Site Management Plan Environmental Assessment, Fort Wadsworth Gateway, Draft, Team/Region Review

National Park Service, Denver Service Center

Fort Wadsworth, along with several other NPS Staten Island sites (Miller Field, Great Kills Park, and Hoffman and Swinburne Islands), comprise the Staten Island Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area (see Region map). Congress established Gateway National Recreation Area in 1972 as America's first urban national recreation area. The recreation area's primary purpose is "to preserve and protect for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations an area possessing outstanding natural and recreational features." In preparation for implementing the 1972 legislative directions, the Park Service has located the Staten Island unit superintendent and a small administrative and maintenance staff at the site, and some funds have been delegated to the site to direct the planning and transition efforts and prepare the site for initial visitor use. The National Park Service is undertaking a number of initial actions at the site to guide stabilization of historical and cultural resources, ensure appropriate development of interpretive facilities, and establish visitor services to allow the public to use and enjoy the site until further plans (described below) can be developed. These actions are detailed in the "Initial Action" section. Because the initial actions would have no significant impacts, environmental assessment documents (an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement) are not needed for these actions (see "Appendix B: Memorandum of Categorical Exclusion"). After the transfer and initial actions have been completed, the Park Service will seek funding to do more to improve interpretation and educational programs. make more of the site available to visitors, and preserve and protect the resources. Plans need to be made for accomplishing this further visitor use and protection and preservation of the resources. The purpose of this Site Management Plan is to describe alternatives for this longer-range plan - the Park Service's preferred Alternative 1 (the site as a living history museum) and Alternative 2 (a protected cultural resource/continuation of existing trends after the completion of the initial actions) - and the impacts of implementing these alternatives.