The Virgin Islands National Park expects to have a new concessionaire to operate Cinnamon Bay campground and the Trunk Bay snack bar and souvenir shop by the fall of 2013, park Superintendent Mark Hardgrove told the nearly 100 people gathered Sunday at the campground’s T’ree Lizards Restaurant for the annual Friends of the Park meeting.
“We’re using Maho and Concordia as models,” Hardgrove said, referring to the privately owned Maho Bay Camps and Estate Concordia Preserve condominiums and tents.
An agreement expected between 10 and 20 years should give the new concessionaire the stability to invest money into improvements, Hardgrove said.
Currently, Rosewood Hotels and Resorts manages the campground and the Trunk Bay snack bar and souvenir shop through its Caneel Bay Resort.
It won’t come soon enough for one camper, who stood up at the meeting to complain about the poor quality of the tents and the cost of the Internet connection.
Hardgrove also spoke about other plans in the works, including his continued push to develop a scheduled shuttle service from Cruz Bay to the North Shore beaches.
“We have high hopes,” he said.
Hardgrove has worked for several years trying to develop this service using St. John taxi drivers and their vehicles in hopes of cutting down on congestion at beach parking lots.
He also said that the park is in the final stages of issuing a special-use permit to the Public Works Department for a feasibility study at Catherineberg. This site is expected to be used for a kindergarten through grade 12 public school on St. John.
“But there has been no decision to give away or exchange land for a school,” Hardgrove said, referring to a complicated land swap with land on St. Croix that would give St. John land for its much-needed school and St. Croix another national park facility.
The superintendent spoke about the financial impact of the park, St. John’s Coral Reef National Monument and the three national park facilities on St. Croix. He said they contribute $13 million a year to the local economy through salaries and expenditures. He said that figure was $2 million greater than last year’s.
While the park continues to contribute economically, it is facing budget constraints not likely to disappear soon. Hardgrove said the park is authorized to hire 76 staff members, but funding means that he can only keep 53 people on staff. He said this means the park faces challenges when it comes to protecting resources and providing visitor services.
The park depends on many volunteers. Some come through the Friends and others volunteer directly at the park. This year, the Friends named Martha Hills its volunteer of the year for her work at the Friends store. The park named Jane Bowry its volunteer of the year for her work at the park’s Visitors Center.
Later, National Park Foundation President Neil Mulholland discussed the importance of individuals at parks in his keynote address.
“The role of individuals cannot be lost as budgets continue to be strained,” he said.
He also urged the parks and the Friends to continue engaging the territory’s youth in park activities.
“The park is a wonderful classroom,” he said.
Friends President Joe Kessler spoke about the threats to the park. He said that irresponsible development on privately-held land within the park boundaries as well as on land bordering the park has a huge impact on the park.
Additionally, he said, the park faces a growing number of visitors. Hardgrove put the number a nearly a million per year.
According to Kessler, the Friends has about 3,000 members, with about 20 percent of them living in the Virgin Islands.
