MENT5- MANAGE

5.1- INTRODUCTION

Desired future conditions for each vegetation community and land use on the Island were identified to provide a vision for the ecological structure, diversity, physical condition, and aesthetic over an extended timeframe (50 years) for specific portions of the Island. Desired Future Conditions (DFC) describe objectives and outcomes and reflect aspirational conditions of Jekyll Island with respect to conservation objectives. Many of the DFC share common elements that can provide broader guidance on management practices for overall natural resources within the Island, including:

• Mature canopy conditions in forested systems that still allow for regeneration of canopy species • Minimal fuel loads provided by duff and herbaceous/shrub vegetation to minimize potential for destructive, uncontrolled fires • Appropriate shrub/herbaceous layer diversity depending on canopy density • Wildlife populations characteristic to the Island • Wetlands and coastal creeks exhibiting natural and dynamic hydroperiods sufficient to support a diversity of wetland dependent species • Multiple successional stages in dune/swale habitat • Appropriate plant zonation based on salinity, tidal fluctuation, storm events, and dune/beach dynamics • Resource-based recreation in natural lands that are compatible with the recreation type • Residential, commercial, and recreational uses with low-maintenance landscapes of native and non-invasive vegetation, effective stormwater infrastructure, and occupants that embrace natural resource protection on the Island • Naturally vegetated buffers placing residential, commercial, and recreational uses at an appropriate distance from tidal wetlands expanding in response to sea level rise.

Achieving these DFC will require an adaptive approach to minimize the effects of the threats identified in Section 4.2 and enhance the natural value of the Park. “Adaptive” in the context of natural resource management planning means using information collected from research and monitoring to revise the methods used to achieve the Desired Future Conditions, which rarely change. This chapter documents general management elements to address Island-wide natural resource issues followed by specific management elements for the individual Management Units described in Section 5.4.

5.2- PARK-WIDE MANAGEMENT

General management objectives and strategies address management issues that affect natural resource issues across the Island as well as the lands and wetlands along the Jekyll Island Causeway that are within the boundaries of Jekyll Island State Park. These objectives provide the overarching framework for implementing management actions on the Island and should be among the first considerations when developing adaptive approaches to the management plan.

Objective A – Adapt to anticipated impacts of climate change and sea-level rise

Discussion: Climate change is affecting the natural environments and wildlife of Jekyll Island. There is broad scientific consensus that rates of climate change and sea-level rise are increasing globally ( https://www.ipcc.ch/documentation/).

Once thought of a matter of predictions of the distant future, the evolving impacts of climate change and sea level rise are increasingly evident and well documented in the present. Global mean sea level (GMSL) has risen by about 7–8 inches since 1900, with about 3 of those inches occurring since 1993 (http://doi.org/10.7930/J0VM49F2).

Data, predictions, and guidance are readily available specific to Georgia (https://statesummaries.ncics.org/chapter/ga/). A 60 year database of meteorological conditions recorded on Sapelo Island, 20 miles to the northeast of Jekyll Island, is consistent with regional trends across the Southeastern United States. These data reveal that local average annual temperatures have increased 2-3 degrees F, that nights are warming relatively more than days, and that winters are warming relatively more than summers (Doug Samson, Reserve Manager, Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve, personal communication). Sea level has been measured at Fort Pulaski near Savannah continuously since the 1930’s. Historically, the average rate of rise has equated to about 1 foot every 100 years (https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_station.shtml?id=8670870).

However, data from recent decades suggest an acceleration, notable by the sharp increase in frequency of extreme high tides observed. High tides greater than 5 feet above mean sea level never occurred more than 10 times per year prior to 1970. Since 2012, the annual frequency of tides exceeding this height has not been less than 40 and in 2019 was greater than 80 for the first time on record.