[Senate Hearing 109-74]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 109-74
MISCELLANEOUS PARKS BILLS
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL PARKS
of the
COMMITTEE ON
ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
on
S. 242 S. 262
S. 336 S. 670
S. 777 H.R. 126
__________
APRIL 28, 2005
Printed for the use of the
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
______
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COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico, Chairman
LARRY E. CRAIG, Idaho JEFF BINGAMAN, New Mexico
CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii
LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota
LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska RON WYDEN, Oregon
RICHARD M. BURR, North Carolina, TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota
MEL MARTINEZ, Florida MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana
JAMES M. TALENT, Missouri DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California
CONRAD BURNS, Montana MARIA CANTWELL, Washington
GEORGE ALLEN, Virginia JON S. CORZINE, New Jersey
GORDON SMITH, Oregon KEN SALAZAR, Colorado
JIM BUNNING, Kentucky
Alex Flint, Staff Director
Judith K. Pensabene, Chief Counsel
Robert M. Simon, Democratic Staff Director
Sam E. Fowler, Democratic Chief Counsel
------
Subcommittee on National Parks
CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming, Chairman
LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee, Vice Chairman
GEORGE ALLEN, Virginia DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii
RICHARD M. BURR, North Carolina RON WYDEN, Oregon
MEL MARTINEZ, Florida MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana
GORDON SMITH, Oregon JON S. CORZINE, New Jersey
KEN SALAZAR, Colorado
Pete V. Domenici and Jeff Bingaman are Ex Officio Members of the
Subcommittee
Thomas Lillie, Professional Staff Member
David Brooks, Democratic Senior Counsel
C O N T E N T S
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STATEMENTS
Page
Akaka, Hon. Daniel K., U.S. Senator from Hawaii.................. 3
Allen, Hon. George, U.S. Senator from Virginia................... 5
Feinstein, Hon. Dianne, U.S. Senator from California............. 23
Hutchison, Hon. Kay Bailey, U.S. Senator from Texas.............. 2
Jones, Hon. Walter B., U.S. Representative from North Carolina... 9
Lowe, Felicia, Vice President of the Board, Angel Island
Immigration Station Foundation, San Francisco, CA.............. 24
McCain, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from Arizona..................... 2
Noonan, Patrick F., Chairman Emeritus of the Conservation Fund,
Arlington, VA.................................................. 29
Salazar, Hon. Ken, U.S. Senator from Colorado.................... 3
Sarbanes, Hon. Paul S., U.S. Senator from Maryland............... 6
Soukup, Michael, Associate Director, Natural Resources
Stewardship and Science, National Park Service, Department of
the Interior 12
Thomas, Hon. Craig, U.S. Senator from Wyoming.................... 1
Warner, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from Virginia.................... 9
APPENDIXES
Appendix I
Responses to additional questions................................ 35
Appendix II
Additional material submitted for the record..................... 41
MISCELLANEOUS PARKS BILLS
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THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2005
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on National Parks,
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:30 p.m., in
room SD-366, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Craig Thomas
presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CRAIG THOMAS,
U.S. SENATOR FROM WYOMING
Senator Thomas. I will call the meeting to order. Thank you
all for being here.
I want to welcome Mike Soukup from the National Park
Service and other witnesses today for today's subcommittee
hearing.
Our purpose for the hearing is to receive testimony on five
Senate bills and one House bill. S. 242 is a bill to establish
four memorials to the Space Shuttle Columbia in the State of
Texas. S. 262 is a bill to authorize appropriations to the
Secretary of the Interior for the restoration of the Angel
Island Immigration Station in the State of California. S. 336
is a bill to direct the Secretary of the Interior to carry out
a study of the feasibility of designating the Captain John
Smith Chesapeake National Historic Watertrail as a National
Historic Trail. S. 670 is a bill to authorize Secretary of the
Interior to conduct a special resource study of sites
associated with the life of Cesar Chavez and the farm labor
movement. S. 777 is a bill to designate Catoctin Mountain Park
in the State of Maryland as the Catoctin Mountain National
Recreation Area, and for other purposes. And finally, H.R. 126
is a bill to amend Public Law 89-366 to allow for an adjustment
in the number of free-roaming horses permitted in Cape Outlook
National Seashore.
The Angel Island funding is a particular concern. The site
is of historical significance as a west coast center, but it is
not a unit of the National Park. It is a State-operated
facility by the State of California. Use of Federal funds does
not seem appropriate at a time when we are struggling to find
funds to correct the maintenance backlog of our parks. I am
looking forward to hearing testimony on the bill and discussing
it further.
I thank my colleagues from the Senate who are here and all
the witnesses for coming today. I look forward to hearing the
testimony.
Senator Akaka.
[The prepared statements of Senators Hutchison, McCain and
Salazar follow:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Kay Bailey Hutchison, U.S. Senator From
Texas, on S. 242
Mr. Chairman and subcommittee members. Thank you for including S.
242, The Columbia Space Shuttle Memorials Act of 2005, in today's
hearing.
High over Texas and just short of home, Space Shuttle Columbia
exploded to pieces on February 1, 2003 raining debris over hundreds of
miles of countryside. Seven astronauts perished--a gut-wrenching loss
for the country and the world. The catastrophe occurred 39 miles above
the Earth, in the last 16 minutes of the 16-day mission as the
spaceship re-entered the atmosphere for a glide-in landing in Florida.
In its horror and in its backdrop of a crystal blue sky, the day echoed
one almost exactly 17 years before when the Space Shuttle Challenger
exploded.
More than two years have passed since we lost the Columbia Space
Shuttle and its brave crew. Still today no national memorial exists to
honor the seven Americans whose lives were tragically cut short in
pursuit of the newest frontier, space.
No memorial will ever erase the grief shared by so many on that
fateful day, particularly for the families, but rather it will serve as
a reminder to the world of the tremendous sacrifice our seven
astronauts made. I personally will never forget hearing the sonic boom
early that February morning, as Columbia disintegrated over my home
state of Texas. This tragedy will forever remind America and the world
of the importance of our continued commitment to explore space and the
risks that those who make the journey face on every mission.
