Officials of the Virgin Islands National Park say they need a long-term plan for better management of the use of park resources by an ever-increasing number of visitors. And they are counting on community input for its development.
As Park Supt. Russel Berry Jr. sees it, the not-far-off future may well include more day-tripping cruise ship visitors to the park, more overnight boaters, dedicated transportation services, and beachside food and souvenir stands run by locals.
At a press briefing Friday morning at the park's St. John headquarters, Berry and consultant Jim Owens said the management plan to be developed will set the rules for boaters and concessionaires providing services to park visitors. The goal is to create a plan that will be good for 10 to 15 years, they said.
As a prelude to drafting those rules, they said, park officials plan to spend several months canvassing the business and residential communities for local input. A series of town meeting will be held on St. John and St. Thomas to familiarize the public with the plan's intent and seek suggestions. A park newsletter will provide details on the plan, and Internet users will be able to find information on the park website. Berry says this exploratory phase may take six to seven months.
"The process begins by scoping — the public and agencies tell us what our priorities should be," Owens said. He added, "We don't have any pre-conceived agenda about what those should be."
National Park Service officials say the popularity of day excursions by cruise passengers and a local initiative to revitalize the boat chartering industry are putting increased demand on the park's 208- unit mooring system installed recently as part of a management plan adopted in the early 1990s.
As more visitors come to the St. John park, they say, increased services will be needed in terms of transportation, food services and other vendor services. The need to improve transportation to and from park attractions has been the subject of year-long discussions between Berry and representatives of three local taxi associations.
The superintendent said he wants to foster small business opportunities, primarily in the form of food stands at beaches. "Right now most concessions are run by major corporations, giving little opportunities to small businesses," he noted.
The plan to be developed will tell managers how to allocate the use of parklands, beaches and waters to as to ensure that increased use will not damage or destroy these natural resources that attract the visitors in the first place, Berry said.
"It will define what types of mitigation and monitoring will be needed to avoid environmental impact and also help determine the cost of putting the plan into action," he said.
Federal guidelines helping to shape the long-term management plan include the recently adopted Coral Reef Executive Order and the Endangered Species Act.
Berry says it's important that all park users, whom he calls "stakeholders," become familiar with the issues associated with increase park use and speak up about what they want to see. Without that kind of input, he said, park managers will have to make the final call when conflicts arise about use of resources, and that may leave many in the community dissatisfied.
"If, for example, you like to go swimming at a beach and you know a cruise ship is going to have twice as many passengers snorkeling," he said, "you might want to know if we're going to impose a carrying limit — how many people can use the beach a day." Without such an understanding, he said, "you might go to what you think is a quiet beach — and find it full of people."
