March 26, 2008 — The National Parks Conservation Association gave poor marks to V.I. National Park and Coral Reef National Monument for preservation of cultural resources in its State of the Parks report, but acknowledged that funding was the issue.
"At the end of the day, it's about giving the parks the resources," said Jason Bennis, the Conservation Association's senior marine program manager.
The report is one in a series leading to the National Park Service Centennial in 2016.
A visit in January 2004 by association President Tom Kiernan to address the Friends of the Park annual meeting "didn't hurt" in getting this park's report done, Bennis said. Kiernan is very aware of the issues facing the St. John parks, he said.
The report brings attention to the park and educates the public on the state of the park's cultural and natural resources, said Park Superintendent Mark Hardgrove.
"It's a good current snapshot of the state of the park," he said.
The park's biggest issue is staffing, Hardgrove said.
The 48-page report indicates that hundreds of historic structures languish as dense tropical vegetation grows around and destroys them. Many are being reduced to rubble before they can be properly identified and documented.
While saving historic structures is urgent, the report notes that ethnographic studies are even more pressing.
"Oral histories of people who have ties to park resources must be gathered before the opportunities are lost forever," the report said, noting that the people with that information are dying.
The report notes that this information is important to help park staff better understand groups of people whose life ways are traditionally associated with park resources.
"Funding shortfalls prevent the park from gathering even baseline information," the report notes.
The park has only one permanent employee to handle cultural resources for both parks.
"In fact, the park's cultural resources budget is so limited that paying this employee's salary leaves no funds for projects and research," the report notes.
Vandalism is a threat, with people taking building materials from historic sites. Sites open to the public have lost almost all significant cultural materials, and some sites had structural materials such as cut coral, historic bricks and keystones stolen. Over the last 10 years, the park documented the loss of two large sugar pots and an inscribed, dated keystone.
The park also needs a museum because the current structure, a beachfront warehouse at Cinnamon Bay, is threatened by erosion.
The park has identified 400 historic structures that should be included on the park's list of classified structures, but only 236 are on the list. Nearly all of them are threatened by vegetation.
Significant prehistoric sites are present on almost every beach and in every bay within the park. They date from as early as 840 B.C. to Columbus' arrival. To date, only two — Cinnamon Bay and Trunk Bay — have been excavated.
The park may contain as many as 100 cultural landscapes, but doesn't have the funds to do an inventory, the report says.
The report gives the park a grade of 55 out of 100 on preserving cultural resources. The park fared better on caring for its natural resources, with a grade of 73 out of 100, which the association considers a fair grade.
The park's natural resources face many threats. Hurricanes and drought harmed mangroves, coral reefs and seagrass beds, but visitors caused damage when boats grounded and the crew anchored carelessly. And coral reefs have died from diseases.
The report recalls that in 1998, a single anchor dropped from a cruise ship damaged more than 3,200 square feet of reef. Monitoring shows that there is no significant recovery of hard coral since the incident.
Development on St. John is also a factor. Subdividing of inholdings within the park has increased the number of parcels, which further fragments the forest.
"The risk from development on privately owned land is a major threat to the health of the fish and wildlife of this unique marine park," Bennis said.
An increase in federal funding is critical to acquire land within park boundaries because it is vulnerable to inappropriate development and puts the country's national heritage at risk. Other federal parks also face the same challenge, he said.
The epic coral bleaching event in 2005 followed lesser events in 1987, 1990 and 1998, causing enormous damage to the park's corals.
Additionally, non-native wild goats, sheep, hogs, cats, rats, and mongooses threaten survival of native plants and animals.
The report notes that nearly 90 percent of the island's historic vegetation is gone, causing some native and endemic species to become extinct or nearly extinct. Invasive plants have contributed to the demise of some native plants.
"The first 130 years of colonization were particularly harsh on the vegetative communities due to extensive clearing for agriculture," the report indicates.
Currently, the park Service is only able to fill 65 of the 75 authorized staff positions, and the park faces a backlog of maintenance projects totaling $22 million.
The Conservation Association is a non-profit organization whose goal is to help protect parks across the country.
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