Wetland Clean-up, Wheeland Pond, Blue Hills, Saturday 4th February

As part of the February World Wetlands Day celebrations, many of the RATs team, and even some of their parents, got up early on Saturday morning to assist the DECR (Department for Environmental and Coastal Resources), and DDME (the Department for Disaster Management and Emergencies) with cleaning up the Wheeland Pond area in Blue Hills.

Being granted permission by DECR to plant and begin their own mangrove monitoring project, and having learnt about the crucial part these natural areas play in keeping our islands protected, as well as naturally beautiful, gave this team of young environmentalists enough motivation to give up their Saturday morning to lend a hand to this worthy activity.

Sadly, tyres, buckets, plastic bottles, plastic bags and glass bottles were all amongst the debris collected around the pond area. The DDME congratulated everyone involved on the great efforts made to clean up the area, however, they did lament the fact that so much trash had been gathered in the few hours we had all been helping.

I do feel we can find hope in the number of young people from TCIPS, Clement Howell and BWIC who turned out and showed that our future generations really do care about their environment. I feel hopeful that the younger generations are going to be better prepared to take care of our local environment and keep TCI ‘Beautiful by Nature’. Well done RATs – keep up the great work!

Miss Rankin.