Introduction From The Virgin Islands – Larissa Sweeney

02 Jun Introduction From The Virgin Islands – Larissa Sweeney

Hey everyone! My name is Larissa Sweeney, and I am proud to work from my home in St.Croix, US Virgin Islands. For most of my youth, I got to experience the parks through field trips that immersed me in the history of my island. Without a doubt, I was just patiently waiting to get to any of the interactive activities afterward. Nonetheless, this started my love of being outdoors, especially visiting Buck Island.

On our 28-mile-long island, we are blessed to have 3 National Parks, and I will be working from two of them!  Buck Island Reef and National Monument (BUIS) and Christiansted National Historic Site (CHRI). BUIS sits one-mile northeast of the main island and is the nesting site for three endangered species of sea turtles. In 1998 the Buck Island Sea Turtle Research Program (BISTRP) was formed to monitor the sea turtle nesting ecology, implement saturation tagging and monitor sea turtle populations. Saturation tagging ensures that every sea turtle that embarks on the beach is recognizable for further seasons, therefore, tagged on a flipper. Measures have been implemented to reduce predation effects on the nest, which has been one of my field tasks since the start of this season. Resetting and maintaining rat traps and refreshing location markers on the beach are all important tasks to make the nocturnal season as smooth as possible.