This coverage is made possible through a partnership between WABE and Grist, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.
Georgia’s Cumberland Island National Seashore will soon expand when the National Park Service (NPS) 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 ownership of one of the last remaining significant privately held lots on Cumberland,” said Democratic 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 and Republican U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, who represents the coast, requested the funding in the appropriations package.
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’s mainly accessible by ferry and 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 currently 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 TNC retained ownership.
“This land on Cumberland Island is one of the last undeveloped and unprotected beachfront tracts…
Read the full article here
