You are here

Home » National Parks Traveler

Traveler's View: Corporate Welfare At Caneel Bay In Virgin Islands National Park?

A private equity firm with global operations that include luxury hotels, ski resorts, and transportation interests such as shipping and railcars is on the brink of what appears to be a sweetheart deal to operate a luxury resort inside Virgin Islands National Park for just about the rest of the century.

Celebrating The CCC In The National Parks

“National Parks of the Country Will Ring with Sound of Conservation Workers.” So read a headline in the May 20, 1933, edition of the Happy Days newspaper, the official publication of the newly formed Civilian Conservation Corps. And it was true: Established in March of that year, the corps became the most popular and enduring of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal “make-work” programs.

Laurance Rockefeller Wanted Caneel Bay Resort To Go To Virgin Islands National Park

On a hot, humid New York City day in September 1983, Laurance S. Rockefeller signed away, for $1, a beautiful sweeping parcel of ocean-front land on the Caribbean island of St. John to the United States government for inclusion in Virgin Islands National Park. While he held back a resort complex on that land, he fully intended to transfer it to the park 40 years later. U.S. Rep. Stacy Plaskett is working to void Mr. Rockefeller's desire, for reasons she won't explain.