Surfrider Foundation, MAKING WAVES, April 2004

MAKING WAVES, April 2004 issue: Table of Contents

"Meanwhile, much of the Puerto Rican landscape is disappearing under concrete as constructions spreads."

—National Geographic, March 2003

In the fall of 2000, several phone calls came into the Surfrider Foundation's national office in the course of a week requesting that we join the fight to stave off three "mega-resorts" in Rincón, Puerto Rico. Those calls were from Riki DeSoto, founder of the Puerto Rico Chapter in Puerto Rico; Brian Unger from Surfer's Environmental Alliance; and Ken Lindeman of Environmental Defense. Riki DeSoto photo

It turned out that Azur Moulaert, a Costa Rican grassroots organizer for Environmental Defense, was heading to Puerto Rico in early 2001 to meet with environmentalists all across Puerto Rico's northern coast. I decided to join Azur and called Terry Gibson, Surfer Magazine's East Coast Editor, and asked him to come along. We started in Culebra, an island off the east coast of Puerto Rico, and headed west to Rincón, Puerto Rico. So began what has become one of the most successful campaigns in the history of the Surfrider Foundation.

That winter, I flew into San Juan and met up with Riki, Terry and Azur, where we began a week-long blitz of meetings. It was a trip that left us wide-eyed with the extent of challenges, but motivated to work as a team to protect the beautiful resources and waves of this oft-maligned island. Here's a highlight reel of that trip:

We met with fishermen and environmentalists on Culebra, a small island that lies east of Puerto Rico and is part of the Common-wealth. There we learned about the Luis Peña Canal Marine Reserve and the exponential increase of bulldozers on the island signaling a boom in development (http://www.surfrider.org/culebra).

Back on the mainland, we met with Luis Jore Herrera-Rivera and learned about the looming threats to a stretch of pristine coast know as the Northeastern Ecological Corridor (NEC). The NEC boasts rich natural resources and a spectacular surf spot known as La Selva. This area, once a proposed Nature Reserve, is threatened by two enormous development proposals that includes thousands of units and multiple golf courses that will dramatically alter the landscape. More on the NEC can be found at: http://www.surfrider.org/nec.

Further east in Arecibo, we heard the amazing story of Angel "El Doctor" Rodriguez, local surfing legend, and Miguel Sarriera, a pro bono environmental attorney, who were fighting an illegal Corps of Engineers dredge-and fill-project at a beach and surf spot called La Marginal. El Doctor single-handedly stopped the Corps of Engineers through a non-violent civil protest (El Doctor and fellow activists stood in the pipe for days) that was dumping dredge mud on "his reef." Sarriera, who watched the events unfold on television, rushed down to defend El Doctor and thus partnership, friendship and environmental force were established. With assistance from Environmental Defense, they just recently they won a significant legal victory against the Corps of Engineers for violating the Clean Water Act and Corps' own regulations. (See http://www.surfrider.org/lamarginal for an update.)

Also in Arecibo, we learned that the EPA continues to issue 301(h) waivers in Puerto Rico, despite terrible sewage treatment operations that continue to threaten marine ecosystems, including coral reefs and endangered species, and human health.

Toward the end of our visit, we arrived in Rincón to learn about the development threatening the healthy reefs and tremendous surf at Tres Palmas. A group of concerned citizens, local environmental groups and national environmental groups (Surfrider, Environmental Defense, Surfers' Environmental Alliance) agreed to form a coalition called "La Coalicion pro Calidad de Vida de Rincón"(The Coalition for Quality of Life in Rincón) to fight these poorly planned developments.

Operating from a distance, in Spanish, and in a different culture proved challenging. We made slow but steady progress for the first nine months, collecting facts and learning more about the development plans and Commonwealth regulations.

Things changed dramatically for the better in the fall of 2001 when Leon Richter, a Surfrider Foundation Board of Directors member at the time, decided to spend the winter in Rincón. On my suggestion, Leon headed to Rincón to continue his surf odyssey and perhaps chip in on our efforts. Little did any of us know that this was the start of something great.

Leon's on-the-ground presence was immediately felt when he witnessed what appeared to be some illegal grading right on the beach near Maria's®®a local surf spot. Upon asking the bulldozer operator if he had a permit for the deforesting of this coastal area, he was chased away by the machete-wielding operator. The site has subsequently become a focus of the chapter's reforestation efforts.

Recognizing that the considerable challenges in Rincón required a stronger local presence, Leon went about organizing a local Surfrider chapter. He began holding regular monthly meetings and held a beach clean-up at a local surf contest. The response was overwhelming. Despite the lack of a local newspaper in the community, the chapter meetings were extremely well attended (sometimes exceeding sixty people) and have since become an important place for locals to get information about relevant environmental information. The beach clean-ups also had a dramatic effect. Litter is a major problem in Puerto Rico and the beaches are no exception®®trash cans at the beach are the exception, not the rule. The municipality enthusiastically joined in, and as a result of the clean-up, efforts, the municipality has installed trash cans at most beaches in Rincón.

