NATIONAL PARK SERVICE LANDS / JURISDICTIONS ANNEX TO THE SAVANNAH CAPTAIN OF THE PORT ZONE AREA CONTINGENCY PLAN Fort Pulaski National Monument Fort Frederica National Monument Cumberland Island National Seashore Revised: January 2011 1. INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE OF ANNEX The purpose of this Annex is to provide an operational guide to federal/state/local responders when an oil discharge or release of hazardous substances impacts or threatens to impact resources owned or managed by the National Park Service (NPS). On the Georgia shoreline, these resources include Fort Pulaski National Monument, Fort Frederica National Monument, and Cumberland Island National Seashore lands, coastal habitats, wilderness areas, the cultural resources, the wildlife communities, and the public use areas therein. This Annex is intended to supplement the U.S. Coast Guard Area Contingency Plan (ACP) for the Georgia/Southern South Carolina Coastal Sector as a zone-specific Annex. It is not intended to duplicate or supersede anything in the Georgia/South SC Coastal ACP. The NPS recognizes and employs the Incident Command System as the incident management framework for emergency response. This Annex is crafted to support planning, logistics and operations of ICS during a spill response and to integrate the NPS with other agencies, governments and/or organizations. In addition, the NPS has relevant expertise and qualified personnel to assist the Federal On-Scene Coordinator in responding to spills impacting NPS jurisdiction. These capabilities include general biological, natural, and cultural resource managers available to evaluate, measure, monitor, and contain threats to park system lands and resources and to provide technical assistance; archeological and historical expertise in protection, preservation, evaluation, impact mitigation, and restoration of cultural resources; law enforcement and emergency personnel. NPS Managers are responsible for preserving and protecting public lands and, in some instances, surrounding waters and submerged lands. This Annex provides guidance and conditions for oil discharge / hazardous substance release prevention and emergency countermeasure response actions on and around the shorelines, beaches, wetlands, and islands owned and managed by the NPS that comprise the three above stated units. This Annex contains: • Each park unit’s most vulnerable intertidal resources, priority listed and mapped1 • Priority Area Summary forms for those most sensitive resource areas, including geographic location information and protection strategy recommendations • Emergency contacts for each park unit and lists of trained emergency response staff • Lists of available park facilities/equipment/staging areas for emergency operations 1 Priority Protection Maps located on pgs. 22-23 (Fort Pulaski), 32 (Fort Frederica) and 45-48 (Cumberland Island) NPS Annex to the Savannah COTTP Zone ACP 2. DESCRIPTION OF PARK UNITS A. Overview Map Figure 1 shows the state of Georgia and the location of these three NPS Units on the Georgia coastline. Figure 1. Location map for the three NPS Units in coastal Georgia. A. Fort Pulaski National Monument Fort Pulaski (FOPU) lands are located approximately 15 miles east of Savannah, Georgia at the mouth of the Savannah River, the location of the U.S.’s fourth largest container port. Oil and hazardous material releases have occurred in the vicinity of Fort Pulaski several times in the past five years. Port traffic, river currents, and tidal flows in and around the mouth of the Savannah River and the nearby creek mouths are such that Fort Pulaski’s sensitive marshlands and archeological sites have been put at risk of contamination by oil discharge or hazardous substance release to water. Fort Pulaski’s boundaries include 5,000 acres of pristine tidal marshland and 500 acres of upland communities, home to six federally or state listed threatened and endangered species, public oyster beds, federally registered historic structures, and recreational hiking and biking trails. The monument lands cover 595.5 acres on Cockspur Island, in the middle of the river between its north and south channels, and 5,027.6 acres on McQueens Island, bordering the river to the south. (See Figure 2 below) Cockspur Island houses historic structures and sensitive wetland habitat. McQueens Island is primarily a marshland, with only 5% of its total area in upland associated with U.S. Highway 80 and the abandoned Central of Georgia Railroad grade. It provides the public with hiking/biking trails and access to oyster beds, and is an important habitat for bivalves and shorebirds. Page 2 of 57 NPS Annex to the Savannah COTTP