I appreciate the committee holding a hearing on this bill so we can
recognize and honor the loss and sacrifice of the Columbia crew. In
short, S. 242 would authorize the National Park Service to establish
four memorials in areas where large pieces of debris from the Space
Shuttle were recovered.
I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass this
legislation. I thank you again for holding a hearing on this important
matter.
______
Prepared Statement of Hon. John McCain, U.S. Senator From Arizona,
on S. 670
I would like to thank the distinguished Chairman for holding this
hearing on legislation affecting National Parks.
I am pleased to be joined by Senator Salazar in sponsoring S. 670,
the Cesar Estrada Chavez Study Act, which we introduced on March 17,
2005. S. 670 would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a
special resource study of sites associated with the life of Cesar
Chavez and to determine whether any of the significant sites meet the
criteria for being listed on the National Register of Historic
Landmarks. The goal of this legislation is to establish a foundation
for future legislation that would then designate land for the
appropriate sites to become historic landmarks. An identical bill
passed the Senate unanimously during the last Congress, has received an
overwhelming positive response, not only from my fellow Arizonans, but
from Americans all across the nation.
Cesar Estrada Chavez stands out in American history for helping
Americans transcend distinctions of experience and share equally in the
rights and responsibilities of freedom. Though he no doubt loved
qualities of life associated with his family's Hispanic heritage, he
will be remembered for the sincerity of his patriotism and for helping
to make America a bigger and better nation. For all of these reasons, I
express my support for the Cesar Estrada Chavez Study Act.
Cesar Chavez, an Arizonan born on a small farm near Yuma, was the
son of migrant farm workers.
While his formal education ended in the eighth grade, his
insatiable intellectual curiosity and determination helped make him
known as one of the great American leaders for his successes in
organizing migrant farm workers.
During the Great Depression, the Chavez family lost their farm and
as a result, they migrated across the southwest looking for farm work.
His exposure to the hardships and injustices of farm worker life helped
Chavez evolve into a defender of worker's rights. He founded the
National Farm Workers Association in 1962, which later became the
United Farm Workers of America (UFWA). As leader of the UFWA, Chavez
was able to attain fair wages, medical coverage, pension benefits, and
humane living condition, along with countless other rights and
protections for farm workers.
Cesar Chavez gave a voice to those who had no voice. In his words,
``We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress
and prosperity for our community . . . our ambitions must be broad
enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes
and for our own.''
Cesar Chavez was a humble man of deep conviction who understood
what it meant to serve and sacrifice for others. His motto in life,
``si, se puede'' or it can be done, epitomizes his life's work and
continues to influence those wishing to improve our nation. Honoring
the places of his life will enable his legacy to inspire and serve as
an example for our future leaders.
Thank you again for holding today's hearing and for allowing me to
express my strong support for this legislation.
______
Prepared Statement of Hon. Ken Salazar, U.S. Senator From Colorado,
on S. 670
It was with great pleasure that I joined with Senator McCain
earlier this year to introduce Senate Bill 670, the Cesar Estrada
Chavez Study Act.
The Cesar Estrada Chavez Study Act is a straightforward bill that
takes an important first step in memorializing the tremendous
contributions of an exemplary American and a passionate champion of
human and civil rights.
The bill will direct the National Park Service to conduct a study
of the sites associated with the life of Cesar Chavez, which will help
lay the necessary groundwork for the preservation of these sites as
national historic landmarks.
As a leader that helped shine a light on the plight of America's
often forgotten farm workers, Mr. Chavez is a personal hero of mine.
Cesar Chavez came from humble roots, but his strength of character
led him to achieve great things--he was born on March 31, 1927 in Yuma,
Arizona, where he spent his early years on his family's farm.
At the age of 10, his family lost their farm in a bank foreclosure,
forcing them to join the thousands of farm workers that wandered the
Southwest to find work.
He worked in the fields and vineyards with his family, where he
experienced first-hand the hardships and the injustices in farm worker
life, and became determined to bring dignity to farm workers.
In 1962, he founded the National Farm Workers Association, which
would later become the United Farm Workers of America (UFW). And
through the UFW, Chavez called attention to the terrible working and
living conditions of America's farm workers.
Most importantly, he organized thousands of migrant farm workers to
fight for fair wages, health care coverage, pension benefits, livable
housing, and respect.
Chavez once remarked, ``It is my deepest belief that only by giving
our lives do we find life.'' He gave his life to ensure farm workers
were afforded the rights and dignity they deserved, and it is time we
honor him by preserving his life and legacy.
I hope that we can move forward and swiftly send the Cesar Chavez
Act to full Senate for consideration.
STATEMENT OF HON. DANIEL K. AKAKA, U.S. SENATOR
FROM HAWAII
Senator Akaka. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank
you for scheduling this hearing.
Most of the bills on today's agenda are noncontroversial,
and I look forward to working with you and all of the bill
sponsors to move them through the committee as soon as
possible.
I would like to take a minute to talk about one of the
bills that is of particular interest to me, and that is S. 262,
the Angel Island bill. The history of Angel Island is an
important chapter in our Nation's history, and I am pleased to
be an original cosponsor of Senator Feinstein's bill to help
with the restoration of the Angel Island Immigration Station.
I would like to offer a warm welcome to my friend, Felicia
Lowe, the vice president of the board of the Angel Island
Immigration Station Foundation, who hosted my tour of the
immigration station in San Francisco. I also would like to
welcome Kathy Turner, the new president of the board.
I visited Angel Island in 1999 because of my interest in
understanding and documenting the history of Asian Americans,
Pacific Islanders, and other groups not traditionally
acknowledged through public history. I had hopes that the
National Park Service could identify and memorialize movements
and migrations of many peoples that entered and settled the
United States through the peopling of America. The immigration
station at Angel Island is an important part of this history. I
was moved by the poems that were written on the walls of the
barracks during the struggle of Japanese and Chinese trying to
come to the United States. I was impressed with the amount we
can learn about our collective history through the restoration
of the immigration facility.
