Cumberland Island could see 700 visitors a day under proposed plan

Correction: Feb. 16, 2026 1:20 p.m.: Piping plovers make use of Cumberland Island’s beaches but do not nest there. A previous version of this article included incorrect information.

Sitting just off the Georgia coast in Camden County and accessible only by boat, Cumberland Island National Seashore offers visitors solitude and recreation in its 9,800 acres of designated wilderness and 17 miles of pristine beach. 

But these treasured offerings on Georgia’s largest barrier island are poised for change.  

The National Park Service recently released its Visitor Use Management Plan that suggests more than doubling the number of daily visitors allowed on the island and providing more amenities for those visitors, including beach pavilions; kayak and canoe rentals; allowing bikes and e-bikes on a stretch of beach; more campsites; and an on-island store for “health, safety, and essential camping items, as well as souvenirs and books.

The increased visitation comes as park staff nationwide is shrinking. National Parks Traveler reported recently that there’s been a “loss of nearly 25 percent of the National Park Service staff since January 2025, and threats of future reductions in force continue.”

The public has until Feb. 21 to provide comments on the draft plan. 

Environmental groups, including one dedicated specifically to Cumberland Island’s wilderness, are raising concerns and urging the public to voice their opinions to the park service. Some fear Cumberland will lose what makes it special for human visitors. Others fear losing critical habitat for rare and endangered species that rely on the island. Still others are heartened to see the National Park Service encourage increased visitation, but fear it won’t be able to manage more people. 

Wild Cumberland weighs in

Wild Cumberland, “dedicated to protecting the wilderness, native species, and the ecology of Cumberland Island,” held an online seminar last month to discuss the VUMP. Executive director Jessica Howell-Edwards and Board Member Dani Purvis highlighted a litany of  concerns with the 265-page document.  

Purvis noted that the plan doesn’t spell out an actual limit to the number of visitors. The proposed 700 visitor cap — up from the current 300 a day — is only for those arriving by ferry. Other visitors can and do arrive by private boat.

“This is a 133% increase, so more than double what is currently allowed on the island,” Purvis said. “And 300 (the current limit) was defined in the 1984 general management plan.” The plan also increases camping capacity from 220 to 304 campers nightly.

The plan discusses monitoring and limiting the number of people concentrated in one area of the seashore at any one time — for example in one viewshed or on one trail. But it’s vague on implementation, Wild Cumberland officials noted. 

“Essentially, the plan says that if they exceed the thresholds at particular locations, they would use an adaptive management strategy,” Purvis said. “It’s not clear to us exactly what that means.” 

Proposed monitoring techniques including trail cameras that may or may not be marked as well as  using rangers to count people at various sites. Again, details are sparse. “That’s not fully elucidated in the plan,” Purvis said.

What’s missing from the plan is also concerning to Wild Cumberland, including long-awaited management plans for the island’s feral horses and for the wilderness area as well as an update on a proposed land swap between the National Park Service and some private owners on the island.

Without a wilderness management plan, Wild Cumberland worries the park service can’t ensure the island can retain its wild character. The visitor plan calls for a motorized boat tour from Sea Camp to Plum Orchard and up to 100 people a day to arrive by ferry at this 1920’s Carnegie family mansion situated at the edge of the designated wilderness area.

The Park encourages online submission of substantive comments, suggestions, and concerns to ParkPlanning – Cumberland Island NS Visitor Use Management Plan (https://parkplanning.nps.gov/CUIS). To be considered official correspondence, comments should be submitted at this link, which is the preferred method, or mailed to 101 Wheeler St., St. Marys, GA 31558 with a post mark no later than Feb. 21, 2026. 

“There are no wilderness character baseline data available for public review, and they’re not proposing additional wilderness interpretation at Plum Orchard or to hire a wilderness ranger,” Purvis said. “And you know, (with) 100 people arriving at Plum Orchard, most of them are going to end up walking into the wilderness area. And we strongly encourage teaching people the principles of leave no trace.”

Center for Biological Diversity

Like the leadership of Wild Cumberland, Will Harlan, the Southeast director of the Center for Biological Diversity, wants the National Park Service to protect the designated wilderness area as mandated by Congress in 1982. 

“My biggest concern is that this is a giant step backwards from where the island is supposed to be heading,” Harlan said. “This is one of the last wild islands in the country, and the original intent of its founding legislation was for this island to gradually become wilder over time … We’re going in the opposite direction.”

Harlan worked on Cumberland as an interpretive ranger in the late 1990s.

“So I have great respect for the challenges that the Park Service faces, but in my interactions with visitors, they loved the limitations of the number of visitors on the island,” he said. “They thought that was something that made it really special. And I’ll also say that, having gone there for decades now, and even to this day, that ferry is rarely filled to capacity.”

The plan contradicts the NPS’s stated purpose for the national seashore, and will distract from the solitude and natural scenery visitors seek, Harlan said.

“They don’t come to see development on the beach and to have a whole bunch of distractions from what they originally came for, which is a wild and sacred space, an unspoiled, pristine, wind-swept beach,” he said. “That’s what draws people to Cumberland.”

Increased use of the beaches are of particular concern to Harlan. Endangered piping plovers make use of the beaches, leaving them vulnerable to increased foot and bicycle traffic. Some of these long-distance migrants have been tagged and are known individually, like one that was captive-raised in Michigan then spotted on Cumberland in December.

“It’s critically important ecological space,” Harlan said.  

One Hundred Miles’ viewpoint 

One Hundred Miles supports the goal of having more people experience what Cumberland has to offer, but not without proper guardrails in place. 

“The Cumberland National Seashore offers unparalleled opportunities for the public to learn about and explore coastal Georgia wilderness, and OHM believes everyone should have the opportunity to experience it first hand,” said Alice Miller Keyes, vice president of coastal conservation at One Hundred Miles. “But we are very concerned that the VUMP lacks adequate management practices and enforcement to ensure the proposed increases to visitation will not threaten the island’s pristine wilderness, critical wildlife habitat, and threatened species.”

Keyes wants to see more explanation of how increased visitation will be handled.

“It’s not what’s in the plan that is concerning — it’s what it leaves out,” she said.  “For example, the plan fails to implement seasonal beach closures, which could result in hundreds of people on the South End beach and up to 100 e-bikes and bikes on Nightingale Beach during shorebird and sea turtle nesting seasons.”

Without the right management practices and enforcement, the park service is abdicating its responsibility to protect Cumberland’s critical habitats, Keyes said.

“They can and must take steps to ensure that any increases in human visitation do not negatively impact the very landscapes and wildlife that visitors will be going there to see.”