Browsing by Subject "Virgin Islands National Park"

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Open Access
A NATURAL RESOURCE ASSESSMENT OF THE U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS NATIONAL PARK AND VIRGIN ISLANDS CORAL REEF NATIONAL MONUMENT
(2007) Collini, Kimberly; O’Rourke, Kelly
The National Parks Conservation Association’s (NPCA) State of the Parks Program was developed to identify natural and cultural resources in jeopardy across the United States National Parks System. This natural resources assessment has been prepared on behalf of NPCA and in accordance with the guidelines outlined in NPCA’s Natural Resources Assessment and Ratings Methodology (NPCA 2006). It is intended to provide an ecosystem-level evaluation of the health of natural resources at Virgin Islands National Park and Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument. These protected areas are unique units within the National Parks System because of the diversity and complexity of habitats and organisms they contain, but outside pressures are threatening the integrity of some of the most critical systems within both the park and monument. Existing data from the National Park Service, other federal and territorial agencies, academic research studies, and peer-reviewed journals were used in conjunction with interviews of park staff and site visits to evaluate the health of the natural resources. The results of the assessment indicate that park and monument resources are vulnerable due to a combination of natural and anthropogenic stressors, including hurricanes, development, grazing of non-native animals, and visitor damage to sensitive systems such as coral reefs. Park staff have implemented numerous management initiatives to protect resources and mitigate threats to sensitive resources; however, the park and monument do not have sufficient funding or staff to enforce existing rules or to implement new programs that could help improve the state of vulnerable resources. This assessment concludes with management recommendations that would allow park managers to improve conditions and help ensure that the park’s resources are present and healthy for future generations.
Open Access
Saving the Outer Banks – Lessons from the Life of Frank Stick
(2017-05-22) Triulzi, Paul Eugene
The joy of finding unspoiled beaches on the island of Ocracoke led to inquiring how these areas escaped the rampant development prevalent in coastal North Carolina. This project’s primary purpose was to investigate a mostly unknown person, named Frank Stick, and to determine his role, if any, in helping to establish the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, and second, to investigate present-day threats to the seashore. The primary inquiry led to Roanoke Island, NC, and the Outer Banks History Center to research from primary sources the life of Frank Stick and the formation of the national seashore. I also interviewed residents of the Outer Banks and descendants of landowners that had contributed to the national seashore. To research current threats, I attended forums of the NC Coastal Federation, Duke’s Ocean Policy Working Group, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and toured the entire seashore. My inquiry reveals that the formation of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore has a very long and complicated history in which Frank Stick played a major role, and which this paper examines through his life and times. I found that oil exploration and global warming are major threats to the seashore, and that coastal residents prefer tourism to an energy economy. This paper reveals who Frank Stick was and what we can learn from his activism, conservationism and methods in order to counteract current environmental threats to America’s first national seashore.