Angel Island is often referred to as the Ellis Island of
the West because of the large number of immigrants who arrived
and were processed through the immigration facilities located
on the island. However, there was an important difference
between the two sites. Although both Angel Island and Ellis
Island processed immigrants to the United States, Angel Island
was built for the specific purpose of excluding immigrants of
Asian descent as a result of the 1880 Chinese Exclusion Act and
other laws targeting Asian immigrants. Much of the history
associated with Angel Island reflects a dark chapter of
American history, although an important one. I think it is
important that we understand the diversity and the complexity
of our Nation's history, especially of people whose history and
culture is not as well known as those who arrived through Ellis
Island. Preserving the buildings at Angel Island will help to
tell the story.
Mr. Chairman, I know there is concern with this bill
because it authorizes a pass-through grant from the National
Park Service to help restore a non-Federal facility. As a
general rule, I share the concern that Park Service funding not
be diluted for non-Federal purposes. However, I think a
different case can be made for this bill. Angel Island has
already been designated by the Secretary of the Interior as a
National Historical Landmark, the highest designation a
Secretary can bestow, and that showcases Angel Island's
national significance. In my opinion, Angel Island, like its
eastern counterpart, Ellis Island, would be an appropriate
addition to the National Park System.
However, in this case, the State of California and a
nonprofit group, the Angel Island Immigration Station
Foundation, have stepped in to assume management
responsibilities for the site. Any Federal funds appropriated
for this purpose must be met with non-Federal funds. The State
of California has already approved a $15 million bond for
restoration at Angel Island, which is in addition to other
State contributions and funds raised by the foundation. And
this is the story I wanted to tell.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to welcome the witnesses and
look forward to hearing their testimony and learning more about
these bills. Thank you very much.
Senator Thomas. Thank you, sir.
Senator Allen, any comments?
STATEMENT OF HON. GEORGE ALLEN, U.S. SENATOR
FROM VIRGINIA
Senator Allen. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate
the opportunity to speak about an important time in our
history, a place, and a hero, which is part of the rich
heritage of our Commonwealth of Virginia and ultimately our
Nation, a measure that I have introduced. In fact, the key
sponsor, the lead sponsor, along with myself, is Senator
Sarbanes. Senator Warner is on board, as well as Senator
Mikulski.
This has to do with about 400 years ago. Captain John
Smith, one of America's earliest explorers, sailed into the
Chesapeake Bay in uncharted waters at that time. He was the key
founder of the settlement at Jamestown. He spent 3 years from
1607 to 1609 exploring and mapping the Chesapeake Bay region
and the tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay which include the
Potomac River and the Rappahannock, and clearly also the
Susquehanna. In fact, all the tributaries are not just in
Virginia. There are many in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and also in
Delaware to some extent.
These were some of the most accurate maps, and I am glad to
see that there is one here. His voyages and travels throughout
Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay motivated him to write--and I
quote--``heaven and earth never agreed better to frame a place
for man's habitation.'' And so millions of people later agree
with it.
So I have joined with Senators Sarbanes, Warner and
Mikulski to introduce the Captain John Smith Chesapeake
National Historic Watertrail Study Act of 2005. This
legislation would investigate the possibility of designating
the route that Captain John Smith's exploration took him in the
Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries and make this a National
Historical Trail. This would expand, in my view, the
educational and recreational opportunities for people. It would
protect natural resources, provide economic growth for tourism
in this region. And it would also fit in perfectly with the
celebration of the 400th anniversary of the founding of the
Jamestown colony and focus also on the Chesapeake Bay and its
many attractions and educational opportunities.
So with this study and this measure, when the eyes of the
world will be on Virginia and Jamestown in 2007, which will be
the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, I think the
John Smith Watertrail is a fitting and a framing tribute to the
birthplace of American democracy and the cradle of American
liberty.
I would respectfully ask you, Mr. Chairman, and members of
this committee to pass this measure as quickly as possible so
that planning can begin. I think this will be an exciting way
of having trails in a different sense. It is one that I think
will enhance tourism and jobs while also protecting the natural
beauty and the historic heritage of the entire region.
I thank you and I thank also Senator Sarbanes for his truly
outstanding and vital leadership on this measure as well. Thank
you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Thomas. Thank you, Senator. 1607.
Senator Allen. 1607.
Senator Thomas. Captain Smith did not make it to Wyoming
then, I do not believe.
Senator Allen. No, he did not. He did not make it to
Wyoming, but he would have liked to have.
[Laughter.]
Senator Allen. He would have loved to have seen the Tetons.
I will note Massachusetts was founded in 1620 and if you
look at the Mayflower Compact, they thought they were landing
in northern Virginia. If they had seen John Smith's charts,
they would not have called it northern Virginia. But a whole
year before the pilgrims set foot up there, Virginia already
had a legislative body. So when you talk about the cradle of
democracy, they already had a legislative body. This will help.
Folks will want to come in from Wyoming probably more in
the wintertime. In the summer everyone wants to be out there in
Wyoming.
Senator Thomas. We will trade you.
We will start with Senator Sarbanes. Thank you, sir. I
appreciate your being here.
STATEMENT OF HON. PAUL S. SARBANES, U.S. SENATOR
FROM MARYLAND
Senator Sarbanes. Mr. Chairman, Senator Akaka, thank you
very much for this opportunity to testify on two measures I
have introduced: one, to redesignate Catoctin Mountain Park as
Catoctin Mountain National Recreation Area, and the other to
authorize a feasibility study of designating the route of
Captain John Smith's exploration of the Chesapeake Bay as a
National Historic Watertrail.
Actually on a subsequent panel, you will be hearing from
Patrick Noonan, founder and chairman emeritus of The
Conservation Fund, who essentially conceived of the John Smith
Watertrail and has long been an outstanding leader in the
protection of wildlife habitat and historic sites throughout
our country. I know the committee will find his testimony very
compelling.
Mr. Chairman, I testified before you in March 2003 and am
grateful for the support the committee provided then in
approving the renaming of Catoctin Park in the 108th Congress.
I hope you can so act again this year and hopefully we will be
able to get concurrence on the House side. I also hope you will
be able to move favorably and swiftly on the Captain John Smith
Watertrail study.
I have a full statement, which I would like to have
included in the record, and I will try to summarize in
deference to the committee's time constraints. But let me just
underscore the principal rationale behind each of these two
measures.
The purpose of S. 777, the Catoctin Mountain National
Recreation Area Designation Act, is to address the longstanding
confusion about the ownership and management of Catoctin
Mountain Park, as it is now known, and to clearly identify this
park as a unit of the National Park System.
