National Park Service Castle Nugent Farms U.S. Department of the Interior Southeast Regional Office St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands Atlanta, Georgia Special Resource Study and Environmental Assessment July 2010 Draft This report has been prepared to provide Congress and the public with information about the resources in the study area and how they related to criteria for inclusion within the National Park System. Publication and transmittal of this report should not be considered an endorsement for a commitment by the National Park Service to seek or support either specific legislative authorization for the project or appropriation for its implementation. Castle Nugent Farms Special Resource Study and Environmental Assessment July 2010 National Park Service Southeast Regional Office Planning and Compliance Division Atlanta, Georgia 30303 www.nps.gov National Park Service Castle Nugent Farms Special Resource Study Summary In 2006 Congress directed the Secretary of the Interior to undertake a study of Castle Nugent Farms on the island of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The Castle Nugent Farms Study Act (Public Law 109-317, October 11, 2006) directs the Secretary to study the suitability and feasibility of designating Castle Nugent Farms as a unit of the National Park System, and for other purposes. In fulfilling the requirements of the Act, the National Park Service (NPS) specifically set out to determine 1) if the resources present at Castle Nugent Farms are nationally significant, 2) if the site would be a suitable and feasible addition to the National Park System, 3) whether direct NPS management or alternative protection by other public agencies or the private sector is appropriate for the area, and 4) what management alternative would be most effective and efficient in protecting the area’s resources and allowing for public enjoyment. The Castle Nugent Farms study area is located along the southeastern shore of St. Croix, about three miles south of the island’s principal town of Christiansted. The area consists of both terrestrial and submerged lands approximating 11,500 acres, of which three quarters are submerged lands. The non-submerged lands, or uplands, consist of approximately 2,900 acres. Pursuant to the findings in the Act, the study area is an intact historic landscape that includes numerous sites associated with pre-Columbian and post-European settlement, including 18th century cotton plantation structures. The study area also contains an offshore coral reef, pristine shoreline, dry forest and pasturelands that have a long- standing association with Senepol cattle breeding, and sensitive habitats where various threatened and endangered species live and breed. A shoreline of coral cobble beaches and small crescent bays with sea grass beds and coral patch reefs extends for approximately 4.5 miles. The marine areas extend out directly from the shore across the coral reef and sea grass meadows to the three-mile territorial limit. The NPS has found that the site meets established criteria for inclusion in the National Park System, and that the potential inclusion of the area to the National Park System enjoys strong local support. National Significance of Castle Nugent Farms The NPS has determined that the Castle Nugent Farms area represents a nationally significant cultural landscape that provides a glimpse into the historic development of St. Croix in the 18th and 19th centuries when cotton plantations dotted the south shore of the island. The area conveys a strong stepping-back-in- time quality to a period when cotton was an important export crop for the economic and social development of the new Danish colony. The era of cotton i National Park Service Castle Nugent Farms Special Resource Study plantation agriculture on St. Croix, which depended on slave labor, was critical to the establishment of the Danish colonial system in the Caribbean. Many of St. Croix’s south shore plantations that produced cotton as their primary crop did not transition to the production of sugar cane as most other Virgin Islands estates did. In subsequent years, the lands continued to be used for agricultural purposes, including the raising of cattle that continues today. Largely because of this continuum, the agrarian landscape at Castle Nugent remains well intact from early colonial days. The fields, structures, ruins, and archeological resources provide an outstanding laboratory to study and interpret firsthand the cotton era on St. Croix. Suitability The resources of the Castle Nugent Farms area reflect the historical cotton era in the Virgin Islands better than any other collection of estates under public ownership within the U.S. Virgin Islands. The establishment of a national park unit at Castle Nugent Farms would provide the opportunity to preserve and protect an outstanding Caribbean cultural landscape and interpret the cotton era and related agricultural themes that have been instrumental in the development of St. Croix and the Virgin Islands. The historical estates that operated within the Castle Nugent lands span every period of the United States Caribbean colonial expansion, including the French, English, Danish eras; and continue into the American territorial period of today. Of particular importance, the estates include the remains of both French and Danish plantation systems in the Virgin Islands, neither of which are well represented in the National Park System. Feasibility The NPS finds the study area to be feasible to manage as a unit of the National Park System. The size and configuration of the area are comparable to existing units and capable of being efficiently managed. The resources, including coral reefs, cultural landscapes, historic structures, dry uplands, rare wetlands, and a cattle breeding and ranching operation, are similar to those managed by other units of the system, though their combination and expression in this location are unique, and would not place an undue burden on the managing agency. There are significant potential threats to the resources, namely commercial and real estate development, and there is strong local support for action to protect the resources. There is at least one willing seller within the study area (and potential additional willing sellers). The future costs are uncertain, but would likely feature high acquisition costs (if purchased; donation is also an option for acquisition) and moderate administration costs. Costs to develop facilities for visitor use and education have not been determined. ii National Park Service Castle Nugent Farms Special Resource Study Alternatives for Management Management alternatives are developed after the resources of a study area are determined to be eligible for potential inclusion in the National Park System. The alternatives further explore the feasibility of a potential new area by identifying partnership opportunities, staff or development requirements, and costs associated with operating a national park unit at the site. Drawing from stakeholder and public input, and a clear need for NPS management, the study team developed two management alternatives for the preservation, protection, and visitor enjoyment of resources within the Castle Nugent Farms study area, as well as a no action alternative. An alternatives summary is provided below. Public sentiment has been overwhelmingly in support of creating a national park unit at Castle Nugent Farms. As part of the study, the NPS conducted public meetings to present management alternatives. The NPS received over 300 comments in favor of establishing a national park unit and only one comment in opposition. A recurring point made in comments was the outstanding opportunity the Castle Nugent Farms area offers to preserve an important remnant of the island’s agricultural heritage. Other comments emphasized the site’s unobstructed vistas from the hills to the sea as increasingly rare on St. Croix, the many potential low-impact recreational opportunities, the need to continue the breeding of the Senepol cattle, and the importance of protecting the wide variety of habitats and species at Great Pond, the undeveloped south shore, and the offshore coral reef ecosystem and associated fisheries. Alternative A Alternative B Alternative C No Action Castle Nugent NHS Castle Nugent NHS Overall No action by the NPS or any Management of full range Management of extensive Management other public entity. of cultural, natural, and range of cultural resources Framework recreational resources at in study area. Preservation Castle Nugent Farms, and protection of core including extensive land and historic resources that are marine ecosystem and vital to interpreting cotton remnants of nine historical plantation story. plantations. Partnership with Government of Virgin Islands to manage marine areas owned by territory. Operations None. Optional stand-alone unit or Operations supported from operations supported from Christiansted National Christiansted National Historic Site. Historic Site. Acreage None. 11,500 acres (2,900 1,750 terrestrial acres terrestrial and 8,600 marine acres) Visitor Public access restricted; no Widest variety of visitor Modest variety of visitor Experience formal visitor programs due experience opportunities. experience opportunities. to private ownership and private development. Initial Site None. Visitor contact, parking and Visitor contact, parking and Development restroom amenities. restroom amenities. and Facilities Cost Estimate None $850,000 - $1,150,000 $750,000 – $850,000 (operations)