iy 570904 - 164

Physical participation in certain activities such as fishing, water skiing,
boating, snorkeling, and swimming is not compatible with maintaining natural
conditions and are best excluded from the park program. These activities,
however, should be provided on St. Thomas Island or on some other island
adjacent to 5t. John Island but outside of the National Park, first by com-
mercial interests and secondly by the National Park Service if the program
offered by commercial interests is wnsatisfactory in presenting to the people

the greatest values of recreation.

HISTORICAL RECORD

a

The Virgin Islands National Park is characterized by modified plant and
animal communities. An understanding of the changes that have occurred in
the past and are occurring today is desirable in appraising and interpreting
the successional changes that are now leading toward a climatic climax. The
following outline is an approach in gathering these historical date.

Objectives: 1. Define, establish, and maintain pre-Columbian condi-
tions. (Early Danish culture, however, should be preserved for historical
record.) All natural arrivals of plants and animals should not be interferred
with. 2. Instigate interpretive program emphasizing the philosophical trans-
lation of the functions of insular areas and the laws of succession, rather
than the enjoyment of the park by physical recreation.

Pre-Columbian conditions: 1. Analyze the past geological history and
establish a sequence of events leading to pre-Columbian period, including
structural and physiographic changes, climates, and fossil evidence.

2. Define the ecological community existing just prior to the arrival of
Columbuse ae Compile information from early Danish pictures, documents,

journals, Carib-Arawak legends, mythology, significance of petroglyphs and