Bahia Beach Resort & Golf Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico was selected to receive the Heritage and Sustainable Community of the Year Award for 2008.  This was announced by Miles M. Smart, Ph.D., president of Audubon Environmental.  This corporation is a sustainability consulting firm that works with developers, government agencies and landowners to protect and sustain wildlife and natural resources, along with land and water.

The resort developers were recognized by the award to outstanding commitment and dedication to sustainable development, and for putting into motion practices that benefit and protect the environment.  The resort has committed to preserving approximately 65% of the land as green area, and has transplanted over 4,000 trees and coconut palms.  Bahia Beach Resort has also planted over 62,000 native or naturalized plants and trees.

Audubon Environmental, together with Bahia Beach Resort development team, worked to achieve the highest possible level of sustainability, and to preserve the culture and history of the area.  The firm met these goals by performing an on-site assessment of restoration, enhancement and protection opportunities.  They put strategies into place to promote those opportunities, and educate the people who live, work and enjoy recreation on-site.

According to Smart, the Bahia Beach Resort project was a huge success, and the firm was very pleased to see it get recognized for the work and efforts involved.  He stated “This project is an example of how luxury can be coupled with environmental sustainability to create something great.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 12:57 pm and is filed under Resort Operator News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.