November 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 42

Gulf Breeze, Florida:
As Far as the Eye Could See...
In Gulf Breeze, Florida, Daniel R. Brown made the decision to accept the post of superintendant of Gulf Islands National Seashore after the spill. And he has no regrets.
" I love the park and its resources, and the area, " Brown
says of his decision to take the job at such a critical period in
the park's history. " Gulf Islands National Seashore has been
on my 'life list' of parks I've wanted to work at. While, like everyone else, I hated to see the impacts to the beaches from the
oil spill, I embrace challenges and find that they energize me.
Even though the oil spill occurred after I had applied for the
job, I never had any second thoughts. It is an absolutely phenomenal park and a great place to work and live. "
As the area farthest from the spill site to be affected, Brown
and his staff knew what was coming.
" The oil started coming ashore on our Florida beaches at the
end of June and early July. I remember standing on the beach near
Fort Pickens and as far as I could see in both directions the sand
was coated and streaked with oil " Brown says. " It was sickening.
" You can go out to the same spot today and the beach is
pretty much back to its beautiful sugar white appearance, " he
continues. " You can still find occasional small, dime size, tar
balls here and there, but overall it looks pretty good on the
surface. We do know that there is still oil beneath the sand at
varying depths. There was no way to clean it all up before the
tides came in, depositing more sand on the beach. They've
done auger testing, drilling down about three feet all along
our Florida beaches and soon will be repeating that on our

Mississippi barrier islands. About 25 percent of the test holes
showed some amount of buried oil, sometimes very light, and
heavier in other holes. We're working on a strategy now for
how to deal with the buried oil. "
In terms of visitation from vacationers, the summer of 2010
may be a good one to forget in Florida. Brown says his park
staff was expecting one of its best years, which was particularly critical, given that their visitor facilities were finally restored to pre-Hurricane Katrina (2005) and pre-Hurricane
Ivan (2004) conditions. When the oil hit their beaches, visitation plummeted.
" Our campground at Fort Pickens, which is typically full,
has had only 25 percent occupancy for much of the summer, "
Brown says. " But we had a great Labor Day, which hopefully is
an indication that next year will be a great year. Pre-Ivan the
park had about 5 million visitors a year and was one of the top
10 most visited national park areas in the country. "
As for the longer-term ecology of his park, there's much
testing and waiting to be done.
" We will be dealing with the cleanup and recovery for
months to come, and maybe for the next few years, " Brown
continues. " There will be good opportunities for research. "
The BP contracted cleanup crews have been using several different types of equipment with mixed results, Brown explains: Beach Techs, Sand Sharks, and a small walk-behind
machine called a Sand Man. Sand must be dry in order to sift
tar balls and other oiled debris. Yet, once the oil dries and
weathers, the tar balls tend to break apart when being sifted,
thus scattering smaller tar balls over the beach.

Deepwater and Public Policy
NRPA Chief of Public Policy Richard J. Dolesh discusses the short- and long-term
effects of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill on public policy on a national level.
How will the Deepwater Horizon oil
spill affect public policy over time
on various levels of government?
The Deepwater oil spill had a profound effect on national public policy almost from
Day 1 of the spill. The Secretary of the Interior instituted a deepwater drilling moratorium that was only lifted just a short
while ago, causing significant economic disruption to the Gulf states' economy. Prior to the spill, there was a daily drumbeat
of calls to " Drill, baby, drill " from certain
elected officials. Not so much anymore.
40 Parks & Recreation

No v e m b e r 2 0 1 0

Parks and recreation programs across
the nation have a vital stake in the longterm outcomes of the Gulf oil spill since revenue for the Land and Water Conservation
Fund [see page 43], the principal federal
funding mechanism for national parks, wildlife refuges, and forests as well as state and
local parks, comes from " conservation royalties " derived from the sale of leases and
production of oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico. What happens to oil and gas drilling in
the Gulf will affect how much revenue is ultimately generated for land and water conservation in America.
www.NRPA .ORG

What are we likely to see in response to the spill? New legislation,
changes to current statutes, etc., or
backlash from voters and
environmentalists?
One of the early effects of the spill was a renewed interest on the part of Congress to
do more to place liability and costs on the
polluter. Current law under the Oil Pollution
Control Act of 1990 makes it the responsibility of whoever is the responsible party to
pay for restoration and damages. However, it
was evident in the current Gulf spill that the

Suzannah Skelton/ istockphoto

after the spill

November 2010 - Parks & Recreation

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