made by Dr. Goodfield and her researcher was an unmarked box of 17th century shipping records from Nevis, with names of passengers and ships. There are hopes that these records can be printed in due course. Also discovered was a sad note concerning Philippa's son Clement Prentice from 1710. His estate was being probated in England, and on the back of one of the pages an affidavit was written by a Nevis resi-dent that in 1707 Clement boarded the ship Margaret in Nevis, bound for Lon-don, and neither the ship nor Clement Prentice "...has been heard of since." There was a great hurricane here that year and possibly that accounted for the loss of the ship and Clement's death. The book is one you can hardly put down, and will introduce the reader to what the earliest times in Nevis were like, and what sort of person was brave enough to leave home and journey to an unknown and far distant spot and make a new life. Copies are available at the Museums and bookstores here in Nevis. Read it! More details about the book and its author can be found at www.riversoftime.co.uk

The Nevis Island Government and its Physical Planning Department have recently been awarded a grant to study its Peak area above the 1000-foot level; its Camps Wa-tershed and the Marine Reef Structure in the Narrow (north end of the Island) as possible National Park Pro-tected areas. An intense study was started at the begin-ning of February to define the feasibility of such a pro-tected area. The grant was awarded by the OECS (Organization of Eastern Caribbean States) who have nominated the IRF (Island Resource Foundation) from Washington DC to do the actual study. At an introductory presentation meeting held January 26th Bruce Potter, President of the IRF, introduced the projects key per-sonnel who are Ernie Stapleton, Permanent Secretary of Planning and Communication, Angela Walters del Peche- Director of the Physical Planning Department, Michelle Rene Walters- Planning Department Project Manager and David Robinson-On-Site Island Resources Manager. Rene Walters expressed the need for such a project as th protection of a valuable environmental part of Nevis, to protect the island from continuing encroachment of buildings above the 1000 foot level and protection of our fresh water resources that start in the Peak area. She also indicated it is a cooperative programme with strong input of a Rawlins group called the Maroon Community Group. She indicated that the project will take on four significant areas of study: Defining a clear boundary for the protected area(s): a study of literature detailing the protected area such as how protected areas work, the biodiversity of the area and its vegetation plus soil, cli-mate and geography: conducting field research on the biological resources within the proposed protected area: and preparing a management plan for the proposed protected area. A strong core committee has been selected representing various departments of government and private entities that are or will be affected by the establishment of a protected area. The program has a website which is used to post interesting information about the project. (continued on page 6)

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NEVIS LOOKS TO MAKE THE PEAK, CAMPS WATERSHED AND THE NARROWS PROTECTED AREAS

By David Robinson

The NHCS Updates its Online Video Channel

In our ongoing battle to keep up with, and make use of new and emerging technology and media, the NHCS is pleased to announce it has started its own dedicated Video Channel on YouTube at... www.youtube.com/user/NevisHistorical The video channel features short videos demonstrating many aspects and facets of our various ongoing projects and special events. The site is updated regularly and we hope you will give it a view and let us know what you think. (left: NHCS Intern Miss Roann Eusebe interviews GIS expert Ms. Erin Haney in the new Biodiversity Resource Centre)

The Nevis Peak, above 1000 ft (in Green), the Camps Watershed (in Yellow) and the Marine Protected Area (in Red) are all part of

the proposed protected project areas.

