National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior State of the Park Report 2015 Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve and Fort Caroline National Memorial Florida 2016 National Park Service. 2016. State of the Park Report for Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve and Fort Caroline National Memorial. State of the Park Series No. 39. National Park Service, Washington, DC. On the cover: Sunrise at Kingsley Plantation as seen from the banks of the Fort George River. Photo courtesy of T.K. Reynolds Disclaimer. This State of the Park report summarizes the current condition of park resources, visitor experience, and park infrastructure as assessed by a combination of available factual information and the expert opinion and professional judgment of park staff and subject matter experts. The internet version of this report provides the associated workshop summary report and additional details and sources of information about the findings summarized in the report, including references, accounts on the origin and quality of the data, and the methods and analytic approaches used in data collection and assessments of condition. This report provides evaluations of status and trends based on interpretation by NPS scientists and managers of both quantitative and non- quantitative assessments and observations. Future condition ratings may differ from findings in this report as new data and knowledge become available. The park superintendent approved the publication of this report. Executive Summary The mission of the National Park Service is to preserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of national parks for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. NPS Management Policies (2006) state that “The Service will also strive to ensure that park resources and values are passed on to future generations in a condition that is as good as, or better than, the conditions that exist today.” As part of the stewardship of national parks for the American people, the NPS has begun to develop State of the Park reports to assess the overall status and trends of each park’s resources. The NPS will use this information to improve park priority setting and to synthesize and communicate complex park condition information to the public in a clear and simple way. The purpose of this State of the Park report is to: • Provide to visitors and the American public a snapshot of the status and trend in the condition of a park’s priority resources and values; • Summarize and communicate complex scientific, scholarly, and park operations factual information and expert opinion using non-technical language and a visual format; • Highlight park stewardship activities and accomplishments to maintain or improve the State of the Park; • Identify key issues and challenges facing the park to help inform park management planning. The Purpose of Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve (TIMU, “the preserve”) is to protect the natural ecology of over 46,000 acres of lands and waters and over 6,000 years of human history along the St. Johns and Nassau rivers in northeast Florida. Significance statements express why the park unit’s resources and values are important enough to warrant national park unit designation. TIMU is significant because: • TIMU protects the areas where the St. Johns and Nassau rivers meet the Atlantic Ocean and form one of the largest remaining salt marsh estuaries on the Southeast Coast. • Fort Caroline memorializes the French colonists who came to North America during the 16th century seeking religious freedom, wealth, and territorial expansion. • TIMU is home to Kingsley Plantation, the oldest surviving example of an antebellum Spanish Colonial plantation. The associated cabins are the largest concentration of existing slave quarters constructed of tabby found in the United States. • TIMU contains over 200 archeological sites representing more than 6,000 years of continuous human history, including Archaic shell ring sites and the first site where investigations focused on the archeology of slavery and plantation life. • TIMU is named after the indigenous people who once lived in this area. The Timucua chieftainships were the geographically largest population of American Indians in the territory, now the state of Florida. They were a gateway community where ideas, customs, and commerce flowed between the cultures of the Southeast and Caribbean. However, the Timucua Indians could not sustain themselves against the epidemic diseases brought to them and were extinct as a people by 1752. • American Beach was the largest and most popular beach resort established by and for African Americans during the divisive Jim Crow era of racial segregation. • The strategic military importance of the St. Johns River is exemplified by the presence of numerous installations within the preserve for over 450 years, from Fort Caroline in 1564 to Naval Station Mayport today. Fort Caroline National Memorial (FOCA) is located at Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. Fort Caroline memorializes the short-lived French presence in sixteenth-century Florida. The summary table, below, and the supporting information that follows, provide an overall assessment of the condition of priority resources and values at Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve based on scientific and scholarly studies and expert opinion. The internet version of this report, available at http://www.nps.gov/stateoftheparks/timu/, provides additional detail and sources of information about the resources summarized in this report, including references, accounts on the origin and quality of the data, and the methods and analytical approaches used in the assessments. Reference conditions that represent “healthy” ecosystem parameters, and regulatory standards (such as those related to air or water quality) provide the rationale to describe current resource status. In coming years, rapidly evolving information regarding climate change and associated effects will inform our goals for managing park resources, and may alter how we measure the trend in condition of park resources. Thus, reference conditions, regulatory standards, and/or our judgment about resource status or trend may evolve as the rate of climate change accelerates and we respond to novel conditions. In this context, the status and trends documented here provide a useful point-in-time baseline to inform our understanding of emerging change, as well as a synthesis to share as we build broader climate change response strategies with partners. State of the Park Report iii Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve The Status and Trend symbols used in the summary table below and throughout this report are summarized in the following key. The background color represents the current condition status, the direction of the arrow summarizes the trend in condition, and the thickness of the outside line represents the degree of confidence in the assessment. In some cases, the arrow is omitted because data are not sufficient for calculating a trend (e.g., data from a one-time inventory or insufficient sample size). Confidence in Condition Status Trend in Condition Assessment Warrants Condition is Improving High Significant Concern Warrants Condition is Unchanging Medium Moderate Concern Resource is in Good Condition is Deteriorating Low Condition State of the Park Summary Table Condition Priority Resource or Value Rationale Status/Trend Natural Resources web For 2008–2012: ozone condition warrants moderate concern; sulfur wet deposition condition warrants significant concern; nitrogen wet deposition Air Quality condition warrants moderate concern; mercury/toxics deposition condition warrants moderate concern; and visibility condition warrants significant concern. Condition levels are based on NPS Air Resource Division benchmarks. Water levels in the Floridan Aquifer near TIMU have significantly increased from 1977 to 2011. The Fort George River experienced rapid shoaling progressing up-river from 1998 to 2004, which may be restricting the flow and exchange of salt water within the river and marsh. Shoreline erosion, already a Geologic Features concern at Fort Caroline and the Ribault Column along the St. Johns River, may and Processes increase in the future due to the planned deepening of the river channel, which may also impact sediment and water flows, salinity, and water quality in the adjacent tributaries and salt marsh. Overall, the condition warrants significant concern, but the trend is neutral because of both improving and deteriorating measures. Four out of six measures of water quality were rated as fair based on EPA’s National Coastal Assessment standards. Total phosphorus concentrations have Water Quality been decreasing at stations, denoting an improvement in conditions (no trends present for any other measures). Measures of estuarine sediment contaminants were either good or fair based on EPA’s National Coastal Assessment standards. Measures of plant and wildlife communities overall rated in good condition, but Plant and Wildlife measures of specific species of management interest such as gopher tortoises, Communities oysters, and invasive/ nuisance species warrant moderate to significant concern. State of the Park Report iv Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve Condition Priority Resource or Value Rationale Status/Trend The modeled Anthropogenic Light Ratio (ALR), a measure of light pollution calculated as the ratio of Average Anthropogenic Sky Glow to Average Natural Dark Night