Some of our Favorite Comments on our Petition to Protect Cumberland Island
K D M.
Georgia
My father worked in space program & helped engineer IU that helped put Neil Armstrong on the moon yet believes in protecting our precious planet from any more destruction which this project would most certainly create. He hopes that his 15 great-grandchildren will have a healthy & prosperous world on which to experience the wonders of the universe. Cumberland Island represents everything remarkable about the essence of wildness and essential part of coastal areas which need to remain wild.
Richard P.
Georgia
Private rocket launch companies should not be allowed to close the national seashore or put its pristine beauty at risk. Visitors who have planned visits months in advance should not lose their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Anne S.F.
Georgia
I grew up spending time on “big” Cumberland and Little Cumberland. I am an historic preservation for a regional commission. This travesty must not be allowed to happen. Mrs. Ferguson took me all over big Cumberland. Its beauty, wildlife, and historic resources as a National Park (with National Register of Historic Places listings) are unsurpassed. Rockets launching and exploding with errors over one of the last intact environments along the coast. Camden ought to have its head examined. All for a buck. What really scares me is the launching by different operators. How can the NPS be responsible for visitor safety. I dare say that Camden County will lose more in tourism if the CUIS shuts down and criticism than promoting the islands and supporting their efforts. I can believe that rocket launching over big and LIttle Cumberland Islands will contaminate the environment for plant and animal life, as well as for those already living there.
Corie S.
Georgia
I teach environmental education and bring grouos of 5th and 6th graders there twice a week for field trips. This would affect their trips, as well as all the wildlife on the island. Cumberlanf island is a natural and national treasure that should always be preserved, both for environmental and historical reasons. We need to protect it at all costs, especially from private interests.
Vicki S.
Florida
This place is a national treasure and needs to be protected. Go find a wssteland to launch rockets from because that’s what the area will become….totally toxic! I live and work at Kennedy Space Center.
Charlie M.
Georgia
Cumberland is designated Wilderness area. It should be quiet. It is a World Heritage site. It should be protected. It is an International Important Bird Area. Nesting birds should not be disturbed.
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David P.
Georgia
I support the space program enthusiastically, and am glad to see a national focus on it. That said, this is a terrible location for a space port.
June M.
Georgia
Our National Parks should not be used for private commercial purposes. They should not endanger this beautiful island. Cumberland belongs to all US citizens
Sharon D.
Florida
One of the last unsoiled islands along the east coast… if not the last. Leave this island alone and let the wildlife (including wild horses) have a peaceful place to live out their days. Ive been to this enchanted place 3 times and will likely go again a few more times. As nothing like it anywhere! Enough development and plenty of places to shoot off rockets for god sake. Step away from Cumberland Island!!!
Deeanne M.
Georgia
I was lucky enough to conduct a study on American oystercatchers on Cumberland in 2009. I witnessed how unique this ecosystem is and the amazing biodiversity the island supports. It would be an awful and irreversible waste to put a spaceport here.
Zoey P.
Georgia
I love to camp at Cumberland and go out on walks on the beach at night. I would hate to see it built up. Cumberland also accounts for at least twenty percent of Georgia’s sea turtle nest count. If it is built up the lights will confuse the turtles and not as many will survive. Cumberland is one of the only places left that is almost completely undeveloped and if it stays that way it will remain one of Georgia’s hidden treasures.
Carol A.
Florida
I visited the island over 20 years ago and try to go every year. I love all the nature and when my daughter passed away the island comforted me. It is so unspoiled and it needs to stay that way…please.
P M M.
Georgia
Cumberland is unique because of its relatively undeveloped status, its history, and the variety species living on or near it. If I want to see and hear rockets I will go to the grossly OVERDEVELOPED Florida coast. Camden County needs to rethink this idiotic venture. Ot why don’t you develop this rocket fiasco so all rockets fly directly over the homes of the people proposing this? For the present, and for our future generations, we need to KEEP — UNTOUCHED — the natural beauty of Cumberland. Once it is gone, it is gone.
Melanie B.
Georgia
Cumberland Island is one of the few places in the world that has such peaceful solitude, tranquility, and natural beauty. It would be such a violation of the pristine silence and natural beauty that is home for so many protected species and a respite for people seeking time removed from the frantic, noisy, chaotic modern life. What would be gained does not begin to cover what would be lost.
Lisa S.
Georgia
My husband & I have been coming to Cumberland Island National Seashore for over 20 years. Of all the National Parks we’ve been to (over 15 so far), Cumberland is the most precious to us. The beautiful undeveloped shore is beyond compare. The island is a peaceful refuge that is getting harder to find, especially on the east coast. The shutting it down for launches, possible contamination of marshes, and the threat of falling debris is not worth questionable economic boom for a few.