Home to Camp David, this 6,000-acre park in Frederick
County, Maryland, has been aptly described by a travel writer
as America's most famous unknown park. The proximity of
Catoctin Mountain Park, Camp David, and Cunningham Falls State
Park, and the differences between the national and the State
park management have been the source of confusion for visitors
to the area for a long time. The Federal facility, the Catoctin
Mountain Park, has been continually misidentified by the public
as containing lake and beach areas associated with Cunningham
Falls State Park, which is operated by the State of Maryland,
and alternatively, as being closed to the public because of
Camp David. Also, the situation is further confused by the
presence of the privately-owned Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and
Zoo. The superintendent of the park tells us that National Park
employees spend significant time explaining, assisting, and
redirecting visitors to their desired destinations.
We propose to remedy this situation by renaming the unit
the Catoctin Mountain National Recreation Area. The mission and
characteristics of the park make this designation appropriate.
It is supported by the Frederick Board of County Commissioners
and the Tourism Council of Frederick County. The Maryland State
Highway Administration, perhaps in anticipation of this bill,
has already changed some of the signs leading to the park to
reflect the name we propose. This bill would make the name
change official within the National Park Service and on
official National Park Service maps.
Now, S. 336, the Captain John Smith National Watertrail, as
Senator Allen noted, is a bipartisan and multi-State measure,
cosponsored by Senators Allen and Warner, Senator Mikulski, and
Senator Biden. I think it is of great historical importance to
all of us in that it represents the beginning of our Nation's
story. As one of the first explorers of the New World, John
Smith played a key role in the founding and survival of
Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North
America. His explorations in search of food for the new colony
and in search of the fabled Northwest Passage--I think he
thought he would be able to get to Wyoming if he found the
Northwest Passage.
[Laughter.]
Senator Sarbanes. But it took him nearly 3,000 miles around
the Chesapeake Bay from the Virginia capes to the mouth of the
Susquehanna. He kept these remarkably accurate maps of the land
and water, and his journals describing the indigenous people he
met and the beauty and abundance of the Chesapeake Bay region
helped launch an era of discovery in the New World.
As Jamestown's 400th anniversary approaches in 2007--that
is a real milestone I must say--I think designating this trail
as our first National Historic Watertrail would be a tremendous
way to celebrate the beginnings of our Nation's story. It would
serve to educate visitors about the new colony at Jamestown,
about John Smith's journey, the history of the 17th century
Chesapeake region, and the Native Americans that inhabited the
bay area. It is a real opportunity for recreation and heritage
tourism, not only for the 16 million people who live in the bay
watershed, but for visitors from throughout the country and
from abroad.
I think this proposed watertrail would be a fitting
addition to the 13 National Historic Trails established in the
National Park Service to commemorate major events that shaped
American history. This, of course, is a study to determine the
feasibility of such a watertrail.
The legislation has been endorsed by the Governors of
Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. It is strongly
supported by the Izaak Walton League, the Chesapeake Bay
Foundation, the Chesapeake Bay Commission, and The Conservation
Fund. Again, I close by thanking and commending Pat Noonan for
his vision in conceiving this trail. I join with Senator Allen
in underscoring its importance, and we certainly urge the
committee to approve this measure and bring it before the full
Senate for its consideration. Thank you very much.
[The prepared statements of Senators Sarbanes and Warner
follow:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Paul S. Sarbanes, U.S. Senator From
Maryland, on S. 777
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, for this
opportunity to testify on two measures I have introduced to re-
designate Catoctin Mountain Park as ``Catoctin Mountain National
Recreation Area'' and to authorize a feasibility study of designating
the route of Captain John Smith's exploration of the Chesapeake Bay as
a National Historic Watertrail.
I testified before this Committee in March, 2003 and am grateful
for the support the Committee provided in approving the Catoctin Park
renaming legislation during the 108th Congress. I hope that the
Committee can do so again this year and also act favorably and swiftly
on the Captain John Smith Watertrail study. I would just like to
underscore today some of the principal rationales behind these two
measures.
The purpose of S. 777, the Catoctin Mountain National Recreation
Area Designation Act, is to address longstanding confusion about the
ownership and management of Catoctin Mountain Park and to clearly
identify this park as a unit of the National Park System. The park is
one of only 17 units in the entire 388-unit National Park System--most
located in the National Capital Region--that does not have the word
``national'' in its title. Those units include four parkways, the White
House, Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts and four wild and
scenic rivers.
Home to Camp David, this 6000-acre park in Frederick County,
Maryland has been aptly described by a travel writer as ``America's
most famous unknown park.'' The proximity of Catoctin Mountain Park,
Camp David, and Cunningham Falls State Park and the differences between
national and state park management, have long been the source of
confusion for visitors to the area. Catoctin Mountain Park has been
continually misidentified by the public as containing lake and beach
areas associated with Cunningham Falls State Park, being operated by
the State of Maryland, or being closed to the public because of the
presence of Camp David. Likewise, a privately owned Catoctin Wildlife
Preserve and Zoo is often confused with the park. The Superintendent of
the Park has advised me that National Park employees spend countless
hours explaining, assisting and redirecting visitors to their desired
destinations
S. 777 seeks to address this situation by renaming the unit the
Catoctin Mountain National Recreation Area. The mission and
characteristics of this park make this designation appropriate. The
legislation is not controversial and would not change current uses
occurring within the park. It is supported by the Frederick Board of
County Commissioners and the Tourism Council of Frederick County. The
Maryland State Highway Administration, perhaps in anticipation of the
enactment of this bill, has already changed some of the signs leading
to the Park to reflect this name. This bill would make the name change
official within the National Park Service and on official National Park
Service maps.
S. 336, the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic
Watertrail Study Act of 2005, is a bipartisan and multi-state measure
which is co-sponsored by Senators Allen, Biden, Mikulski and Warner.