THE NEVIS PEAK NATIONAL PARK PROJECT (Continued from page 5)

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(cont’d from page 5) David Robinson the project coordinator indicates that it is especially important that the project identify with the residents of Nevis living in the protected area, people who make their living in those areas and people who see op-portunities to make a living their or for its use. He urges inter-ested people to e-mail him at drobinson@nevis-nhcs.org if they would like more information about the project or would like to join the Nevis Peak Project website. Discussion about the project will be published in the paper as research is performed. For readers who don’t understand what the Nevis Peak Project includes here is description and map. The Nevis Peak and Camps River Watershed is located within the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis on the Island of Nevis and earmarked under the Draft Nevis Physical Development Plan as a protected area. The site is approximately 2330 ha (approximately 25% of the total land area of Nevis ~9230 ha.) in size consisting of volcanic formations and encompassing rainforest and the island’s major watersheds, springs and freshwater lagoon, which feeds into the largest living reef system around Nevis. The proposed protected area con-sists of 1000ft contour ascending to the 3232ft Nevis Peak and also includes the watershed and springs on the NNE of the national park and descends via Camps Ghaut and wetlands into the reef system.

There is a gold mine of information packed into the archives at the Nelson Museum. I took my first visit there in March, when David Robinson and I met with Joanna Refzem and her aunt Hazel, to look for information on their ancestor, Job Ebe, who lived and died on Nevis in 1844. We watched their delight as they donned white gloves and poured over the pages of an 1800's registry of St Thomas lowlands church. David found the essential books within 2 minutes of our arrival and we spent the next hour reading and marvelling at the information they contained. Joanna's relative lived during the time of the emancipation which effectively ended Nevis' role as a sugar producer. Further research on her family will no doubt tell the story of what happened to many family fortunes during that era. In addition to Joanna's research which appears in the article (see page 17), The following people also used the Archives at NCHS's Nelson Museum during the last quarter: Erica Pinney............information on the Pinney Family of Nevis Paul Erickson..........information on the birds of Nevis Joel Williams...........information on Preserving Charles-town's Heritage Sigi Sheffield...........information on Francis Nesbit, Martin Herbert, and the Morton Family Michelle McGrath & Boann Eusebe (6th Form stu-dents)....Climate Change & Global Warming If you have a topic or a person that you would like more information about, please call Gail Dore, Acting Archivist, at the Nelson Museum 469-0408

Frigate Bay, Jan 26, 1782— British Fleet lines up to battle the French Fleet (as seen from Nevis)

The Nevis Peak Project’s Committee has members from several government ministries, Community Groups, the NHCS, and local experts in several scientific disciplines

USING THE NHCS ARCHIVES BY BEV PARRY

GRAND OPENING OF NHCS LABS

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(Continued from Page 11) The Oral History Project members will soon be touring the island, interviewing our oldest citizens about what life was like back in the first half of the 20th century, as well as collecting old photographs, film, video, audio-tapes and other perishable materials, to be digitally copied and stored permanently in the Nevis Archives. A book detail-ing the early photographic history of Nevis is also being contemplated as part of this project. Students working on The Biodiversity Project on the other hand will be working closely with visiting scientists on such projects as mapping and survey Nevis Peak for the proposed National Park and the new Marine Protected Area to the north of the island. In addition they will also be assisting visiting archaeological teams, marine biolo-gists (See story page 8) botanists, and other environmental scientists that frequently visit Nevis over the summer months. Students will also receive training on creating and maintaining websites, including the two created for the projects, www.nevisoralhistory.org and www.bio-diversity-nevis.org It is hoped that both of these projects will expand and grow over time to offer advanced technical skills for local students in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. We also hope to be able to secure a source of funding to allow us to hire at least two young people to be full-time interns for the projects. These interns will be integral to managing both projects on a day to day basis, as well as being available to train other interested youth.

Before….

Special thanks to Harry Hallstrom, Chris

Thompson, Paul Dia-mond and John Guil-bert, for spending two weeks turning a display area in the Nelson Mu-seum into two fully

equipped Science Labs, for the Biodiversity Pro-ject and the Nevis Oral

History Project. ….After

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NEVIS SANDWATCHERS WIN VIDEO CONTEST BY MIRIAM KNORR

Representatives from The NHCS will be attending The 23rd Congress of the International Association for Carib-bean Archaeology that will be held on Antigua from Monday, June 29 through Friday, July 3, 2009. The event will be hosted by the Nelson Dockyard Museum and the University of the West Indies Open Campus Antigua & Bar-buda. The NHCS has an excellent and long standing reputation as a regional partner with archaeological teams from both North America and Europe, with several teams coming to Nevis year after year to conduct excavations, of both Amerindian and Colonial sites. This summer will see a new field school team from North Carolina State University pay their first of hopefully many visit to Nevis, to find and dig a suitable pre-Columbian site. In addition, with the NHCS newly developing GPS/GIS mapping and surveying capacity, it is hoped that we will be even better equipped to help visiting archaeological teams with their research

