Puerto Rico expands coastal reserve

Beach at San Miguel Natural Reserve. Photo credit NOAA.

From an article by María Miranda Sierra posted on Caribbean Net News:

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico: On the 15th anniversary of a million-gallon oil spill that damaged the coastline of Puerto Rico, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and various other organizations are celebrating the purchase of 152 acres to expand a coastal reserve near one of the areas hardest areas hit by the spill on the north eastern part of the island.

NOAA, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Trust for Public Land announced Wednesday that 152 acres east of San Juan have been added to the San Miguel Natural Reserve to help compensate the public for lost recreational beach use and injured natural resources for an extended period after the Berman Oil Spill on Jan. 7, 1994.

The purchase of this land expands the San Miguel Natural Reserve to 422 acres, an area the size of 317 football fields, and contributes to a multi-year effort to create the Northeast Ecological Corridor, one of the Caribbean’s last great unprotected areas.