Ash Site Annex

What is the Jax Ash Site?

Discovered in the early to mid 1990s by the Florida Dept of Enviro Protection (FDEP), the Jax Ash Site boundaries contain 3 separate sites known to be waste incinerators and dumps that were used by the City of Jacksonville from the late 19th century into the 1960s. The US Enviro Protection Agency (EPA), after investigations into the site's condition placed all 3 sites under federal jurisdiction, but did not register them as National Priority List Superfund sites.
There are 5 other ash-related contaminated sites in Jacksonville, 3 of which are in the vicinity of the Jax Ash Sites, but are under the responsibilities of the FDEP, and another under the US EPA, also in near proximity to the Ash Sites. This makes 7 ash-related sites in the same general vicinity of Northwest Jacksonville, adding up to more than 261 acres of ash contaminated land.
Of those 7 sites, 3 are near or within city parks and 2 had public schools that were closed in the last 5 years or less following community outcries and some media coverage. As is common across the US, these contaminated sites rest under communities that are predominantly African-American and economically depressed.

Proposal for an Ash Site Annex to the Preserve

The stated mission of the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve is to preserve and making accessible the "richness of the environment in northeast Florida and how humans have interacted with this environment for thousands of years", while boasting of its status as the first significant site of conflict between Europeans over the "New World." To further this mission, the Travel Office is recommending an extension of the preserves geographic boundaries to include more recent examples of land use and conflict that reveals the continuing relevance of battles over Florida's land. Simply put, we want to include our contemporary situation in the "6,000 years of human history" that one can "discover" in the Timucuan Preserve.

Why Implement An Ash Site Annex

The Travel Office's vision of the Ash Site Annex is predicated on the concept of "environmental preservation districts" and "environmental reparations" put forth by environmental justice scholars Robin Morris Collin and Robert Collin. Being that the Preserve is not a singularly managed park, but is a collaboration between the National Park Service and "partnership areas" (including the State of Florida, the City of Jacksonville and the Nature Conservancy), the annex does not require handing ownership over to the NPS or any other entity. As the Collins suggest, environmental preservation districts" could function in a similar manner as historic preservation districts, but rather than creating laws to regulate the aesthetics of homes, laws would be used to preserve community and ecological health. This would a step towards "an alternative methodology articulating a new model for historic preservation" called for by scholar Angel David Nieves.

A Speculative Implementation of the Ash Site Annex

Towards its realization of the Annex, the Travel Office is creating a series of proposals for new structures, memorials and educational materials to connect the Annex to the larger Timucuan Preserve. We are also producing an interactive audio tour that explores the spaces of the proposed Annex. The tour would provide visitors access to historical information about the sites by cell phone, as well as allowing them to contribute their own narratives and thoughts for others to hear.

Below is a proposed map for Ash Site Annex.