With its roots in an organization formed by snowbirds and transplants spending their retirement on St. John, Friends of V.I. National Park has grown to be an important non-profit group that provided a huge help to the St. John park during its 25 years.
The organization is celebrating the anniversary with an open house from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the park Visitor Center in Cruz Bay. An exposition showcasing the Friends’ history will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Visitor Center.
In its 25 years, the Friends have assisted the park in many ways.
“In these days of shrinking federal funding, I cannot imagine where we would be without the support from the Friends of Virgin Islands National Park,” Superintendent Brion FitzGerald said, ticking off a list of how the Friends help the park.
The Friends’ accomplishments are numerous.
“We made the park an anchorless park,” Friends President Joe Kessler said, listing just one of the projects completed by the Friends.
The Friends began installing moorings about 14 years ago, tackling the areas hardest hit by anchoring boats – Maho and Francis Bays. Kessler said those areas now show significant improvement thanks to the use of the moorings. The moorings now number 360
“It’s a win for the environment,” Kessler said, adding that if there is a mooring available, the boater has to use it.
He said it was also a boon for boaters who don’t have to struggle to anchor in adverse weather.
The mooring project wrapped up this year with the installation of big-boat moorings, but other projects continue.
Work with the territory’s youths is another important aspect of the Friends’ mission.
“They’re going to be future stewards, and we want to instill a love of the park,” Kessler said.
He said every St. John student participates in up to three Friends-sponsored events throughout the year. He said about a third of St. Thomas students make the trip to St. John for activities or attend an event on Hassel Island, a park property located in the harbor in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas.
Activities include eco-camps at V.I. Environmental Resource Station, participation in the School Kids in the Park program, attendance at the annual Folklife Festival, and Earth Day.
The organization also funds the annual Student Conservation Association work program at the park. While nationally, the program brings students from across the country to work at various parks, Kessler said at this national park, St. John and St. Thomas youths participate while living at home. However, he said that the Friends hopes to fund SCA involvement at a mainland park for a student who participated in the local program.
According to Kessler, the Friends’ third major accomplishment centers on helping to tell the story of people who once lived on St. John. The Friends is a major supporter of the park’s archeology program that shone a spotlight on the Taino Indians, who left behind artifacts uncovered in archeology digs.
“It really changed the understanding of Taino and pre-Colombian cultures,” Kessler said.
He said the group expects to fund work that deals with the post-emancipation years. He said after emancipation in 1848, slave labor was outlawed and it was no longer feasible to grow cotton and sugar. Instead, those approximately 500 to 600 people left on St. John turned to cattle production.
With budget cuts reducing park staff, the Friends’ volunteer trail program helps keep the hiking trails in shape. The Friends funds the crew leader, who works six months of the year. Volunteers cut the bush.
Organizing volunteer programs is an important component of the Friends work. In addition to the trail volunteers, docents explain history at Annaberg, work at the Cinnamon Bay Museum, work in the Friends store at Mongoose Junction, and do myriad other tasks.
The closing of Maho Bay Camps has cut into the number of people volunteering while on vacation, Kessler said. It’s also reduced the number of people signing up for membership in the Friends.
Kessler said that of the organization’s 3,000 members, only about 20 percent are local residents. The rest are mainly people who visit on vacation.
Donations come to the park through similar channels. Kessler said unlike national organizations, those who make donations to the park have some personal connection to the park.
“We don’t get a lot of money from unrelated foundations and corporations,” he said.
Kessler said the Friends operates on a budget of about $1 million a year.
The organization keeps it all going with a staff of five. In addition to Kessler there are development director Karen Vahling, program manager Karen Jarvis, store manager Nikki Ahladis is the store manager, trail crew head Chris Schneider and Arlington Tyrell, who answers the phones and keeps the office running.
A board of directors guides the staff. They are Elsa Angel, Rafe Boulon, Brenda Dalmida, Adrian Davis, Toya Frazer Ellis, John Fuller, Sam Hull, Cid Hamling, Andrew Lutcz, Curtis Penn, Andy Rutnik, Miles Stair, and Andy Stillman.
More information about the Friends is available online at www.friendsvinp.org.
