Biking is a popular recreational activity on Cumberland Island/NPS Photo/S. Carroll.
The National Park Service is holding public listening sessions as an initial step in the development of a visitor use management plan for Cumberland Island National Seashore. The purpose of the plan is to provide appropriate opportunities for visitors to use, experience, and enjoy Cumberland Island National Seashore while ensuring the protection of natural, cultural, and scenic resources and values. The plan will identify strategies to enhance visitor enjoyment and protect resources, while determining the appropriate kinds and amounts of visitor use for the park.
Cumberland Island is the largest barrier island off the coast of Georgia, encompassing more than 36,000 acres of maritime forests, salt marsh, and beaches. The island is also home to more than 9,800 acres of congressionally designated wilderness. The island’s natural and cultural resources provide a rich and diverse habitat for wildlife and offer a glimpse into the long history of coastal Georgia. The seashore is accessible by pedestrian-only passenger ferry from the historic community of St. Marys.
The park’s rich natural and cultural resources and uncrowded setting provides park visitors opportunities for solitude and exploration. The island’s beaches, flora, fauna, trails, and surrounding waters, as well as its cultural sites, present opportunities for a broad array of interests and recreational pursuits, while the mainland visitor center and mainland museum offer information for planning a trip to the park and to learn about the island’s meaningful history.
The park is encouraging online submissions of comments, suggestions, and concerns at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/CUIS. Comments can be submitted at this link ( which is the preferred method), or on comment cards available at the Mainland Visitor Center (113 W. St. Marys St., St. Marys Ga 31558) to be considered official correspondence.
Additionally, members of the public are invited to attend one of two public listening sessions to learn more about the plan and share their ideas. The first will be held on Friday, April 12, from 4:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. at the St. Mary’s Elementary School, 600 Osborne Street, St. Mary’s, Georgia. The second will be held on Saturday, April 13, from 2 p.m. – 5 p.m. at the REI in Atlanta, 1800 NE Expy NE, Atlanta, Georgia. The National Park Service will accept written comments at the open houses and online.
“We encourage the public to get involved with the process and add your voice to the visitor use planning for the park,” said Gary Ingram, Cumberland Island National Seashore Superintendent. “At the listening sessions on April 12 and 13, we will be providing information about the park and hope to spread the word about this important effort. This is the beginning of the process, and there will be future opportunities to provide additional input.”
Cumberland Island National Seashore’s goal of the visitor use management plan is to establish a vision for the future by enhancing recreational opportunities for key visitor experiences, minimizing impacts to resources and experiences caused by visitor use, and determining appropriate kinds and amounts of access that protect the natural and cultural integrity of the park. The National Park Service intends to develop a plan that promotes relevancy, builds constituency, and provides sustainable access and opportunities. This plan will evaluate a range of strategies in a manner consistent with the purpose and significance of the park.
The National Park Service invites the public’s participation in the planning process for the Visitor Use Management Plan. For more specifics related to the development of a Visitor Use Management Plan, the National Park Service has prepared a newsletter and, beginning on March 26, will be accepting written suggestions, comments, and concerns regarding the options and strategies at the following website: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/cuis.
Comments are requested by May 10, 2019.
For more information on the purpose, significance, and fundamental resources and values of the park, see the park’s foundation document at: https://www.nps.gov/cuis/learn/management/upload/CUIS_FD_FINAL.pdf
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Comments
As a frequent visitor, I STRONGLY oppose ANY firther development on Cumberland Is.
Neither of the referenced links are functional today: April 16, 2019!
Some of the Park Service's websites do seem to be having troubles today (4-16-19).
People want to be able to go enjoy the park without the hassle of feeling like they are crammed into the place that they are being visited or rushed out of the area. At the same time there are some groups of people who want to visit an area quickly and then move on to the next place on their trip. Both of these guest need to be accommodated to be able to have a good experience for all at the park. As much as people do not want to see change happen to the park or for construction to occur, there needs to be a give and take to be able to better the park for future generations.
