LISTEN: The national seashore was established in 1972. Visitor access and other issues have been hot topics for island managers and advocates ever since. GPB's Orlando Montoya reports.

A view of southeast Georgia's Cumberland Island National Seashore. In the foreground. Spanish moss is hanging down from the branches of a live oak tree. In the background, a salt marsh can be seen, including a creek and wild grass.

A view of southeast Georgia's Cumberland Island National Seashore, home to more than 9,000 acres of salt marsh. Conservationists are studying whether insurance policies may help preserve the important ecosystem.

Credit: National Park Service

Cumberland Island National Seashore is known for its untamed beaches, primitive wilderness, historic sites and wild horses.

The coastal Georgia gem is relatively hard to reach, compared to barrier islands in nearby Florida. There’s no bridge to the island and the only way to get there is by boat.

But the National Park Service has a plan that aims to increase visitor access.

The agency has put forward a proposal that would allow more ferries, more campsites and more bikes, among other changes.

“Expanded access to a diverse range of opportunities — including back-country and front-country camping, additional hiking trails and enhanced commercial services — would provide beneficial impacts for visitors and support broader efforts to improve recreation opportunities,” the plan states.

But the plan’s specifics and unanswered questions concern longtime advocates for Cumberland Island.

“This national seashore has a carrying capacity,” said Will Harlan of the Center for Biological Diversity. “To overrun it with visitation would destroy what is most sacred and beautiful about the island.”

Some of the proposals include:

  • Increasing ferry capacity from 300 to 700 passengers each day
  • Increasing campsite capacity from 220 to 275 campers at one time
  • Increasing the number of miles allowed for bicycle access on the beach
  • Constructing new infrastructure, including a bathhouse, a pavilion, a campsite and a trail
  • Allowing new and expanded motorized tours
  • Allowing new concessions, including kayak rental and merchandise

Harlan said these plans contradict the seashore’s purpose.

“Cumberland Island was specifically designated by Congress to be a national seashore and wilderness that was supposed to become wilder over time,” Harlan said. “This plan takes the island in the opposite direction.”

The proposal includes several measures, mainly education and monitoring, that are aimed at mitigating the adverse impacts that might come because of increased visitation.

But Harlan said what’s not in plan is just as important as what’s in it.

The plan largely steers clear of major island controversies of recent decades, including management of its feral horse population and the push-and-pull over what belongs in the seashore’s “wilderness,” a federal land designation that restricts human activities.

The horses attract visitors but destroy many plants and animal species.

The proposal concludes that development activities “would not measurably impact the horse’s habitat or restrict their movement” and “would not be expected to alter their behavior.”

It leaves unchanged the number of campers allowed to overnight in the “wilderness” on the island’s harder-to-reach north end, although it increases the number of campsites there from three to four.

The NPS will take public comments on the plan until Feb. 21.

Tags: Cumberland Island  National Park Service  conservation  environment  coastal georgia