The proposed National Historic Watertrail is of great historical
importance to all Americans in that it represents the beginning of our
nation's story. As one of the first explorers of the New World, John
Smith played a key role in the founding and survival of Jamestown--the
first permanent English settlement in North America. His explorations
in search of food for the new colony and the fabled Northwest Passage
took him nearly 3,000 miles around the Chesapeake Bay from the Virginia
capes to the mouth of the Susquehanna. Smith's remarkably accurate maps
of the land and water and his journals describing the indigenous people
he met and the beauty and natural abundance of the Chesapeake Bay
region helped launch an era of discovery in the New World. Even today,
his vivid descriptions of the Bay's bounty--oysters so ubiquitous that
they ``lay as thick as stones'' and ``an abundance of fish, lying so
thick with their heads above the water, as for want of nets . . . we
attempted to catch them with a frying pan''--still serve as a benchmark
for the health and productivity of the Chesapeake Bay.
As Jamestown's 400th anniversary approaches in 2007, designating
this trail as our first national historic watertrail would be a
tremendous way to celebrate the beginning of our nation's story. It
would serve to educate visitors about the new colony at Jamestown, John
Smith's journey, the history of 17th century Chesapeake region, and the
Native Americans that inhabited the Bay area. It would provide new
opportunities for recreation and heritage tourism not only for more
than 16 millions Americans living in the Chesapeake Bay's watershed,
but for visitors to this area throughout the country and abroad.
Equally important, it would also help highlight our current efforts to
restore and sustain the nation's largest and most productive estuary.
In my judgment, the proposed watertrail is a fitting addition to
the 13 National Historic Trails established in the National Park
Service to commemorate major events which shaped American history. The
legislation has been endorsed by the Governors of Virginia,
Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. It is strongly supported by the
Izaak Walton League, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Chesapeake
Bay Commission. I want to commend Pat Noonan for his vision in
conceiving this trail and urge the Committee to swiftly approve this
measure and report it to the full Senate for consideration.
______
Prepared Statement of Hon. John Warner, U.S. Senator From Virginia,
on S. 336
Chairman Thomas, Senator Akaka, and my other distinguished
colleagues on the Senate's Subcommittee on National Parks, I thank you
for holding this hearing today so that we may discuss legislation
important to my state and the Chesapeake Bay.
In 2007, Virginia, along with the rest of our great Nation, will
celebrate the 400th anniversary of the historic founding of Jamestown,
the first permanent English settlement in the New World. At this site,
back in 1607, an adventurous band of Englishmen, led by Captain John
Smith, pitched down their stakes on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay,
tired from a long journey across the blue ocean, but full of hope for
the possibilities that lay ahead.
As we Virginians know, Mr. Chairman, nobody was more influential in
this founding endeavor than Captain John Smith. He was the first
ambassador to the native peoples of the Chesapeake, exchanging cultural
customs, and trading goods necessary for the fledgling colonists
survival. John Smith was also the first English explorer of the many
creeks and rivers that populate the Maryland and Virginia of today.
From 1607 to 1609, Captain Smith plied the briny Bay waters, recording
history and surveying the land, even this patch of Earth where our
nation's Capitol stands today. In honor of Captain Smith's historic
3,000 mile journey through the choppy Chesapeake's main stem and
tributaries, my colleagues and I from the Bay States join together in
support of legislation authorizing a study of the feasibility of
designating the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic
Watertrail.
What would this trail accomplish? Outside of the obvious tourism it
would bring to the region, and besides the fact that its creation would
complement the existing Chesapeake Gateways Network, the Watertrail
would educate Americans on the perils of our first English settlers, on
their interaction with the numerous Native tribes, on the voyages they
undertook to better understand the New World they had come to inhabit.
First hand, citizens of all ages would be able to retrace the paddle
strokes and footsteps of Captain John Smith, to see what he saw, to
learn what he learned. Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to join me in
supporting this feasibility study for the Captain John Smith Chesapeake
National Historic Watertrail.
Senator Thomas. Thank you very much, Senator.
Congressman Jones.
STATEMENT OF HON. WALTER B. JONES,
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM NORTH CAROLINA
Mr. Jones. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much, and members
of the committee, thank you for this opportunity. I have a full
statement, sir. If I could submit it, and then summarize the
statement, sir?
Senator Thomas. It will be included.
Mr. Jones. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you. This is the second time
in the last year that you have heard this bill and I want to
thank you and Senator Akaka for that opportunity as well.
What this bill does, H.R. 126, is this is going to help
ensure and protect a herd of wild Spanish horses that has
occupied the Shackleford Banks of North Carolina, which is part
of the barrier islands, that really have been traced back by
genetic scientists for 3 centuries. This really goes back to
the Spanish mustangs from the ships that wrecked off the coast
of North Carolina. Little horses swam ashore.
In 1998, with the House and Senate and also with the Park
Service, we put a bill in that became law that would create an
existing partnership with the Shackleford Banks Horse
Foundation, which is based in North Carolina in my district,
along with the Park Service so that they could work together to
ensure the future and the viability of the herd.
What H.R. 126 will do is to take the number which now is
around 110 and give it a little flexibility and take it to a
minimum of 110 to a range of 120 to 130.
Now, this range is based on two very well-known scientists.
One is a genetic scientist from Princeton University who
testified on behalf of this legislation a few years ago. His
name is Dr. Dan Rubenstein. He is internationally known for his
work. Mr. Chairman, he each and every year for the past 20-some
years takes students down from Princeton University to the
barrier islands. They stay there and spend about 4 weeks
monitoring these horses. It is kind of fascinating to know what
they are doing to ensure the history and the future of these
horses.
In addition to Dr. Rubenstein is Dr. Gus Cothran, who also
is a genetic specialist from the University of Kentucky. They
each and every year work with the Park Service down in my
district, as well as the local citizens, to ensure the
viability and the future of these little horses.
I am pleased to say that from 1998 and through today and
including today, the National Park Service has worked with us
and has worked hand in hand not only with myself or with our
Senator Burr and Senator Dole, but also with the local
citizens. This has been a real success story, sir, of how the
Federal Government can work with the local people to see a part
of history maintained and hopefully guaranteed for the future.
Mr. Chairman, that is a summary of what this does. The bill
again is to raise the number slightly and that is based on the
genetic scientists.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Jones follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Walter B. Jones, U.S. Representative From
North Carolina, on H.R. 126
Mr. Chairman, thank you for scheduling this hearing on H.R. 126,
which adjusts the number of free roaming horses permitted on
Shackleford Banks in the Cape Lookout National Seashore. As you may
recall, last year you were kind enough to hold a hearing on H.R. 2055--
a bill I introduced in the 108th Congress that is identical to H.R.