For the people who want to stay for a longer period of time there needs to be more camp sites for the people to stay at and more activities to do. By expanding some of the trails and adding more areas for the people to use at the park. The people will be able to spread out more. With the larger groups spread out on different experiences it will help to keep from overwhelming the wildlife that is on the beach. Large groups may cause stress on the wildlife so it is important for the park to make sure that the amount of people in an area is at a reasonable number. Along with the parks plan to increase some of the trails they also want to put in place campsites that will only be able to be accessed by kayaking or canoe. I believe that this is a great idea because once again it helps to spread out the people in the areas. The park would have to do a field different trial runs for the first year to see how many people should go into these areas at a time. the best solution to this would be to make it so that those who wanted to partake in this activity would have to sign up on a list online and only so many would get selected at a time. this limits the amount of people crowding a camp site that is away from a large part of the visitors where there may be more wildlife that need to be protected from the crowds.
The next management program that makes a lot of sense is adding more ferry services to the island that would have smaller amounts of people on it. When the weather becomes hot in the summer, people do not want to be crowded onto a boat. This starts the trip off on a negative vibe and may cause the people to not enjoy the area as much. If to many people have a bad experience, people will begin to not come back which would be a shame to let such a beautiful place go to waste. Increasing the amount of ferry boats that will come to the island is also a good idea for families that have small children. Little children do not have the stamina to last in area all day and begin to get tired very quickly or want to move onto the next activity. By being able to come and go at a faster pace this will remove the children that do not want to be on the island making more room for those who want to spend a longer period of time exploring. The third reason that more ferries with a smaller group of people on each boat is that people are like ants who tend to follow each other. People begin to follow the group ahead of them and want to go see what the crowed of people are doing. If people are brought over in large groups, this may lead the people to over crowed certain areas. By having smaller manageable groups of people it will be okay if groups of people of one boat want to follow each other as if they are ants.
The next area that needs to be studied is the amount of people who should be allowed on the island at one time and how long the people are going to stay. Since there are two types of visitors, one being who wants to stay for a little amount of time and those who want to camp out. There would need to be a system in place that accommodates both of these parties. The best way to put a system in place for this would be to build a system that requires there to be a reservation system that is online where people will be able to go book there trip and include the amount of day or days that they plan to stay. This will help the park to have a better idea of the amount of people that will be in a park in one day and will lead to a better visit for all. The park service can also do a better job of staffing the park if they know the amount of people that are coming and be able to give off to some of the rangers on a day that will be slow so that they will have more staffing on the busy days. This may also lend a hand in helping the park to know how many ferries will be needed for the day so that money is not being wasted running a boat on a slow day that is not needed. The more efficiently the park can run, the more money they will have to be able to put into the park system. The park service will have to do a little bit of research along with trial and error to see how many people can come into an area at a time. The best way to see if people are happy with the amount of people around them would be to give out survey card that people can fill out about the experience in relation to the amount of people around them. the next area that will need to be studied will be what is the impact on the wildlife in the area. The rangers will need to study if the animals are acting in a weird fashion from the amount of people in the park or hiding from the guest do to the amount of people. The third area that will need to be looked at is there enough facilities on the grounds to support the people that are there at a time. The park needs to be able to provide enough bathrooms for the people to be able to use. People having to use the woods as an alternative may scare the wildlife away thinking that the area has been marked by a larger creature and it is unsanitary and may cause the spread of diseases. The second item that needs to be properly provided is trash cans for the public. It is important that the park is kept clean so that the wildlife does not get harmed by the trash and no one wants to see the area get wrecked with trash. The more people are there at a time, the more trash there will be. The Park service will have to see how much time can be devoted to taking care of these two key factors to be able to be able to use it in their judgement of how many people should be allowed at a time.
Some of the issues that I do not believe were addressed were those of safety for those at the park. There are a lot of great new things being added to the park, but they come with liability concerns that need to be addressed before any of the work should take place.
The park has a handful of employees that they are able to staff with the money from their budgets. Park rangers need to be able to keep the people that come to the park safe so that the park will have a good reputation and not have to fear the risk of being caught up in a lawsuit. With the new areas being added to the park the park service will need to increase the amount of staff that is at the park on a daily basis. With the park being expanded in new directions there will need to be rangers stationed at these far points of the park so that there is a way to make sure that the people do not get too close to the wildlife and stay on the trails that have been built by the park system.
The second item that will need to be put in place are more safety buildings that people can go to when there is an injury. These building will need to be spread out among the island so that the people are able to get the treatment that they need without having to travel a far distance that could cause more harm to the injuries that a person may have. These buildings will need to be staffed 24/ 7 since there will be people camping over night at the parks. Along with there being a ranger staffed at these locations there will need to be medical and rescue equipment to help those who have gotten into danger.