In November of 2008 The Lyn Jeffers School Sand-watchers , (Sandwatch seeks to change the lifestyle and habits of youth and adults on a community wide basis, and to develop awareness of the fragile nature of the marine and coastal environment and the need to use it wisely), travelled at their own expense to Barbados to attend a Sandwatch Conference on “Global Warming and Climate Change in the Carib-bean.” They learned about some of the effects that global warming and climate change may have on the Caribbean such as sea level rise, ocean warm-ing ,and a higher fre-quency of extreme weather events. They were also instructed on the art of storytelling, drama, internet, and video making as mediums to use to get the message out about global warming and climate change and the possible effects on their islands. The Sandwathchers of Lyn Jeffers School created a video entitled “Eco Rangers” which they submitted to

the Sandwatch Video Competition “Coping with Cli-mate Change: Sandwatch Leading the Way.” They received notice in March that they had won a special prize of $600 US for originality and creativity in the

Secondary School Section,(13-18). Mrs. Knorr, their Sandwatch coordinator, had promised lunch and a movie in St. Kitts if they won. The students will meet after spring break to decide what they will do with the remain-der of the prize. The Lyn Jeffers Sandwathers are: Sasha Lloyd and Char-lotte Amory of Form 3, Ra-chel Yearwood, Pip Knapton, Steven Clark, Herbert Pol-lard, Cory Mor-ton and Sandie Beaure-gard of form 4, and Stefan Murrell, Hulesia Thompson and Ozini Collins of Form 5.

Please go to www.Sandwatch.org to view the video and watch for future projects and events from these talented youth. By Miriam Knorr, co-chair of Conservation and Biodiversity Committee, NHCS

The wining Sandwatch videos can be viewed online at the International project’s website

NEVIS ARCHIVES GIVEN MAJOR DONATION BY PAUL DIAMOND

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GOT ANY OLD PHOTOS OR FILMS OF NEVIS?

The NHCS and especially the Nevis Archives have recently been honoured with the donation of hun-dreds of Gigabytes (more than a dozen DVD's full!) of copies of historical records and documents about Nevis from the days of it earliest settlement. The materials were collected as a personal hobby by Mr. Brian Littlewood of Stafford, England over a period of almost 15 years. Mr. Littlewood, (aged 73) and retired from Jaguar Motors of Coventry, UK said "My interest in Nevis history was sparked by original NHCS member Richard Lupinacci when we stayed with Maureen & he in 1982/3 for six months. I took early retirement in 1996 & about that time, quite by chance, I found a pamphlet called the Staple-ton Sugar Plantations in the Leeward Islands & have been seeking answers ever since. My interest broadened following another chance contact with archaeologists and historians, Christine Eikelmann & David Small - who introduced me to NHCS member and local historian Vince Hubbard. Infection spread & I now spend a great deal of time searching for something new and exciting about Nevis history. Mr. Littlewood's collection has been gathered, photographed, photocopied and even copied by hand from muse-ums, libraries, private collections and second hand book stores across the UK. The breadth of the collection is truly quite amazing and includes Nevis related materials from British Naval Ar-chives, parliamentary documents, court records, Wills, old newspapers, manifests, shipping records, and even personal letters and diaries, many of them hundreds of years old. Together they paint a unique picture of Nevis from the earliest attempts at European settlement, through the various wars, slavery, hurricanes, earthquakes, pirates, economic booms and busts and everything in between. Local historian and author Vincent Hubbard states, "Mr. Littlewood has supplied us with a vast amount of histori-cal data about Nevis which he has gleaned from libraries and archives throughout the British Isles. He has used his computer to "translate" the handwritten records into print, making them much easier to read, which is a diffi-cult and time consuming task, we are extremely grateful to him for this task and the enrichment of our archives. We cannot thank him enough.” Due to the enormous size of the donation, the NHCS archives will over the coming months be going through these all these records to catalogue and record them, so that historians and researchers will be able to efficiently access and reference The Littlewood Collection.