Laurie M.
North Carolina
Cumberland Island includes a wilderness seashore, an unparalleled maritime forest, and is singular and magnificent in its beauty for all who come to see it. It is a place like no other and shows what the historical sea islands of Georgia were like before being destroyed.
Walter D.
New York
As a native Georgian and Cumberland Island visitor I want this site to be fully protected and kept in pristine condition. Having traveled the world, I can attest that Cumberland Island is a unique natural treasure.
Katie V.
New York
I grew up going to Cumberland Island – there is no place like it in the world. This pristine island is home to hundreds of species as well as private residents and is a national seashore. Placing a commercial spaceport right next to this island would destroy Cumberland and surrounding islands, hurt the wildlife and inhabitants it is supposed to protect and would be a huge blow to the local economy. It would completely alter Camden County and the Georgia coast forever. Please stop this insanity!
Joshua B.
Georgia
This is terrible. I just went to this place for the 2nd time last weekend and was amazed to see a beach that is unscathed by man. It was a glimpse into the past of how the beaches used to look before a wall of concrete hotels and restaurants surrounded our shores. There are hardly any places left that are safe from corporations and other greedy people and that is sad already. However, now we are taking even these last places all for man’s benefit. A people’s only world will destroy us all. Ego is man’s greatest enemy. Earth was meant for much more than just mankind.
Felicia K.
Georgia
Cumberland Island is a pristine environment which should never be imposed upon, especially with a proposed spaceport. The two are incompatible!
Trish S.
North Carolina
This project has the potential to destroy all that we have fought to protect for many years. The EIS does not thoroughly review environmental impacts, and consultant Leidos was paid more than 1.2 million dollar for a report that is slanted towards construction.
Roberta J.
New Hampshire
The beauty of our barrier beaches provides a restorative sanctuary for many species, including our own. Shame on us if we don’t value, cherish and protect our heritage for now and the future.
Elizabeth M.
Georgia
The spaceport is an expensive and dangerous undertaking that threatens the natural resources of the unique marshes and barrier islands. It’s a boondoggle supported by clueless politicians.
Annie V.
Georgia
Cumberland Island is one of the few undeveloped public natural areas left in Georgia. This resource and the cultural history of the island are too valuable to be subject to degradation.
Liza L.
Georgia
The risk of destruction or damage to this State treasure is too great to allow such a poorly thought-out program to develop jobs.The geography does not work.
Jane F.
Florida
The state of Georgia needs to step up and protect its unique natural environments. There aren’t many barrier islands on the coast that aren’t either developed or impacted in some way by increasing human encroachment. It is regrettable plans are moving forward to endanger one of the last beautiful islands on the SE coast by building a spaceport nearby.
James H H.
Wisconsin
Firing rockets over inhabited and continuously visited areas creates dangers to persons and property. The National Park Service argues against the proposal for such activities citing dangers to persons, property, animals and vegetation – all to be protected in a national park. While proponents of Camden Spaceport wrongly state that launches will be over the ocean, Cumberland Island is unavoidably in the precise launch direction of proposed rocket launches. The site proposed for Spaceport Camden is an inappropriate cite for such activities.
Stephanie F.
Georgia
Not only does it put the island in danger, it is a wasteful use of our tax dollars. With so many underused launch sites around the country, trying to build one here would lead to an unused money pit.
Terence Martin O.
Georgia
Cumberland Island is a very special, largely undeveloped place. Rightly protected, we should not allow commercial concerns to place the largely unspoilt coastline of Georgia to be put at risk. The natural and unspoilt beauty & environmental significance of the coast is, in my opinion, one of Georgia’s greatest, and also differentiating, assets and the economic benefits of such ‘eco-tourism’ should never be put at risk. We do not own the landscape we are merely custodians during our lifetime. May God, and future generations, forgive us should we allow it to be compromised or lost.
Mei C.
Washington
I was introduced to Cumberland Island over 40 years ago as a college student. To this day, there is no other place, which I value more and find more compelling to protect. It is a national and a global treasure which we cannot afford to lose. Please share what is happening with others so there can be more education and awareness of what is at stake.
Jessica K.
Florida
We should save Cumberland Island’s beautiful environment and wildlife for future generations to treasure.
Ed M.
Minnesota
Cumberland was no doubt identified as a fly-over area for rockets because it has lower population density. However, it’s low density is exactly what makes it a treasure for people to visit and fragile animal groups to thrive. The natural beauty, protected animals and habitat would be especially susceptible to destruction in the case of an accident. These are treasures of the people and can’t be replaced if ruined. This effort needs to set value/risk based on something other than population and construction density, and go find another place to house their rockets.