The Friends of the John Smith Chesapeake Trail support Alternative 3, which would organize the trail around the theme of the Chesapeake Region in the 17th Century. This alternative would conserve significant resources, including viewsheds, natural landscapes, archeological sites, and historic American Indian sites and John Smith voyage landing sites. It would protect the larger nationally significant landscapes and waterways associated with the Chesapeake Bay and the John Smith Trail.
The Friends would like to see the alternative modified to enhance recreation and stewardship opportunities. This would mean more emphasis on the development of soft landing public access sites, camping opportunities, environmental stewardship projects, and partnerships with local organizations along the trail.
Below is a detailed summary of the resource protection, visitor experience, and partnership objectives suggested by the Friends. They include all the contents of alternative 3 with additional elements from alternatives 2 and 4, and ideas not currently captured in the alternatives.
Resource Protection
· Significant resources are sites that evoke landscapes and viewsheds of the 17th century Chesapeake region, are important to the area’s American Indian communities, have the potential to provide important archeological information, or are significant John Smith voyage landing sites.
· Resources significant to the Trail and identified in the plan are John Smith voyage landing sites and provide public access to the Trail, or could provide public access, and American Indian Late Woodland archeological sites.
· Resources significant to the Trail that need to be inventoried are landscapes that evoke the 17th century Chesapeake region and viewsheds.
· Protection of significant sites is accomplished by NPS providing technical assistance to partners with education of landowners regarding stewardship, planning, partner acquisition, and identification of funding sources.
· NPS acquisition of a significant resource site could occur if there is a willing seller and the site is critical to the implementation of the Trail CMP (In all of the other alternatives the site must also be threatened with destruction or irreplaceable damage).
Visitor Experience
· The Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail follows the historic routes of Captain John Smith’s voyages (1607–1609), has water and land components, and may have connector trails.
· Visitors have access to the Trail for recreation, understand the interpretive themes, and appreciate the importance of environmental stewardship.
· Trail access sites are located at existing access sites, significant voyage landing sites, sites that provide good potential for access, and areas where additional public access is needed; they may include day use and camping
· Visitor facilities may be developed at appropriate locations along the trail with matching grants for partners.
· Visitors follow the route of Captain John Smith’s voyages by tour boats or private watercraft, paddling, sailing, biking, hiking, and cruising, as well as by bus tours or auto tour routes.
· Youth groups and civic and corporate organizations sponsor and participate in bay and river cleanups, invasive species eradication, habitat restoration, and wildlife monitoring.
· Visitors and volunteers experience a direct connection to waters and lands of the Bay and gain a sense of ownership in the future health of the Bay.
· At significant resource sites visitors gain understanding of the history of the voyages, Smith’s relations with American Indians, natural resources Smith encountered, explore landscapes and see viewsheds evocative of the 17th century Chesapeake region, experience American Indian cultures and societies, and learn about the Bay’s fragile and complex ecology.
· Interpretive materials are developed by NPS or funded through matching grants to partners; are located at visitor centers, partner sites, outfitters, tourism service providers, and Trail voyage landing sites and visitor contact stations; and emphasize the 17th century world of the Chesapeake region that John Smith encountered, emphasize the events associated directly with John Smith’s voyages as described in his journals.
· Interpretive media include outdoor exhibit panels and brochures, CBIBS buoys boating guides, greenway/blueway trail guides, stand alone exhibits, and mobile websites and podcasts (other new technologies).
· NPS would provide interpretive training to environmental project leaders, outfitters, and tour operators.
· Buoys provide current weather, wave, temperature and other boating conditions and interpretation along the Trail.
Partnerships
· Trail partners can potentially receive NPS technical assistance and matching grant funds, through a program modeled on the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network (CBGN).
· Partnering with the Star-Spangled Banner NHT and Washington-Rochambeau
NHT occurs for cost containment and development of joint facilities and visitor programming.
· Trail access sites, auto routes, and tours would be developed by partnering with American Indian communities, federal, state, and local governments, state parks, National Wildlife Refuges, local government tourism bureaus, heritage areas, historical societies, recreation providers, non-profit organizations and watershed groups, private sector outfitters, and tourism service providers.
· A cooperative resource preservation and land conservation agenda would be developed and implemented in partnership with federal, state, and local government agencies, NGOs, American Indian communities, and private property owners.
· NPS would provide technical assistance for the protection and preservation of significant Trail resources to federal, state, and local agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and private property owners (This same language is in alternative #4).
· CBGN sites can receive technical assistance and matching grants to create public access and interpretation for the water trail, the bike/hike route, auto routes, significant voyage landing sites, landscapes and viewsheds, and archeological and other American Indian sites.
· New Trail partnerships would be developed and will provide additional access and interpretation. Partnerships emphasize expansions of recreational opportunities and public access.
· A friends group supports the work of the Trail partners by assisting with organizational capacity building, development (fundraising), working with NPS on developing a resource protection and preservation agenda, and facilitating implementation of the agenda with partners, promoting and providing training for tourism providers and outfitters to maintain green practices, and developing volunteer environmental stewardship projects and promoting them to outfitters and tourism providers.
· The NPS consults with Advisory Council on matters relating to the Trail, especially development and implementation of the CMP.