In the early 1970s there were more than 200 freshwater ponds on St. Croix. St. John and St. Thomas also had their fair share of freshwater ponds back in the day. Today, if you find five freshwater ponds on St. Croix and three each on St. John and St. Thomas, we are lucky. For this reason and others, we are much poorer in wildlife due to changes in the environment. Those changes are mainly due to human destruction of the fragile ecosystem of these islands. (Images courtesy Department of Conservation and Cultural Affairs circa 1973)