Photos of a row of cannons on the battlements of Fort Charles, in 1974. Photo taken by Charlotte Frieze Blum. Unfortunately, almost all of this part of the fortifications has eroded into the sea, and many of the cannon in Ft. Charles have been and continue to be removed from the fort. Three are now located near the Bath Hotel. Ft. Charles' cannon are the newest on Nevis, placed here in 1806 after the French had removed most of the forts' heavy guns for use at Brimstone Hill in 1782. They have unique markings and can easily be identi-fied. It is hoped that this action will be stopped by Government and those removed be returned to their proper place.

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NEVIS TO BEGIN SURVEY OF REEFS BY BARBARA WHITMAN

The 2009 NHCS House & Garden Tour this year comes with a new twist: Tea in the Country! The tour will be held Saturday, March 28 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. As an added attraction for the popular tour, the new own-ers of Butlers House (formerly called Butlers Mansion) have offered to host a tea for tour participants at their lovely, refurbished county home at Butlers. Originally a country house for Charlestown families, But-lers is the perfect stopping off point during the busy tour, one of the most popular activities in the NHCS yearly cal-endar. Once the home of Col. Thomas Butler, the large stone home is believed to date back to the 1700s. Owned by many families over the years, the current owners Diane and Tim Cornes of the UK have been working over the past two years to bring the house to its former splen-dour. There are six homes on the property this year, including a villa at Four Seasons Resort Estates, the Condos at Nelson’s Spring, SEASIDE at Cliffdwellers, Chez Wilson in Jessups, and Fig Tree House and Cottage near Mont-pelier, as well as Butler’s House. Tickets are now being sold at the museums, through committee members, and at Sugar Mill Real Estate at Cliffdwellers. Entry fee is $70 EC or $25, which includes the Tea in the Country. The homes will be open this year from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Brochures that include a map of Nevis and directions to the homes will be available at the museums, and at all of the homes and at the Sugar Mill Real Estate office at Cliffdwellers the day of the tour. For more information, call the NHCS at 469-5786. We had a good group as usual this year to work on the House Tour. They included the committee of Diane Hallstrom, Andrea Kaye, Lynn Hoen, Sherry Allerton, myself and Marcia Myers, who created the wonderful program with ads that also brought in $1300US extra for the event. Plus there were dozens of people who contributed food for the tea at Butlers and Diane and Tim Cornes, the But-ler's owners, who did all kinds of baking and cooking for the event. There were many docents at the houses, whom we would like to thank. And also the owners of the houses, includ-ing Paul and Shona Warnock at Fig Tree, Marti and Gene Cranford at Nelson Spring, Diane and Tim Cornes at Butlers, Kathy and Mike Underhill at SEASIDE at Cliffdwellers, Karen and Barry Wilson at Chez Wilson, and Maria Consolino from Four Seasons Resort Estates, who helped arrange the showing of Villa 1721 at Four Seasons. Thank you to everyone of you for making it so successful! Suzanne Gordon (Chairperson)

