Cumberland Island National Seashore News Release: Public meeting For Foundation Document for Cumberland Island National Seashore

Cumberland Island National Seashore News Release

January 18, 2013

For Immediate Release

Maggie Tyler   912-882-4336 ext. 257

Public Meeting for Foundation Document for Cumberland Island National Seashore

 (Denver, CO) —The National Park Service is preparing a foundation document for planning and management at Cumberland Island National Seashore. The park would like to invite the public to join in this effort.

 A foundation document involves revisiting a national park unit’s core mission and significance, most important resources and values, and the interpretive themes that tell the park’s important stories. Although the foundation document is not a decision-making document and does not include actions or management strategies, it describes a shared understanding of what is most important about the park.

 In this capacity, the foundation document will provide the underlying guidance for future management and planning decisions at Cumberland Island National Seashore. Preparing the foundation document is the first step for considering the park’s future planning and study needs.

 All park units in the national park system will have a foundation document by 2016, the 100-year anniversary of the creation of the National Park Service. Cumberland Island National Seashore is part of a nationwide effort to complete foundation documents for all 398 park units in the park system.

“The public meeting on January 28^th is an excellent opportunity for the public to provide us feedback on why Cumberland Island National Seashore is special to them, what resources are most threatened and what stories should be told to this and future generations,” stated Fred Boyles, superintendent.  “We look forward to seeing the public at the visitor center Monday January 28.”

The National Park Service invites the public to play a role in charting the park’s future by sharing your thoughts on what is most important about Cumberland Island National Seashore, and to help identify its most pressing challenges and its greatest opportunities. Your feedback will help the park to take your thoughts into consideration as they prepare the foundation document.

To provide feedback, the public is invited to attend an open house on Monday, January 28, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Cumberland Island National Seashore Visitor Center, located at 113 West St. Marys Street in St. Marys, Georgia. This open house will be an informal forum to hear and record feedback to questions concerning key aspects of Cumberland Island National Seashore. National Park Service staff will be available to record feedback and answer questions about the preparation of the foundation document.

Cumberland Island National Seashore is the largest and southernmost barrier island in Georgia.  The park is the home to approximately 36,000 acres of to pristine maritime forest, undeveloped beaches, freshwater lakes, wide brackish marshes and over 9,800 acres of Congressionally designated Wilderness.  The Seashore was authorized by Congress in 1972 and is administered by the National Park Service.  For more information call 912-882-4336 ext 254 or visit www.nps.gov/cuis. 

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