Gulf Breeze, Fla. - National Park Service officials will reopen several areas of Gulf Islands National Seashore in Florida this weekend. On Saturday, Oct. 3, Johnson Beach in the Perdido Key Area and the Naval Live Oaks Area will reopen. The Okaloosa Area will reopen on Sunday, October 4. The three areas will open on their normal operating schedules.
Restrooms and pavilions will be open in the reopened areas, however Johnson Beach Road beyond the main parking lot will remain closed as crews continue to clear sand and debris from the road. Additionally, the Perdido Key Discovery Trial, destroyed by the hurricane, will remain closed until further notice. Entrance fees will be required at the Perdido Key and Okaloosa areas.
All areas of the national seashore were closed Saturday, Sept. 12, ahead of Hurricane Sally making landfall on the Gulf Coast. The Fort Pickens and Santa Rosa Areas remain closed to all visitors (pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicles). The Fort Barrancas Area remains closed due to NAS Pensacola closure.
J. Earle Bowden Way, Highway 399 between Pensacola Beach and Navarre Beach, and Fort Pickens Road were severely impacted by the storm and will not resume normal operations for several months. A timeline for road reconstruction or limited reopening is not available currently. Opal Beach remains heavily inundated with sand, but damage to facilities was limited. In the Fort Pickens Area, boardwalks, pavilions, the ferry pier, the old camp store, and all historic wooden structures were all damaged. Current closure information: www.nps.gov/guis/planyourvisit/tempclosures.htm.
About Gulf Islands National Seashore: Created in 1971, the national seashore stretches 160 miles along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico in Florida and Mississippi, and includes barrier islands, maritime forests, historic forts, bayous, and marine habitat. Visit us at www.nps.gov/guis, on Facebook www.facebook.com/GulfIslandsNPS, Twitter www.twitter.com/GulfIslandsNPS, Instagram www.Instagram.com/GulfIslandsNPS.
About the National Park Service: More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 421 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Visit us at www.nps.gov, on Facebook www.facebook.com/nationalparkservice and Twitter www.twitter.com/natlparkservice.
-NPS-
Tags: hurricane sally severe weather press press release news news release florida gulf islands national seashore
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
