Folks,
Please
see the below email. The Lone Jack battlefield has had our endangered
Priority rating decreased from a Priority II to a Priority IV. We need
your help!! ,
We've
received the newly revised battlefield protection planning report
draft. They propose to CHANGE DIRECTIONS for certain Civil War
battlefields INCLUDING LONE JACK. According to this report Lone Jack is
now too compromised to consider saving. They have proposed dropping our
designation thereby essentially making it impossible to get federal
funding.
I encourage everyone interested in preserving
our battlefield to go to the National Park Service (NPS) site to review
its draft report about the preservation of those important landscapes.
The document is available online at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/battlefields until
October 12, 2012. Click on the link to the document to open it, read
it, or print it, and then click on "Comment on Document" http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=442&projectID=39967&documentID=49542 ;if you would like to send your comments about the report to the NPS.
Your
feedback will help the NPS identify current issues at the battlefield
and hopefully update its report accordingly. The NPS will then
send
the final report to Congress for consideration and legislative action.
If we do not act now, that legislative action will become permanent.
With the dire threat to Lone Jack, as stated below, to lose our
Priority II status will effectively reduce our chances of saving the
remaining portion of the battlefield.
To
help you, we have put together a "comment" that you can copy and paste
into the form on the NPS's website (in blue below my name ~ by all means
feel free to use your own words or any portion of the below).
Please
pass this along to anyone you think can help! Please remember that
these comments MUST be submitted to the NPS no later than this Friday,
October 12, 2012.
Thank you for your help!
Alinda M. Miller
Lone Jack Historical Society
I
would like to respond to the NPS regarding the Lone Jack Civil War
Battlefield. In the draft report release in December 2010, the NPS's
position of the Lone Jack battlefield reads:
"More
severely threatened is Lone Jack, where commercial and residential
development is destroying significant areas of the battlefield. Much of
the Lone Jack battlefield is located within an Urban Service District of
heavily populated and fast-growing Jackson County. Remaining farmland
is zoned for urban and suburban uses, making it expensive and difficult
to acquire for preservation.6
If
any significant portion of the Lone Jack battlefield is to be protected
for future generations, coordinated preservation efforts are needed now
among local, state, and national partners.
The
historic West Field is still used for cropland, but it is zoned and
marketed for commercial use. The only protected land on the battlefield
is a three-acre parcel owned by the county, which include three burial
trenches and a small museum (both maintained by the Lone Jack Historical
Society). Immediate preservation efforts are needed to save the last
bit of historic terrain associated with the battle.
Eleven
other battlefields have been altered to varying degrees, but each still
presents opportunities for land and resource protection. Five of these
battlefields are severely threatened Glasgow, Liberty, Lexington II,
Little Blue River, and Lone Jack are all currently seeing changes in
land use that are incompatible with historic preservation—"
Please
reconsider your down grade of the Lone Jack Battlefield to a Priority
IV. This battlefield is in dire need of preservation, which is still
attainable. Thomason & Assoc, a respected preservation planning
company, has investigated prservation options for the Lone Jack
Battlefield and declared areas, including the historic West Field,
preservable. Preliminary community meetings have generated positive
enouragement of preservation from various sources, including the owner
of the historic West Field.
The
battle of Lone Jack was fought in the middle of the town square. While
the 1862 stuctures have been replaced with newer ones and parts of the
Lone Jack Battlefield have been compromised, battlefield land can
be reclaimed. The Franklin Tennessee Battlefield is a prime example.
To downgrade to a Priority IV will severely limit the ability to save
the Lone Jack battlefield.
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "Tanya_Gossett@nps.gov" <Tanya_Gossett@nps.gov>
From: "Tanya_Gossett@nps.gov" <Tanya_Gossett@nps.gov>
Just a reminder, the National Park Service (NPS) is encouraging everyone
with an interest in Civil War battlefields to review its draft report about
the preservation of those important landscapes. The document is available
online at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/battlefields until October 12, 2012.
Click on the link to the document to open it, read it, or print it, and
then click on "Comment on Document" if you would like to send your comments
about the report to the NPS.
Your feedback will help the NPS identify current issues at the battlefields
and update its report accordingly. The NPS will then send the final report
to Congress for consideration and legislative action.
Tanya M. Gossett
Cultural Resources, Partnerships and Science
National Park Service
1201 Eye Street, NW, 6th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
202-354-2019
