EPA Awards Over $65,000 to U.S. Virgin Islands Government to Expand Understanding of Wetlands

February 24, 2022

NEW YORK – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it had awarded a grant for over $65,000 to the Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands to update the United States Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetland Inventory maps for the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

“Wetlands in the U.S. Virgin Islands are critical to supporting healthy aquatic ecosystems as well as providing flood and erosion control, stabilizing shorelines, and supplying food and habitat for fish and wildlife,” said EPA Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. “These grants will help improve scientific understanding of wetlands in the U.S. Virgin Islands.” 

With the grant, the U.S. Virgin Islands Government will update the National Wetland Inventory (NWI) for wetlands in the U.S. Virgin Islands. As part of the update, remote imagery will be used to delineate the boundaries of wetlands in the USVI and classify what type of wetland they are. In the U.S. Virgin Islands there are tidal and scrub-shrub wetlands, as well as other types of wetlands. The remote imaging will then be confirmed with field visits. This will improve the knowledge of wetland distribution for regulators and the general public which will, in turn, improve the ability to monitor and assess wetlands in the USVI. 

EPA’s Wetland Program Development Grants provide an opportunity to promote and accelerate research and improve the ability to investigate wetlands. The program also improves capacity to train wetlands staff, and conduct surveys and studies related to water pollution and it’s impacts on wetlands.

For more information on these grants, visit: https://www.epa.gov/wetlands/federal-funding-wetlands

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