With the local activism increasing daily, and two of the three proposed mega-resorts rendered dormant, we focused on the third, Villa Ikaria, that was progressing through permitting stages (see http://www.surfrider.org/rincon/threats.htm). With the help of Miguel Sarriera, we began writing letters to La Junta de Planificación (the PR planning board) challenging the legality of the developments. We successfully ensured that La Junta denied the necessary permits for the Villa Ikaria, twice. Simultaneously, we recognized that without a long-term strategy, we would continue the Sisyphusian task of continually fighting inappropriate development. Using the Chapter Resource Book as a guide, we developed a long-term campaign to protect the coral reefs, the surfing areas, the adjacent coastal lands and the local watersheds. This ambitious plan called for the creation of a marine protected area around the reefs and surfing areas, a coastal natural reserve and a special planning area around the watersheds. Shortly thereafter the campaign was dubbed "Salva Tres Palmas."

The reefs and surfing areas off Rincón are spectacular, and the coastline is largely undeveloped adjacent to the healthiest reefs off of Tres Palmas and Steps Beach. According to Andy Bruckner, NOAA coral reef researcher, these reefs are some of the healthiest elkhorn coral in the Caribbean. The area is also home to two threatened turtle species and a popular humpback whale breeding area. According to an economic report by Dr. Linwood Pendleton, a UCLA natural resource economist, the combination of these natural and recreational resources provide the "economic engine" for the local tourist economy. Visit the campaign website to learn more about the natural resources and to see the economic study: http://www.surfrider.org/rincon.

photo of cooperation

To both educate the local citizens and demonstrate public support, Leon and chapter activist Annette Blasini began a petition drive. By using classic Surfrider Foundation tactics, they attended surf contests, art festivals, and public meetings, collecting over 7,000 signatures in a town of 14,000 residents! Most of the signatures were collected at Steps Beach and during one-on-one discussions with locals. For a year, the chapter continued to gain momentum and improve its dialogue with Commonwealth agencies and the local citizens. This began an approach that combined local activism and steady communication with Commonwealth agencies®®mixing a "bottom up" approach with "top down" communication.

photo of clean-up

Thanks to the work of Ken and Azur of Environmental Defense, in November of 2002, Carlos Vizcarrondo Irizarry, the speaker of Puerto Rico's House of Representatives, took interest in the campaign and agreed to support legislation to designate a marine protected area. Through a series of Vista Publicas (public hearings), the reserve boundaries were debated by Commonwealth resource agencies, the municipal government, Sea Grant Puerto Rico, scientists, local environmentalists, and ornamental fishers and several local fishing collectives. A large number of reserve boundaries were considered.

With the guidance of Dr. Reni Garcia, a final reserve design was agreed upon on March 1, 2003. To see a map of the reserve visit http://www.surfrider.org/rincon/.

The legislation made its way through the Natural Resources Committee with the support of committee member Ramon Ruiz Nieves, and was eventually passed in the Puerto Rican Senate in late 2003.

With support from both legislative bodies, the legislation was sent to Governor Sila M. Calderón, where it was signed into law on January 14, 2004. This officially designated the Reserva Marina Tres Palmas. The designation of the marine reserve is significant for many reasons. The marine-reserve concept originated locally and was driven from the bottom up with significant local and Commonwealth support. Also, the Reserva Marina Tres Palmas is the first marine reserve to be designated on the mainland of Puerto Rico. This reserve is perhaps the first marine reserve in the world that includes surfing as an important component and a compatible use with the conservation goals of the reserve. Additionally, the Reserva Marina Tres Palmas represents a significant step toward proactive protection for the coast along Tres Palmas.

With the marine reserve designated and discussion of the development of the management plan underway, the campaign has begun to focus on the coastline and watershed adjacent to Tres Palmas. Dr. Brucker identified sedimentation from development in the local watershed as the primary threat to the health of the reefs. Continued development also threatens public access to the beach. Fortunately, with the municipality of Rincón just about to engage in the development of a local land- use plan, we believe we have an excellent opportunity to work with the community to create a local land-use plan that will balance environmental protection and responsible development in such as way that all people in the community are considered. With support from the Ford Foundation, we are developing a plan to support the local land-use planning process so that innovative land-use planning concepts can be applied with the hope of making Rincón's local plan a model for Puerto Rico.

After three years in the making, the local efforts in Rincón are being met with incredible success, and the opportunity to continue to advance proactive solutions gains more momentum each day. Clearly, Puerto Rico is struggling to avoid being paved in concrete, and this series of locally-driven efforts in the NEC, the Luis Pena Marine Reserve in Culebra, protecting the beach in La Marginal, and the Reserva Marina Tres Palmas in Rincón demonstrates that local activism can really make a positive difference.