An anonymous benefactor with a love of birds has made it possible for the St. Croix Environmental Association to purchase 60 acres of land at Southgate on the island’s east end.
The $822,697 donation means a prime nesting habitat for birds and endangered sea turtles long on the market for commercial development will be protected for perpetuity.
Newly named the Southgate Pond Nature Preserve, the property encompasses the eastern third of the salt pond east to Chenay Bay Beach Resort and the land between Green Cay Beach and East End Road.
Stuart Ketcham, chair of SEA’s board of directors, said the donation came from an individual who wished to remain anonymous. Apparently, though, the donor is a part-time resident of St. Croix who is also an avid bird watcher.
The story goes that on a recent birding excursion at the Southgate salt pond, the soon-to-be benefactor’s vehicle became stuck in the mud. While awaiting a tow truck at Cheeseburgers in Paradise, the person noted the nearby sign advertising the 60 acres for sale.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
"We didn’t have the money on our own to purchase the 60 acres," Ketcham said, adding that a management plan for the site will be developed jointly with the University of the Virgin Islands, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service. "We can guarantee one thing," he said. "We aren’t going to build a 500-room hotel."
Along with the key sea turtle nesting beach, the dominant feature of the property is the salt pond, which is owned by the V.I. government. According to Olasee Davis, a SEA board member and a natural resource specialist at UVI, Southgate pond is one of the most important ponds in the Virgin Islands for local and migrating birds. Some 96 species have been recorded at the site, including 26 that are considered threatened or endangered in the Virgin Islands.
Although the salt pond is publicly owned, and therefore protected, Davis said, acquiring the surrounding land was vital for the pond to continue to be a stopover point for birds migrating between North and South America and those nesting locally.
"It doesn’t make sense trying to protect the pond without a buffer zone," he said.
The salt pond has shrunk to a third of its size half a century ago, Davis said. But while dredging by developers in the 1950s and the construction of Green Cay Marina to the west in the 1960s have changed the ecology of the pond, what remains is an important ecosystem, he added.
Davis also said the Southgate pond area has been designated by the Coastal Zone Management program as one of 18 Areas of Particular Concern in the territory.
Because the land will now be dedicated to preservation purposes, it is exempt from property and transfer taxes, according to Andrew Simpson, the attorney who handled the deal for SEA. He said a conservation easement is in place that ensures the land is held in perpetuity for preservation purposes.
