Virgin Islands National Park

Parks Directory of the United States / US National Parks / National Parks

Address:1300 Cruz Bay Creek
Saint John, VI 00830
Phone:340-776-6201
Fax:340-775-9592
Web: www.nps.gov/viis/
Size: 14,686 acres.
Established: Authorized on August 2, 1956. Designated a Biosphere Reserve in 1976. The need to protect reefs from further degradation led to a Presidential Proclamation establishing the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument (see separate entry) in January 1999.
Location:Park encompasses about three-fifths of the island of Saint John and nearly all of Hassel Island in Charlotte Amalie harbor on St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. Visitor center is located in Cruz Bay at the western edge of Saint John. Ferry service to Saint John is available from both Red Hook and Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas.
Facilities:Campground, picnic area, rest rooms (é), cabin rental, groceries, restaurant/snacks, boat and snorkeling equipment rental, bathhouse, visitor center (é), museum/exhibit, self-guided tour/trail.
Activities:Camping, hiking, swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, boating, fishing, guided tours.
Special Features:Park includes coral reefs, quiet coves, blue-green waters, and white sandy beaches fringed by green hills. Here, too, are early Indian sites and the remains of Danish colonial sugar plantations.

See other parks in Virgin Islands.

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References in periodicals archive

“It is gratifying to be able to contribute to the Friends of Virgin Islands National Park's important conservation efforts with the continuation of the Eco Serendib Beach Restoration Project,” explained Harith Wickrema, Eco Serendib's chief visionary officer.

Eco Serendib Beach Restoration Project Greens St. John, US Virgin Islands with $20K Conservation Program

Park biologists launched a major effort in 2002 to reduce the rat, cat, and mongoose numbers in Virgin Islands National Park. Park staff and Humane Society volunteers caught some feral cats for adoption and set up feeding stations outside the park to help keep others out.

The Virgin Islands National Park has taken other steps to protect its natural resources, Superintendent King says.

Paradise in peril: although conservation efforts and a vast national park are helping to protect natural resources on the U.S. Virgin Islands, increased tourism, a building boom, and other pressures threaten this still relatively unblemished territory

The Ten Most Endangered Parks Big Thicket National Preserve, Texas Denali National Park, Alaska Everglades National Park, Florida Glacier National Park, Montana Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina/Tennessee Joshua Tree National Park, California Ocmulgee National Monument, Georgia Shenandoah National Park, Virginia Virgin Islands National Park, Virgin Island Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming/Montana/Idaho

Ten most endangered: water-draining golf courses, chronic underfunding, and air pollution land some of America's national parks on NPCA's Ten Most Endangered list. (Special Report)

"This was a pitifully poor park until two years ago," says John King, superintendent of Virgin Islands National Park. "Now the budget is such that we can provide minimal services.

BRINGING UP CORAL

Virgin Islands National Park was established on land in 1956 and expanded to the water in 1962.

Rescuing the reef: in the last 40 years, half of the coral in the Caribbean has disappeared; the National Park System harbors some of the healthiest coral reefs, but even these are not safe from degradation

This principle is applied routinely at Stanley Selengut's Harmony resort in Virgin Islands National Park. Each unit has an interactive computer program that enables visitors to learn how the resort's environmental features operate.

Green by design

If not for the Rockefellers, the incredible beauty and biodiversity of Great Smoky Mountains and Virgin Islands national parks would probably have gone unprotected.

Protecting wilderness as an act of democracy