THE NEVIS HOME AND GARDEN TOUR BY SUZANNE GORDON

In November 2008, I met Sandy and Jim Hewlett when they came on one of my snorkel trips. Jim is a professor at Finger Lakes Community College in New York. He told me about his project in Montserrat where he and a group of his students conduct under-

water surveys to determine the impact of the volcano on marine life. I mentioned that I have been trying for sev-eral years to get funding and equipment for a survey of the marine life around Nevis. During that conversation, we began to explore the possibility of collaborating on similar initiatives that could be conducted in Nevis. With that goal in mind, Jim wrote a proposal and was awarded a $500,000 USD grant from the National Science Founda-tion (NSF). Part of this project involved the creation of a hands-on undergraduate research course called Global Ecosystems. (Continued on Page 11)

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THE ECONOMICS OF CARIBBEAN CLIMATE CHANGE BY PAUL DIAMOND

On March 6th, the NHCS was invited to attend a one day conference on St. Kitts on the topic of The Eco-nomics of Climate Change in The Caribbean. The event was held a the Ocean Terrace Inn, and was sponsored by The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), The Depart-ment for International Development (DFID) and the United Nations (UN). The all-day conference was chaired by Mr. Jan Voordouw, ECLAC consultant, and the ex-pert panel consisted of Mrs. Charmaine Gomes, Sustainable Development Officer (ECLAC), Ms. June Huges, Conservation Officer, Dept of Physical Plan-ning & Environment (St. Kitts Govt) and Mr. Randolph Ed-meade, Director of Physical Planning (St. Kitts Govt Rep). The audience of around 40 peo-ple consisted mostly of students from both St. Kitts and Nevis schools, including the Lynn Jeffers School (Nevis) with a small number of representatives from Tourism, the Development Bank and other inter-ested parties and NGO's such as the NHCS. The various speakers gave speeches about how global climate change is a scientific fact, that is al-ready negatively impacting basically all aspects of our economy and infrastructure, from tourism to fisheries, from agriculture to hurricane damage, including coastal erosion, dying coral reefs, loss of fish stocks, loss of top soil etc. The crux of the meeting was the morning press con-ference where members of the media and public were allowed to ask the panel questions. Mr. Edmeade, the St. Kitts' Govt Representative on the panel stressed how the Federation Govt has over the last decade or two signed a whole series of UN and international treaties designed to combat and mitigate the effects and local causes of climate change et al. Unfortunately, when asked for specific steps the gov-ernment or indeed his dept had taken in response to

these treaties, Mr. Edmeade was somewhat embar-rassed to admit...not a lot. For example, he was asked for specific details on sev-eral of the topics he said the SKN govt and his dept were actively pursuing, such as... a) enforcing existing building codes for construction of rain water cisterns in all new homes. b) enforcing emission controls on old and dilapidated

motor vehicles. c) where does the high, exist-ing environmental levy on new cars and vehicles go if not to environmental pro-grammes? d) details on the introduction of viable recycling pro-grammes within SKN. e) steps the govt is/has taken to introduce incentives for investment in renewable en-ergy sources, such as solar and wind power? f) Indeed what is the Govt official position on solar and wind power? g) what steps have been taken to inform and involve

the general public in any/all of these issues? Mr. Edmeade seemed rather embarrassed to admit, that basically all of these issues 'were currently under study by various committees', though he was some-what vague on who was on these committees, when they met in session, and when their recommendations would be made known or enforced. As a conference to address the issue of the Economic Impact of Climate Change Within the Caribbean, this was an extremely instructive meeting as it showed that, although St. Kitts and Nevis, and I am sure many if not all of our neighbouring islands are very well aware of the of the current crisis they are facing, and one that they know will likely only get much worse as time goes by. But apart from signing some apparently unenforceable treaties and declarations at international conferences, no actual concrete steps have been taken locally to address any of these vital issues. In this respect the conference was a great success.

The press conference was well attend by students and members of the public, though more questions than

answers were generated.

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NHCS WIRELESS HOTSPOT?

