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August 2019 reservations@asawright.org Tel: (868) 667-4655

By Johanne Ryan

At a spot overlooking our cottages, stands Asa Wright’s greenhouse. Completed in June of this year, the greenhouse was built by AWNC’s very own handymen. The house supplies our kitchen with vegetables and seasoning. So far, it has provided us with approximately 80 pounds of tomatoes. Among some of the other plants that � ourish in the area, are peppers, ochro, lettuce, patchoi and � owering plants like vervine. The plants are

maintained by Landscape Manager, Mukesh Ramdass, and Landscape Assistant, Richard Alibocas. They nurture and replant seedlings. Asa Wright would like to thank the US Friend of Asa Wright whose contribution made the construction of the greenhouse possible. On your next visit to Asa Wright, try popping by the greenhouse and Mukesh would be happy to show you around.

Greenhouse in full swing

Landscape Manager, Mukesh Ramdass, tends to the plants Photo by Johanne Ryan

AU G U S T • PAGE 2 August 2019

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Mukesh Ramdass and his assistant, Richard Alibocas in front of some ochro plants Photos by Johanne Ryan

Fresh tomatoes

Mukesh shows some of the peppers

AU G U S T • PAGE 3 August 2019

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The Birds Caribbean Conference took place from the 25th – 29th July in Le Gosier, Guadeloupe at the Karibea Beach Hotel. The conference was the 22nd biennial meeting with its theme being “Keeping Caribbean Birds Aloft”. The � ve-day conference was broken down into four days of workshops, symposiums and lecturers as well as a full-day, mid-conference excursion.

Jessie Pitt, one of the Centre’s guides, represented the Nature Centre and, on the 4th day, gave a presentation entitled “The Current Status of the Trinidad Piping Guan: Conservation E� orts Made and Impact to Local Communities through Tourism.” The goal of this talk was to shed some light on Trinidad and Tobago’s endemic, yet critically endangered, Piping Guan as well as arouse further support from the international community, to assist the work of conservation already being done here at the Lodge.

When asked about the highlight of the trip, Jessie said, “Undoubtedly it had to be the people. There was an aura of collectivism throughout the � ve-day conference and I felt like a member of a long lost family.” He also said, “The conference’s open and relaxed setting gave me

Birds Caribbean in Guadeloupe

the opportunity to network and gain an overwhelming amount of knowledge from dozens of other naturalists, conservationists and students throughout Caribbean. I hope to share the information, experiences and lessons learnt to increase environmental capacity and sustainability at the Lodge.” Thank you to AWNC for making this trip possible.

Jessie and with some of his new-found Birds Caribbean family

Jesse Pitt presents on the Trinidad Piping Guan

AU G U S T • PAGE 4 August 2019

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By Johanne Ryan

AWNC kept to the theme of going green when it participated in the Beyond Green Expo hosted by Sagicor General and the Caribbean Network for Integrated Rural Development and their International Coastal Clean Up Initiative. The event was held in our own community of Arima, the home of the Santa Rosa First Peoples community, on the 9th August; the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Santa Rosa First Peoples’ Chief Ricardo Bharath Herdandez, addressed the crowd and a group of young people from the Santa Rosa First Peoples Community treated us with a traditional performance. The day brought together environmental organisations in T&T and engaged the government, private sector, NGO’s and members of the public. Patrons learnt about the environment and eco-friendly practices like recycling, water conservation, our wildlife and waste management. There was even a mini session on how to make your own compost. AWNC not only promoted the Centre but the wildlife that can be found here and encouraged persons to take care of our environment. The day was both educational and fun and the serenade by the Diamond Vale Youth Steel Ensemble made it all the more enjoyable.

Members of the Diamond Vale Youth Steel Ensemble play a tune

Photo courtesy Sagicor General Insurance

Beyond Green Expo

Front Desk Operator, Reisa Hinds (left), and Conservation O� cer, Johanne Ryan at AWNC’s booth

In our July Bellbird we featured an article by intern, James

Fitzmeyer Dougherty. James is a student of Haverford

College, Pennsylvannia. Look out for more information

on Haverford’s internship at AWNC in an upcoming issue

of Bellbird.

AU G U S T • PAGE 5 August 2019

YOUNG ENVIRONMENTALISTOF THE MONTHIf you think your child, aged 5-16, has done something helpful to preserve the environment, please feel free to share it with us. Either write a short story or send a few pictures to asawrightconsedu@gmail.com. He/she may be selected as our Young Environmentalist of the Month. Once your child is featured in our monthly newsletter, he/she and two adults will be given a complimentary day visit to Asa Wright Nature Centre, which includes viewing birds/animals on the verandah, a nature tour and use of the clear water pool.

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