126.
Shackleford Banks is a barrier island off the coast of North
Carolina that has been home to a herd of wild horses for over three
centuries. In fact, experts believe the herd descended from Spanish
stallions that were shipwrecked on the island during colonial times.
Over the years, the Shackleford horses have become an integral part
of the natural and cultural fabric of Eastern North Carolina. They are
treasured by the local community and adored by the visitors who come
from around the world to see them.
To protect these beautiful creatures, in 1997 I introduced the
Shackleford Banks Wild Horses Protection Act which the President later
signed into law. The Act directed the Department of the Interior to
enter into an agreement with a non-profit group--the Foundation for
Shackleford Horses--to manage the herd. It also required the Department
to allow a herd of 100 free-roaming horses in the Seashore, and it set
out terms under which horses could be removed, including a prohibition
on removal ``unless the number of horses . . . exceeds 110.''
As the National Park Service and the Foundation began to implement
the Act, disagreement erupted over the law's requirements on the size
of the herd. The Park Service interpreted the Act to mean that the
herd's population should be kept between 100 and 110. However, as the
author of the legislation, I can tell you this interpretation was
inconsistent with Congressional intent, which was to allow the herd to
hover above 110.
The Park Service's interpretation also conflicted with the
established scientific consensus on the size of the herd. Studies by
world-renowned genetic scientists Dr. Daniel Rubenstein of Princeton
University, and Dr. Gus Cothran of the University of Kentucky, confirm
that in order to maintain the herd's long-term viability, its optimum
size is around 120 animals. The experts also agree that the population
should not dip below 110 and that it should be allowed to expand
periodically to numbers at or above 130 in order to sustain the proper
genetic diversity in the herd. It's important to note that these
numbers are well within the island's carrying capacity.
After years of disagreement on the issue of herd size, the Park
Service met in the fall of 2002 with the Foundation for Shackleford
Horses, Dr. Rubenstein, Dr. Cothran and other stakeholders to find
middle ground. After two days of meetings, the parties emerged with an
agreement that largely mirrors the scientific understanding of how the
horses should be managed.
H.R. 126 seeks to codify this scientific consensus into law. It
would allow a herd of ``not less than 110 free roaming horses, with a
target population of between 120 and 130 free roaming horses.'' It
would also clear up confusion on when horses can be removed from the
island by mandating that removal can only occur if ``carried out as
part of a plan to maintain the viability of the herd.''
Mr. Chairman, this non-controversial legislation is supported by
the Park Service, the scientific experts and the local community. It is
a legislative fix based on sound science, and I urge the Subcommittee
to support it.
Senator Thomas. If I may, we usually do not ask questions,
but I do not think anyone else is going to testify on this
bill. Are they?
Mr. Jones. I do not know, unless the Park Service is.
Senator Thomas. Why can this not be done without any
legislation?
Mr. Jones. Well, it is my understanding that this deals
with the management plan and if we do not have this spelled out
legislatively or in the law, it will create some difficulty for
those that have to interpret the intent of Congress. So based
on the discussions we have had with the Park Service and also
with the genetic scientists, they feel that to guarantee the
viability of the herd, if we can get this little change in it,
this should take care of it for years to come.
Senator Thomas. I noticed now, after I asked the question.
The 1998 law required the park to maintain a free-roaming herd
between 100 and 110.
Mr. Jones. Yes, sir.
Senator Thomas. I see.
Mr. Jones. I am sorry I did not explain that clearly.
Senator Thomas. I should have read my paper.
Thank you very much, sir. We appreciate it.
Mr. Jones. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Thomas. If we could now get on with our panelists,
Mr. Michael Soukup, associate director, natural resources
stewardship and science, National Park Service.
STATEMENT OF MICHAEL SOUKUP, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, NATURAL
RESOURCE STEWARDSHIP AND SCIENCE, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE,
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Mr. Soukup. Thank you for this opportunity. I have six
bills to testify on, and I am wondering, should I go through
them now all at one time, or should I do them separately?
Senator Thomas. No. If would just go through them fairly
briefly right now, that would be great.
Mr. Soukup. I will try to do them in a series.
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to present the
Department of the Interior's views on H.R. 126, a bill to
adjust the number of free-roaming horses within Cape Lookout
National Seashore.
The Department is strongly committed to conserving,
protecting, and maintaining viable populations of horses on
Shackleford Banks, as Congress has directed. The Department
believes that the number of horses should be determined by the
ecology of the island and with a strong focus on means that
protect the genetic viability of the Shackleford Banks horses.
This bill adopts the number of horses recommended by
leading equine geneticists and the Department supports this
bill with an amendment that incorporates the exact intent of
these geneticists.
I would like to move to S. 242. The Department does not
support S. 242 unless is it amended to authorize a study to
determine the most appropriate and effective way to establish a
memorial to honor the brave men and women of the Columbia crew.
A study is first necessary to provide an opportunity to consult
with other agencies and organizations to determine what other
commemorative efforts have been undertaken and to assess the
alternatives for providing a full measure of appropriate
commemoration. The study would also look at the various
alternatives for managing and administering the appropriate
sites through State, local, and private organizations, as well
as the National Park Service.
Congress has established a process that authorizes studies
before designation of new units in the National Parks Omnibus
Management Act of 1998, and that process would appear to be
valuable in determining what range of actions can best be
crafted to memorialize the spirit and adventure of the space
program and the men and women who accept the dangers and
challenges of space flight.
S. 262. The Department commends the work that is being done
to restore Angel Island Immigration Station and its important
story. The National Park Service has been an active partner in
this worthy project.
However, the Department opposes this legislation for
important reasons. We believe it is inappropriate to use
limited National Park Service appropriations to restore non-
National Park Service structures. Using these limited funds in
this manner would limit our ability to address priority needs
in other NPS units, and that has been recognized and emphasized
by the President's initiative to reduce our deferred
maintenance backlog.
The National Park Service has provided significant
technical assistance, including an historic structure report,
building condition assessments, and feasibility studies. We
believe that is the proper role of the National Park Service in
supporting this effort.
In sum, we do not believe it is appropriate for the
National Park Service budget to be used as a major funding
source for the restoration of the Angel Island Immigration
Station, a State property.