GEOTHERMAL PROJECT ON TRACK BY PAUL DIAMOND

On April 9th, at 11am the West Indies Power Company (WIP), Nevis's prospective provider of Geo-thermal power, staged a demonstration at its drilling site (Site 3) up in the Hamilton Estate. Around 50 members of the press and media as well as interested members of the general public were on had to see the uncapping of the drill head to witness the great roar of live steam that issued forth. Once directed into a turbine, this highly pressurized steam will provide 10's of megawatts of energy (Nevis use around 8 megawatt per day), and of course this is only one of the three WIP drill sites. Also on hand were some of the new WIP team mem-bers, including Environmental Consultant, Ms. Anna Carter, Chief Geologist Mr. Joseph LaFeur, and Engi-neer Karl Kendall, of the United States Export-Import Bank. They were particularly interested in meeting with the NHCS to discuss environmental issues and to make sure their operations aren't negatively impacting histori-cal sites. Mr. Kerry McDonald, General Manager of West Indies Power later explained that Site 1, up at Spring Hill, above Cades Bay, will have its big production shaft

drilled by June/July, and the first actual turbine installed around about January 2010. He also explained that negotiations are currently underway to bury a power

cable down to Cades Bay area, then out under sea across the Narrows to St. Kitts (roughly using the route of the Sea Bridge Ferry). He promises that very minimal damage will done to the sea bed, as they wont be using the traditional large floating dredge to bury the cable, but rather a much smaller robot submarine devel-oped by the oil indus-try. This unit digs a nar-

row trench in the sea bed, 2 or 3 metre deep and then lays and buries the cable behind it. In the current economic climate Nevis is faced with, and especially by the closure of the Four Seasons, the Geo-Thermal plan is one of the few bright spots on the hori-zon. Lets all hope that it is a feasible and practical pro-ject that offers benefits for all Nevisians. You can see the uncapping of the well head at Hamil-ton Estate on the NHCS's dedicated YouTube video channel.

The WIP Team pose in front of the Hamilton well head gush-ing stream behind them (in red)

As per the Message from the Director, on page two of this issue, the global economic slow down is having a serious im-pact on the NHCS and the kinds of services we can now offer. However, all is not doom and gloom, and as always we strive to be adaptable and flexible, and so we are now in the process of upgrading our secure in-house wireless network at Hamilton House, to be accessible to users outside the museum and in the general area of Cafe Des Arts for a small fee. People who wish to sit and have a coffee, while surfing the net on their laptops will be able to pay a small (as yet to be determined) fee, for an all day access password, which will be changed daily. So don't be surprised when you start seeing "NHCS Wireless Hotspots" signs appear around downtown. We are also considering installing for public use a small computer or laptop inside the Hamilton Museum itself, so that locals and visitors who don't have a laptop with them, can also check their email or the ferry schedule on-line etc. So if one of our generous members has an older model laptop that can access the internet wirelessly, please let us know.

Geo-Caching is relatively new in the Caribbean, but seems to be growing. It involves placing waterproof containers in hidden, publi-cally accessible areas with a pencil and paper. GPS coordinates are then given to get a "cacher" within 100 feet, then written clues are

provided. Nevis has 14 geo caches put out by Jim Johnson currently listed with some more being added at the end of March, including one diving (Placed with assistance from SCUBA Safaris), one snorkelling, and one under-ground. The original geo caches on Nevis were all named for various Caribbean Pirates and placed in handmade "Chests". Geo Cachers are environmentally sensitive and travel usually in groups. All the clues on Nevis promote our history or nature. From January through March 10th, we had over 90 cachers come to Nevis. It should generate between 300 and 500 persons per year for the next

several years. Jim hopes to place and maintain around 25 caches and would appreciate if they are not removed. For more information, you can either contact him (469-9080) or check out the website, www.geocaching.com.

