Estate Maho Bay in St. John will soon become the largest expansion of the US Virgin Islands National Park in the last 50 years after its purchase was secured by a US conservation group.
The untouched tropical land will be handed off to the National Park Service during the next few years when the $19 million deal will be finalized. Its 419 acres hold ruins of colonial plantations and Indian village sites, making the preservation of the area vital to keeping the island’s physical history intact.
If negotiations for the property’s purchase hadn’t been completed by The Trust for Public Land, preservationists would have continued to fear that the untouched land might have turned into commercial developments. Unprotected parcels near the middle of the Estate Maho Bay had attracted numerous construction proposals over the years.
St. John is the smallest island in the USVI territories. Protecting whatever significant piece of land reminding us of the past is the least we could do for future generations.