Mr. Chairman, S. 336 is a bill to amend the National Trails
System Act to direct the Secretary to study the feasibility of
designating the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic
Watertrail as a National Historic Trail. The Department
supports S. 336.
The proposed trail would follow a series of routes
extending over 3,000 miles along the Chesapeake Bay and its
tributaries that trace Captain John Smith's voyage from 1607
through 1609. His explorations recorded significant information
about the bay and its Native Americans and the Chesapeake
environment and produced one of the first detailed maps of the
region, as we previously heard.
Today the Chesapeake Bay watershed is home to 16 million
people and the bay is the focus of a very important restoration
effort by the Chesapeake Bay Program, a partnership effort
between Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia,
the Chesapeake Bay Commission, and the Federal Government, as
represented by EPA.
The National Park Service coordinates the Chesapeake Bay
Gateways Network, authorized by the Chesapeake Bay Initiative
Act of 1998. This partnership system of 147 designated
Chesapeake Bay Gateways serves to connect the American public
with the resources and themes of the nationally significant
Chesapeake Bay.
Through the Department's existing authority under the
Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network we could establish a Captain
John Smith Watertrail. However, to be designated as a National
Historic Trail under the National Trails Act, an amendment to
the Act would be required. Congress normally only considers
such a designation after the completion of a study, as would be
authorized by S. 336.
We support this bill as an appropriate step in considering
the exploration of the Chesapeake Bay by Captain John Smith for
designation as part of the National Trails System.
Mr. Chairman, S. 670 is a bill to authorize the Secretary
of the Interior to conduct a special resource study of sites
associated with the life of Cesar Chavez and the farm labor
movement.
The Department supports this study as a good opportunity to
work with the Cesar Chavez Foundation and others to identify
valuable resources associated with the story of Chavez's life.
Chavez has taken his place in history among national labor
leaders and serves as a symbol for all Americans of what can be
accomplished in this country through courage and non-violent
action.
The National Park Service has already collaborated with the
foundation and others in preparing the preliminary assessment
and scope for future research on-sites associated with Chavez
and the farm worker movement. This would give us a head start
on the studies authorized by S. 670.
Mr. Chairman, S. 777 is a bill to designate Catoctin
Mountain Park in the State of Maryland as the Catoctin Mountain
National Recreation Area.
The Department supports S. 777 with two technical
corrections added at the end of our official testimony.
This bill provides a name for Catoctin Mountain Park that
is appropriate for the purpose and the use of this unit and
would update the authorization for administering this park.
This name change would also reduce confusion about the identity
and activities permitted at Catoctin Mountain Park,
distinguishing this unit from the local State parks as well as
the privately owned Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo.
Catoctin Mountain Park, with its new name, would become
recognizable as one of the five National Park System units in
Frederick County and is supported by the efforts of the
Maryland Office of Tourism Development to promote this asset.
S. 777 provides for administration of this unit in accord
with laws governing the National Park System and ensures that
the park is able to appropriately administer the park's
historic, cultural, and natural resources.
We are currently reviewing previous authorizations for
Catoctin Mountain Park to determine if any should be repealed.
We will advise the subcommittee of our findings as soon as
possible.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I hope I have covered these
adequately and this concludes my remarks. I would be happy to
respond to any questions you might have.
[The prepared statements of Mr. Soukup follow:]
Prepared Statement of Michael Soukup, Associate Director, Natural
Resources Stewardship and Science, National Park Service, Department of
the Interior
ON H.R. 126
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to present the
Department of the Interior's views on H.R. 126, a bill to adjust the
number of free-roaming horses within Cape Lookout National Seashore.
The Department supports H.R. 126, with an amendment regarding the
population range of the horses that incorporates recommendations from a
panel of scientists and others interested in the Shackleford Banks.
This bill passed the House on March 14, 2005. The Department testified
before the House Subcommittee on National Parks and the Senate
Subcommittee on National Parks in the 108th Congress in support of an
identical bill, H.R. 2055.
The Department is strongly committed to conserving, protecting, and
maintaining a representative number of horses on the Shackleford Banks
portion of the Seashore, as Congress has directed. The Department
believes that the number of horses on Shackleford Banks should be
determined by the ecology of the island and with a strong focus on
means that protect the genetic viability of the Shackleford Banks
horses.
Without this legislation, NPS would manage this herd consistent
with P.L. 105-229 that provides for a herd of 100 free-roaming horses.
H.R. 126 amends P.L. 89-366 by changing the number of free-roaming
horses at Cape Lookout National Seashore from 100, to not less than
110, and establishes a target population of between 120 and 130 horses.
The bill also changes one of the criteria that the Secretary of the
Interior may use to remove free-roaming horses from the Seashore,
allowing removal as part of a plan to maintain viability of the herd.
Congress established Cape Lookout National Seashore (Seashore) on
March 10, 1966. Encompassing more than 28,000 acres of land and water
about 3 miles off the mainland coast, the Seashore protects one of the
few remaining natural barrier island systems in the world with
excellent opportunities for fishing, shellfishing, hunting,
beachcombing, hiking, swimming, and camping in a wild and remote
setting.
The enabling legislation for the Seashore did not address the issue
of free-roaming wild horses on Shackleford Banks. Public comments on
the Seashore's 1982 Draft General Management Plan demonstrated
widespread concern about, and interest in, the future of the horses on
Shackleford Banks. The Final General Management Plan stated that, a
representative number of horses would remain on Shackleford Banks after
the privately owned land on the island was purchased by the United
States.
In 1996, following a series of public meetings, as well as
discussions with scientists and professional managers of wild horse
herds, the Seashore developed an Environmental Assessment (EA) with
alternatives for managing the Shackleford Banks horse herd.
The plan proposed to maintain a representative herd of horses by
using a combination of contraceptive drugs and periodic roundups and
removal of horses.
On November 11, 1996, the National Park Service (NPS), with
assistance from state veterinarians from the North Carolina Department
of Agriculture, initiated a roundup of the Shackleford horses. State
law required testing the horses for Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA). Out
of the 184 horses on the island, 76 tested positive for EIA and were
removed to the mainland for temporary quarantine. On the advice of the
North Carolina Department of Agriculture, these horses were euthanized.