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GEOCACHING STARTED ON NEVIS BY JIM JOHNSON

In its ever continuing efforts to keep up with rapidly changing technology, The NHCS has recently set up a dedicated 'NHCS Space' on the in-sanely popular social networking website 'Facebook'. If you are a member, or are considering joining the website (it is free) then simply do a Facebook search using the phrase 'The Nevis Historical & Conservation Soci-ety (NHCS)', and it will pop up on your screen. Then you click on the dialog box that asks you if you would like to join this group....and that is basically it.

NHCS STARTS FACEBOOK FORUM

Once a member of the NHCS Facebook forum you can post photos, links, ask questions, communicate

with other members, here and abroad, and be regularly updated on NHCS events and activities

etc. Our Facebook forum just started but has already proven to be quite popular with members, we hope that you will join the forum and help to make it a vi-able, informative and fun way to exchange Nevis and NHCS related information.

Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of

community and support for the environment.

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It is often said that history repeats itself. If so then Nevis should be prepared for earthquakes, as we know from reading in the archives, they were well known to occur in the not too distant past. How prepared are you?

It began on the sixth of April, about five of the Clock in the Afternoon. At what time we heard a rumbling Noise like that of distant Thunder, which seem'd to come fro the Bowels of the great Mountain, seated in the very Navil of the Island. We heard it for a while with great Amazement; for it lasted not long before we felt the dire Effects of those violent Vapors strugling and contending in the Womb of the Earth for passage forth. So strong was the Mo-tion, that within some few Moments after the Noise began, ensu'd a most amazing Earth-Quake, which shook the whole Island to that degree, that all the Houses in Charles Town that were built of Brick or Stone, dropt of a sud-den down from the Top to the Bottom in perfect Ruines. Those that were built of Wood were no less violently shaken, but stood however; which shew'd that the Rivetings of woodden Structures are far stronger, and not so easily disjoynted as the Co-agmentations of Cement and Mortar. Nevertheless, it was a dreadful thing to see Men, Women and Children flying up and down from place to place in Fear and Consternation... [the earth] which in many places also open'd, and from the yawning Clefts, vomited up a sort of hot, bituminous Water, whole Tuns full at a time, no less offensive to the Smell, than dreadful to the Sight: and such was the Force which thrust up that heavy Element, as to mount to a great height into the Air. The sea itself for a time forsook the Shoar for about three quarters of a Mile together, and left a great Number of Fish of a large Size to lie gaping upon the Sand, till it return'd again: which violent Motion of the Water happened diverse times, though not with the same Rapidness and Fury as at first. ... it is a usual thing in this Island for every House to have a large Cistern, nine or ten foot deep, and fifteen to twenty foot in Diameter...those Cisterns threw up the Water eight or ten foot high in the Air, as if it had been spouted out of so many monstrous Springs. The earth also in many places was thrown up in vast heaps; and great numbers of large Trees were torn up by the Roots, and buried in the Rents and Gapings of the Island, and never expected to be seen more. I wish we may have a true Sence of this terrible Judgement of God upon us. Nor has this Island only felt the severe Strokes of Celestial Indignation...St. Christophers has had a large Share of the same Calamity...overturning their Sugar-Mills, and demolishing the Jesuits Colledge, together with other Piles of Brick and Stone, to the great Amazement of those who beheld it...Antego and Montserrat have likewise been very greatly shaken, though not in so severe a manner; and that Barbados also has had some trembling Fits, but not so considerable...this Island has had several short Agonies since... After we had somewhat recover'd ourselves, I began to consider what might be the Cause of this dreadful Acci-dent: and by my little Reading, I find that the great Philosophers cannot agree concerning the true Cause of Earth-Quakes. For some will have Wind, some Water to be the Cause of them, when put up within the Bowels of the Earth, like strong Liquor fermenting in a Bottle, not be able to go forth, otherwise than breaking the Glass.

