Environnement

Grand Case, St. Martin – March 2 — Although months of work remain before the upcoming book about the Wildlife of Statia is completed, wildlife lovers can enjoy some of the fruits of this project today. Les Fruits de Mer has launched an online image gallery and a curated set of wildlife images designed to be used as desktop wallpapers and screen savers. Both are free to access and can be found at the project’s website: statiawildlife.com.

The desktop wallpaper and screen saver image collection is available for free download in the Extras section of the site (http://www.statiawildlife.com/extras/). The 24 images in the collection include a wide variety of wildlife plus a handful of images featuring Statia’s unique landscapes. The images are available in three different sizes, optimized for different computer screens.

“We spend a lot of time on our computers—perhaps too much time,” explains co-author Mark Yokoyama. “Why not turn them into a window on local wildlife? I would love to see these images used as screen savers in homes, offices and schools.”

The image collection and a more extensive online gallery, hosted at the Statia Wildlife account on flickr.com (https://www.flickr.com/photos/130197823@N02/) are seen as opportunities to make this valuable information as publicly accessible as possible, and to expand the impact of the book project itself. All of the images are free to share and use for any non-commercial purposes.

“We’re writing a book, but there are many other ways to share the results of this research,” says Hannah Madden, co-author and Terrestrial Areas Manager for St. Eustatius National Parks (STENAPA). “It is exciting for us to explore new ideas and test the boundaries of what a book project can be. It’s also wonderful to share what we are learning as we go.”

The team is also posting regular updates about the project on statiawildlife.com and looks forward to releasing more free materials during the course of the project. Mark Yokoyama also authors a regular column—Wild Statia—in the Weekender section of St. Maarten’s Daily Herald about Statia’s wildlife and the book project.

The book project is managed by the non-profit association Les Fruits de Mer, with funding from NuStar Terminals, N.V. and support from the St. Eustatius Tourism Development Foundation, STENAPA and the Caribbean Netherlands Science Institute (CNSI). To learn more about the project and follow its progress, visit www.statiawildlife.com.

About Les Fruits de Mer

Les Fruits de Mer is a non-profit association based in St. Martin whose core mission is to raise awareness about nature, culture, and sport. The organization carries out this mission through publications, an education program, and special public outreach events that entertain, inspire, and inform. The Association is currently accepting new member applications on its website, http://www.lesfruitsdemer.com.