Zone ACP Figure 2. Fort Pulaski National Monument lands include McQueens Island and eastern Cockspur Island. B. Fort Frederica National Monument Fort Frederica (FOFR) lands lay on the inland side of St. Simons Island on the Frederica River. (See Figure 3 below) The border of the monument is located 13 miles northeast of the Brunswick shipping port, with predominantly agri-bulk and automobile transport cargo ship traffic. Pleasure craft are present in waters surrounding Fort Frederica, but boats passing down the Frederica River are limited to small craft due to shallow waters. Fort Frederica is an archeological site with sensitive cultural resources above and below water in addition to100 acres of marshland to the west of the main fort site, across the Frederica River. The marsh is important habitat for shorebirds. The endangered West Indian manatee is also present in Frederica River. Because the fort, river and marshlands exist in the intertidal zone, Fort Frederica lands are at risk of contamination by oil discharge or hazardous substances release to water. Page 3 of 57 NPS Annex to the Savannah COTTP Zone ACP Figure 3. Overview map of Fort Frederica, situated on St. Simons Island C. Cumberland Island National Seashore Cumberland Island (CUIS) is located on the southern Georgia coast near the border with Florida. The barrier island is approximately 35 miles north of Jacksonville and the site of a significant Jacksonville shipping port whose large vessel “leading cargoes include containerized and roll-on/roll- off general cargo, automobiles, breakbulk cargoes, and dry and liquid bulk products, including petroleum and phosphate.”2 The northern tip of Cumberland Island is 12 miles south of the port of Brunswick, with agri-bulk and automobile transport freighter traffic as stated above. Just to the south of the island is the smaller port of Fernandina, which traffics mostly smaller vessels such as shrimp and pleasure boats. The Intracoastal Waterway passes nearby, hosting some commercial barge traffic. With extensive intertidal habitat and proximity to several shipping channels, the Cumberland Island National Seashore is at risk of damage by oil discharge or hazardous substances release to water. Cumberland Island is a long barrier island stretching 17.5 miles and totaling 36,415 acres of which 16,850 are marsh, mud flats, and tidal creeks. (See Figure 4 below) The northern section of Cumberland Island includes a federally designated wilderness area that is mostly uplands with some bordering marsh and dune lands, covering a total of 8,840 acres. The island provides important habitat for federally listed species - loggerhead sea turtles, wood stork, and piping plovers. The island is an important stopover point for migrating birds on the transatlantic migratory flyway. Federally listed West Indian manatees and Northern right whales are present in surrounding waters. Historic and pre-historic cultural resources are also present along Cumberland Island’s intertidal zone. 2 Shipping digest Port Information page. http://www.shippingdigest.com/portinformation/portinformation.asp Page 4 of 57 NPS Annex to the Savannah COTTP Zone ACP Figure 4. Overview map of Cumberland Island National Seashore barrier island. Page 5 of 57 NPS Annex to the Savannah COTTP Zone ACP 3. LAWS, REGULATIONS, AND MANAGEMENT POLICIES Management of the national park system is directed and guided by specific laws, regulations, and policies that will impact or control emergency spill response actions taken within any specific national park system unit. A. General Authorities i. National Park Service Organic Act (16 U.S.C. 1 et seq.). Establishes the National Park Service within the Department of the Interior and directs the NPS to “… promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks, monuments, and reservations hereinafter specified… to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.” ii. General Authorities Act of 1970 (16 U.S.C. 1a-1 and 1a-8). Combines all areas administered by the NPS in one National Park System and amends the Organic Act to specify that the National Park System shall include any area of land and water now or hereafter administered by the Secretary of the Interior through the NPS for park, monument, historic, parkway, recreational, or other purpose. iii. The National Park Resources Protection Act of 1996 (16 USC 19jj). Any person who causes the loss of, or injures a park system resource is liable to the United States for response costs and damages. iv. Wilderness Act (Public Law 88-577) Section 4(c). States that “…within any wilderness area designated by this Act and, except as necessary to meet minimum requirements for the administration