STENAPA (an acronym for St. Eustatius National Parks) is the

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

s organisation of

Sint Eustatius Sint Eustatius, known locally as Statia, is an island in the Caribbean. It is a Caribbean Netherlands, special municipality (officially "Public body (Netherlands), public body") of the Netherlands. The island is in the northern Leeward Islands ...

, a small Dutch island in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. The island is situated within the inner arc of the Leeward Island chain of the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the West Indies in Caribbean, Caribbean region of the Americas. They are distinguished from the larger islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc w ...

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. Sint Eustatius is south of the island of Saba and north of the island of

Saint Kitts Saint Kitts, officially Saint Christopher, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis constitute one ...

. The island of St. Eustatius is now part of the country of the Netherlands, as a '' bijzondere gemeente'' or "special municipality". STENAPA is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

, non-governmental foundation (in Dutch a ''stichting'') which was founded in 1988, and registered in 1995. The function of this foundation is environmental protection. STENAPA currently manages the National Marine Park, the Quill / Boven National Park, and the Botanical Garden. STENAPA is one of the members of the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance. The headquarters, the National Parks Office and Visitor Centre, is situated next to the harbour in Lower Town, which is the waterfront part of the capital Oranjestad, most of which is higher up, on top of a cliff. The more southerly part of Lower Town faces onto Gallows Bay, on the western or

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

coast of the island.

The National Parks

This non-profit foundation is responsible for the management of three parks. Two parks are on the land surface of the island; the remaining park is marine and surrounds the island. The combined area of the parks is 33 square km. * The St. Eustatius National Marine Park surrounds the island from the high-water mark down to 30 meters depth, and also encompasses two Marine Park Reserves. * The Quill / Boven National Park comprises two different areas or subsectors. One is the dormant

stratovolcano A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with ...

known as the Quill, which is in the southern part of the island. The other area is a group of five hills in the northern part of the island: Bergje, Boven (the highest of the five), Venus, Gilboa Hill and Signal Hill. These five hills are the remnants of another stratovolcano. * The Miriam C. Schmidt

Botanical Garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

was started in 1998. The main emphasis is on species that are or were native to the island and the surrounding islands. There is also an experimental area where researchers are studying methods of controlling the problematic invasive species '' Antigonon leptopus'', the corallita vine.

Staff

STENAPA is governed by a board. The board members do not receive any wages. The foundation employs eight staff members who administer the foundation and manage the parks. The staff members work with interns and volunteers from the island or abroad.

References

;Notes {{refimprove, date=September 2010 ;Bibliography * Davis J.E. (2003). "Population Assessment of Queen Conch, Strombus gigas, in the St. Eustatius Marine Park, Netherlands Antilles". St. Eustatius Marine Park.

External links

Official website

National park administrators Nature conservation organizations based in North America 1988 establishments in the Netherlands Antilles Organisations based in Sint Eustatius Organizations established in 1988