VI RC&D partnered with USDA-NRCS and the V.I. Department of Agriculture to design, construct and implement emergency watershed protection (EWP) measures at a severely eroded drainage area located down stream of the Bethlehem Pond dam auxiliary spillway on St. Croix. USDA-NRCS provided $298,825 in EWP Program funding, supplemented by a $38,000 Nonpoint Source Pollution Management Program grant from DPNR. Funding was used to install best management practices (BMPs), including gabion baskets, erosion control mats and vegetation, to minimize soil erosion and reduce sediment and other pollutant discharges into the Caribbean Sea.

The project was damaged during the heavy rain event in November 2003, however. USDA-NRCS began repairs in August 2004, and work was completed in November 2004.