A water rescue team will need to be added to the areas in which the park plans to add kayaking and other water activities. It is very important that an emergency at a water way can be reacted upon as fast as possible. People get the idea that they are on vacation and that they should try new things because nothing bad can happen on a vacation. This puts unexperienced people in kayaks or canoes that may get themselves into trouble. There will need to be a ranger on guard in these areas making sure that the kayaks are used in a responsible matter and that the proper safety equipment is warn. Something as simple as wearing a life jacket will be a key factor in keeping the people safe on the water. The parks should make the life jackets mandatory for all that go on the water because they are the difference between life and death in an accident. Once a person is lost in the water there is only one hour for the people to be able to be found who have gone under the water. After an hour the search for the drowning victim becomes a recover mission for the search and rescue team. Every second of that first hour counts so it is important that time is not wasted having to get from a rescue building that is placed too far away from the cite. The rangers need to be able to be in the water in less than five minutes so that there is a better chance of a happy outcome so that the trip for a family does not become a disaster.
No more development!!!! We love it the way it is. Come on, do the right thing, and do not do any more development!
No development or campground at Long Point: Establishing a campground at Long Point is definitely not supportive of the resource. Increasing human presence on Long Point would be detrimental to the birds which use it or reside in the area. The tips of islands are always heavily used by birds because of the usual lack of predators in the open areas. Also, access into Christmas Creek is always changing and thus dangerous for entry.
No additional tours or vehicle traffic: All vehicular traffic on the Main Road impairs the visitor experience. Vehicular traffic on the Main Road is arguably contrary to the intent and spirit of the Wilderness Act and of the Cumberland Wilderness. Vehicular traffic throughout the Seashore disrupts the natural quiet and natural sounds associated with the physical and biological resources of the Park. Increasing camp sites on the north end of the island (Settlement Area and Long Point) may increase vehicular traffic to these areas for Park patrol purposes and should therefore be discouraged. Increasing the level of visitor activities should be avoided in the Settlement Area on the north end of the island as this will result in increased vehicular traffic.
No development of the South End Beach: NPS should preclude trespassers, particularly on the South End, and should address the inholders using the Seashore and its resources for business purposes (i.e. charging guests etc.). Prohibit all boats from landing at the South End.
No campground at The Settlement: Placing a new campground in or near the Settlement is inappropriate. Hikers come north to enjoy the Wilderness and do not appreciate regular bus traffic. There is also little to attract Wilderness campers in that area, where many retained rights limit access. The NPS General Management Plan directs the Park to “ensure the Historic District does not become a high use area.” Resource protection is important at Burbank Point for birds and other wildlife. Human traffic should not be increased there.
Extend the Parallel Trail south to Dungeness. The Parallel Trail should connect with Dungeness to keep people off the road.
Boaters should register and enter at Sea Camp: Boaters and kayakers should not be able to enter the Cumberland Wilderness Area without previously registering with Park. Boats with motors should not be able to enter the Wilderness Area.
Protect the island’s wildness, solitude, and quietude: All uses interfering with the natural soundscape should be carefully considered and eliminated wherever possible. All uses for the convenience of the visitor should be carefully considered and denied as contrary to the Seashore’s purpose.
All uses in and adjacent to the Cumberland Wilderness Area which result in additional use contrary to the spirit and intent of the Wilderness Act should be denied, including increasing the numbers of people accessing the Wilderness other than by foot from a designated entry point.
No commercial sales or stores on the island: Offering supplies to visitors will only cause more litter and the need for more people on the island to handle the sales, stocking, and money. Let the boat or the mainland be the place for supplies.
Here are some key principles to include in any comments:
The National Park Service should be largely guided by the relevant controlling legislation, rules and NPS policies.
NPS should appropriately define “visitor” to include only those individuals who are properly within the Park, having paid the appropriate entry fee and entered the Park at a designated point of entry.
All proposed actions which result in increased net vehicle use should be avoided, regardless of offsetting benefits; this especially pertains to increased vehicular traffic on the Main Road through the Wilderness Area.
All proposed actions which in any way diminish the visitor’s full use and enjoyment of the primitive aspects of the island or the ability to enjoy solitude, peace and tranquility, should be denied.
All contemplated uses which threaten future generations’ use and enjoyment of the Seashore’s resources should be denied, particularly actions which serve to impair or threaten the park’s natural and Wilderness resources.
Long monolithic paragraphs are a slow slog in a discussion forum, Ryan Kelly.