MERC site in Salt River Bay

Yesterday's post offered a few thoughts about the larger context of the MERC site, but what I really wanted to do when I visited was see the site and its soil and its plants.  Down by the shore, where coastal erosion works its magic, you can see what some of the soils likes like.  Just a random mix of parent materials, perhaps stability would be a concern.

Parts of the coastline are fairly rough and hardened, creating a coastal environment with tidal pools and rock hopping.  And trash.


Inside the site are some old dirt roads,  This one gives a sense of how enclosed you quickly become as the plants are going about 10 or 15 feet high in some of the lower areas.  The vegetation looks impenetrable, and it seems like it too.  There is a reason people carry machetes in places like this.

The new entry to the site will be from the South.  Here, at the base of the central peninsula of the site you can see the entry that has been laid down.  At this point, it is still pretty high on the hill, and the road drops down, creating an instant effect of getting away from the ordinary world of St Croix.

From the bottom, looking up at the large hill on the site, you can see both the taller scrub down low and the grassy areas as you climb the hill.  This was pretty common around the site.

The flatter coastal areas on the site, transitioned pretty quickly from sea grape to other scrub.  Simlarly, the scrub pushed pretty close to the lagoon and salt pond before finally giving way to a thin but dense strip of mangroves.