Is St. Croix Island going to be a National Park Service (NPS) site in the future? This unusual question was among those raised by a group of approximately 20 scientists from the park service and elsewhere who convened recently to address the impact of climate‑related challenges facing the St. Croix Island International Historic Site. Each of the scientists readily spoke to the cultural importance of St. Croix Island, while recognizing that the site is in the process of disappearing.
     "The erosion problems [at St. Croix Island] are extreme, and the options for what can be done are limited," Dan Odess, chief scientist for cultural resources for the NPS, said after the group returned from a visit to the island.
     While the erosion at St. Croix Island is not a new problem, it has come into focus recently as a result of the NPS's goal to target at‑risk sites and create potential solutions. The island's vulnerability was highlighted last year when the April 7 storm hit. Though not a particularly powerful storm, it happened during a spring high tide, resulting in significant displacement of material. "It was really a wake-up call," Odess says. "We need to start managing for loss."
     St. Croix Island is the site of a 1604‑1605 French settlement; prior to that it was used as a Native American storage location for excess food that the tribes desired to keep safe from predators. The site contains unexcavated archeological remnants and human remains.
     "We need a thoughtful management approach," Odess emphasizes. To create that approach, the group spent several days discussing available options. By identifying the available options, the group was able to target the types of information and data that would need to be collected in the coming years.
      Data collection at St. Croix Island has become increasingly sophisticated, enabling scientists to better understand the rate of erosion. Tim Smith, GPS program coordinator for the NPS, has been taking measurements at the island since 2010. His work began with hydrographic surveying, followed by typographic surveying in 2011.
Since then, "There's been about 60‑70 cubic meters of material that's slumped down the slope," Smith says, referring to the south side of the island. "Ten cubic meters have washed away completely."
     New techniques are now being employed to more precisely measure the loss. Jack Wood, geologist and guest scientist for the NPS, accompanies Smith to perform photogrammetry surveys on the island. Photogrammetry surveys involve taking hundreds of photographs from a 30-foot-tall pole, syncing them together, and then analyzing points of change over time. "Photogrammetry tells us change. Rather than to qualify the changes occurring, we can quantify them," Wood says.
     After assessing the available data, Meg Scheid, the full-time park ranger at St. Croix Island, stated that the group of scientists compiled "a summary of interdisciplinary alternatives" that would be weighed against such factors as "funding, vulnerability of known and unknown archeological resources, the cultural landscape of St. Croix Island, historic structures and consultation with partners who share a common history related to St. Croix Island." While no immediate solution was forthcoming from the convening, Scheid says the discussion would be ongoing to enable the NPS to work "towards a greater understanding of how we will proceed into the future to protect the island and its critical resources that are in our care."