Record of Determination for intermittent closures at Schoolhouse Ridge South parking area

July 5, 2024

Record of Determination for intermittent, temporary closures of the Schoolhouse Ridge South parking area on Millville Road, Jefferson County, West Virginia.

Pursuant to 36 C.F.R. § 1.5, the National Park Service (NPS) will enact intermittent, temporarily closures of the Schoolhouse Ridge South parking area between July 5, 2024, and September 9, 2024. These closures are necessary to maintain public health and safety, protect park resources, and avoid conflict among visitor use activities associated with illegal activity associated with trespassing on property adjacent to the parking area to be closed.

The former Standard Lime & Stone Quarry property on the east side of Millville Road in Jefferson County, West Virginia, is privately owned and posted as No Trespassing. Parking and unauthorized use of adjacent NPS property fronting Millville Road and in the Schoolhouse Ridge South (SRS) parking area by persons accessing the private quarry property in contravention of No Trespassing signage have and continue to result in illegal activities that threaten park resources and diminish access and experiences of visitors to Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Illegal activities include littering, possession and consumption of drugs and alcohol, damage to government property (vault toilet and fencing) and damage to soils and vegetation.

Unauthorized use of the SRS parking area also fills the small gravel lot for extended periods time, to the exclusion of park visitors. This activity is persistent and most likely to occur on fair weather days when temperatures are above 70 degrees Fahrenheit. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, the West Virginia State Police, and NPS rangers have been dispatched to this area more than 211 times in the last five years to deal with trespass and trespass-related activities.

When National Park Service staff observe illegal activities at the Schoolhouse Ridge South parking area that impact public health, public safety, park resources, or that conflict with park visitor use activities, intermittent and temporary closures of this parking area may occur. Closures of this area are necessary to ensure the safety of visitors and protection of park resources and assets. Less restrictive measures will not suffice to accomplish these goals because lesser measures have proven to be ineffective in the past and are not expected to be effective in curbing the illegal activities observed.

The anticipated intermittent and temporary closures are not of a nature, magnitude, and duration that will result in a “significant alteration in the public use pattern.” These closures will not adversely affect the park’s natural, aesthetic, or cultural values and are not of a highly controversial nature. To the contrary, these closures are meant to curb illegal activities that themselves prevent the public from using the SRS parking area for its intended purpose to access the park. These closures will abate the above illegal activities, which will preserve the park’s natural, aesthetic, and cultural values. Accordingly, the National Park Service determines publication as rulemaking in the Federal Register is unwarranted under 36 C.F.R. § 1.5(b). This is consistent with hundreds of earlier partial and temporary park closures or public use limitations, the legal opinion of the Office of the Solicitor, and judicial adjudications. Mahoney v. Norton, No. 02-1715 (D.D.C. August 29, 2002), plaintiff’s emergency motion for injunction pending appeal denied Mahoney v. Norton, No. 02- 5275 (D.C. Cir. September 9, 2002) (per curiam); Picciotto v. United States, No. 99-2113 (D.D.C. August 6, 1999); Picciotto v. United States, No. 94-1935 (D.D.C. September 9, 1994); Picciotto v. Lujan, No. 90-1261 (D.D.C. May 30, 1990); Picciotto v. Hodel, No. 87-3290 (D.D.C. January 26, 1988); Spiegel v. Babbitt, 855 F.Supp. 402 (D.D.C. 1994), aff'd in part w/o op. 56 F.3d 1531 (D.C. Cir. 1995), reported in full, 1995 US App. Lexis 15200 (D.C. Cir. May 31, 1995).

Pursuant to 36 C.F.R. § 1.7, notice of temporary closures will posted at the Schoolhouse Ridge –South parking area and at the park’s Visitor Center. Social media advisories may be posted depending on the timing of the temporary closure and staff availability.

Pursuant to 36 C.F.R. § 1.5(c), this determination is available to the public upon request.
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/s/ Tanya M. Gossett
Superintendent
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park