Cumberland Island National Seashore to expand by 173 acres

Georgia’s Cumberland Island National Seashore

ill soon expand when the National Park Service acquires an additional 173.7 acres of the island. Congress allocated $8.7 million for the land acquisition in the omnibus appropriations bill that passed in December.

“This will transfer to the National Park Service owner- ship of one of the last remain- ing significant privately held lots on Cumberland,” said U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, who led a bipartisan effort to acquire the land for NPS. “And that will protect this precious ecosystem for recreation, for conservation, for tourism, and as scenic open space.”

Ossoff, a Democrat, and Republican U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, who represents the coast, requested the funding.

Cumberland is Georgia’s largest barrier island, and it’s largely undeveloped wilderness. Most of the island is a protected national seashore managed by the NPS. It is mainly accessible by ferry and is a popular destination for camping and hiking.

But when Congress designated the national seashore in 1972, some private land was carved out — mostly belonging to descendants of the Carnegie and Candler families. Some of that land remains in private hands, and will even after this sale.

The land being added to the national seashore cur- rently belongs to the Nature Conservancy, which bought it in 1999 as part of a larger purchase of 1,108 acres. Most of that land — 934 acres — was already transferred to the Park Service. The remaining land was managed by the Park Service while the conservancy retained ownership.

“This land on Cumberland Island is one of the last undeveloped and unprotected beachfront tracts in Georgia,” Nature Conser- vancy leaders Monica Thorn- ton and Nancy-clair Laird Mcinaney wrote in a Feb. 6

letter to Ossoff. “Integrating this land into the Cumberland Island National Seashore will ensure its longterm protection and will provide many benefits for coastal resiliency, the local economy, public recreation and military readiness.”

Managing a treasure

Cumberland is a beloved destination for many, in large part due to its undeveloped wilderness.

“I spent happy times camping and hiking at Cumberland Island as a child as so many Georgians have, and look forward to taking my one-year-old daughter there,” Ossoff said.

Disputes often arise over how to maintain the island’s wild state while ensuring the public can access and enjoy it. Most recently, NPS proposed a new Visitor Use Management Plan that calls for increasing the number of daily ferry passengers to 700.

COURTESY OF CUMBERLAND ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE The land being added to the national seashore currently belongs to the Nature Conservancy, which bought it in 1999 as part of a larger purchase of 1,108 acres.