THE NEVIS EARTHQUAKE OF APRIL 1690 FROM THE NEVIS ARCHIVES

Originally Published 1764 from an eyewitness account from Nevis dated, April to 16th June 1690: About the same time, the inhabitants of Nevis were alarmed with a most dreadful noise, which seemed to proceed from the mountain which forms the middle of their island and soon after, it was followed by a violent shock of an earthquake, which threw down all the brick and stone houses in Charles-Town in an instant, but those of timber stood the shock better. Large apertures broke out in several parts of the streets, and emitted hot stinking water. The sea retreated for above a quarter of a mile, and left fishes gasping on its shore, but soon returned; and the tremblings of the earth recommenced, though not in so violent a -degree as before. Large plots of earth, with trees upon them, were turned topsy-turvy, and the trees seen no more; and the shocks of the earthquake even emptied the cisterns, that in this island every private house keeps as reservoirs for sweet water. This earthquake was felt by ships in all the neighbouring seas, attended with the most dreadful appearances; so that the consequences, for some time, retarded the expedition against St. Christopher`s, which sailed on the 19th of June, under the convoy of commodore Wright, who commanded the English squadron, Having already given an account of this expedition in the history of St. Christopher`s, we shall not repeat it here, but return to that of Nevis.

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BIODIVERSITY & ORAL HISTORY LABS GRAND OPENING BY PAUL DIAMOND

The long wait for local students is finally over! On April 22nd, which is appropriately enough International Earth Day, the NHCS will be holding The Grand Opening of both its flag ship programmes, the Nevis Biodiversity Resource Centre and the Nevis Oral History and Verbal Patrimony Lab. The ceremony will be held at the Museum of Ne-vis History at Belle Vue at 1pm, April 22nd. Representatives of the Nevis Island Administration, including Premier Parry and his senior ministers have been invited as well as representatives from the several agencies whose generosity made both these labs possible, in-cluding UNESCO (who funded the Oral History project) and the Canadian High Commission (Barbados), the British High Commission (Barbados) and The Strabon Project (French Embassy, St. Lucia) who each funded a portion of the Biodiversity Project. After more than a year of numerous committee meetings, lobbying many

agencies for funding, sourcing high-tech materials from all over the US, arranging shipping, recruiting students, hold training workshops and of course actually building the two new labs...they are finally going to be open for local use! Specifically, providing scientific and technical skills to local students and other stake holders in a wide variety of high demand disciplines, such as video production and editing, GPS/GIS surveying and mapping, website design and maintenance, desktop publishing, as well as still photography, botany, marine biology and a host of other skills that will only increase as demand requires (and funding permits). Continued on page 15

Though not quite finished, students are already using the NHCS Biodiversity

Resource Centre.

(continued from page 8) Through this course, students gain field experience in a variety of re-search methods. That field experience will be doing an underwater survey of the marine envi-ronment in Nevis. In March, Jim, myself, Paul Diamond (NHCS), and Ellis Chadderton (Scuba Safaris) met with Permanent Secre-tary of Agriculture Kelvin Daly and Lemmuel Pemberton, Director of Fisheries to discuss the plan. Jim and I plan to use some of the NSF grant funds to begin a reef monitoring / research program (a modified Reef Check Survey Method) which will be part of the NHCS Biodiversity Project. Most of the equipment, in-cluding microscopes and field equipment that will be purchased for the project, will remain on Nevis. Manpower will be provided by myself, Jim and his students. We would like to get local students to attend training classes and help with the project. We feel fortunate to have grant funds available to establish and support this program. Supply and equipment funds will help build both the educational and research infrastructure needed to establish and maintain the pro-gram in Nevis. In addition, with support from Reef Check, Jim and I will be able to supply all of the training neces-sary to individuals involved in working on the projects. Any data collected will be freely available to any organiza-tion. This June, Jim will travel back to Nevis with about 8 students and one other faculty member and the project will commence. We have designed a long-term (at least 3 year) study protocol that supports this project, is deeply educational, addresses specific research questions, and provides data that will be valuable to all involved.

NEVIS TO BEGIN SURVEY OF REEFS BY BARBARA WHITMAN