In December 1996, the NPS established the Shackleford Banks Horse
Council, representing a wide variety of interests and stakeholders, as
a working committee to assist the park with plans for managing horses.
In 1997, a second roundup and testing program was conducted on the
Shackleford horses. Of the 103 horses on the island, five tested
positive for EIA. By this time, the Foundation for Shackleford Horses,
Inc. had secured a state-approved quarantine site and the five EIA
positive horses were transferred to it. In the transfer document, the
Foundation and the Service committed to develop a long-term Memorandum
of Agreement (MOA) to cooperate in the management of the Shackleford
Banks horses. On an interim basis, the Service issued a special use
permit to the Foundation to allow it to assist with the management of
the herd.
On August 13, 1998, Congress passed P.L. 105-229, ``An Act To
Ensure Maintenance of a Herd of Wild Horses in Cape Lookout National
Seashore.'' This act directed the NPS to maintain a herd of 100 free
roaming horses and to enter into an agreement with the Foundation for
Shackleford Horses, Inc. or another qualified nonprofit entity, to
provide for the management of free-roaming horses in the Seashore. In
April 1999, a Memorandum of Understanding with the Foundation for
Shackleford Horses, Inc. was signed.
P.L. 105-229 requires an annual Findings Report that provides the
public with information regarding the population, structure, and health
of the horses on Shackleford Banks. Research, monitoring and record-
keeping, with the goal of informed decisions for removal and
immunocontraception, is ongoing, as is consultation with
internationally recognized advisors in the fields of equine behavior,
genetics, virology, immunocontraception, management, humane issues, and
island ecology. The NPS continues to work with the Foundation under the
MOU and management decisions regarding the horses are reached jointly
with the Foundation and with the advice of scientists.
On October 29 and 30, 2002, the NPS hosted a roundtable meeting
with the aim of reaching a consensus on the free-roaming horse
population range and the strategy for achieving that range.
Participants included the Seashore Superintendent and staff, staff from
Representative Jones' office, and representatives from the Foundation
for Shackleford Horses, Inc. Three leading scientists considered
experts in their respective fields also participated: Dr. Dan
Rubenstein of Princeton University, Dr. Gus Cothran of the University
of Kentucky, and (by telephone) Dr. Jay Kirkpatrick of ZooMontana.
Included in the discussion was the value of occasional herd
expansion to maintain genetic variability in the population. The
conclusion reached was that the population should be allowed to
fluctuate between 110-130 individuals. The methodology of conducting
removal and contraception toward this goal was also discussed and
agreed upon. The range of 110 to 130 horses is based on sound science
and provides the population changes, which are necessary for
maintaining the genetic viability of the herd.
Based upon the October roundtable discussion, we recommend an
amendment to the bill that is attached to this testimony. We believe
that this amendment will more clearly reflect the need to allow the
population bloom necessary for maintaining the genetic viability of the
herd.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my statement. I would be pleased to
answer any questions you or other members of the subcommittee may have.
Suggested Amendment, H.R. 126:
On page 2, line 9-10, delete ``with a target population of between
120 and 130'' and insert, ``allowing periodic population expansion of
the herd to a maximum of 130 horses''.
ON S. 242
Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the
opportunity to appear before you today to present the Department of the
Interior's views on S. 242, a bill to establish 4 memorials to the
space shuttle Columbia in the State of Texas.
The Department does not support S. 242, unless amended to authorize
a study to determine the most appropriate and effective way to
establish a memorial to honor the brave men and women on the crew of
the Columbia. We believe it is critical that National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA), the crew's family members, and others
intimately involved in the shuttle mission, disaster, and recovery be
part of a process to determine what is most appropriate. A study would
provide this opportunity by including consultation with other agencies
and organizations, including NASA, to determine what other
commemorative efforts have been undertaken to memorialize the space
shuttle Columbia as well as taking into account the wishes and desires
of the crew's families regarding how they might like their loved ones
remembered. A study also would look at a variety of alternatives that
could include National Park Service (NPS) management or could focus on
administering the site through State or local governments or private
organizations.
Because a study can provide these important benefits, a suitability
and feasibility study typically is conducted prior to designation of a
new unit of the National Park System. Indeed, Congress established in
the National Parks Omnibus Management Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-391) a
process for authorizing studies before the designation of new units.
Studies of this type typically take approximately three years to
complete after funds are made available. We currently have 30 other
similar studies in progress, and we hope to complete and transmit 15 to
Congress by the end of calendar year 2005. We believe that available
funding should be first directed toward completing previously
authorized studies.
S. 242 would establish units of the National Park System without a
study first determining whether the proposed units would be suitable
and feasible additions to the National Park System or whether
management by the NPS would be the most effective and efficient form of
commemoration. S. 242 would establish four units of the National Park
System in the Texas cities of Nacogdoches, Hemphill, Lufkin and San
Augustine. Large amounts of debris from the Columbia were found on each
of the four parcels specified in the bill, a combination of public and
private land, and the Lufkin civic center served as NASA's command
center for retrieval efforts. The legislation specifies that the
memorials would be administered by the Secretary of the Interior
(Secretary) and authorizes the Secretary to recommend additional sites
in Texas for establishment of memorials to Columbia.
Columbia, the first space shuttle to orbit the earth, was NASA's
oldest shuttle. On the morning of February 1, 2003, after a three-week
mission devoted to scientific and medical experiments, the Columbia
began its return to earth. As re-entry into the earth's atmosphere
continued over the Pacific, problems were noticed by NASA, contact with
the shuttle was lost, and it began to break apart. Debris from the
shuttle was observed from California to Louisiana, however the remains
of the seven astronauts and the most significant parts of the shuttle
were found in several communities across Texas. Soon after the crash,
an independent accident investigation board was established and the
first volume of the board's findings was issued in August 2003,
identifying the factors that led to the shuttle disaster and making
recommendations for future actions.
Many memorials and remembrances have been established in honor of
Columbia's crew, including a memorial at Arlington Cemetery and on
Devon Island in the Canadian High Arctic. Asteroids have been named for
members of the crew, as has a highway in Washington and an elementary
school in California. A memorial is planned at the U.S. Naval Academy
for Commander William McCool on the cross-country course where he raced
as a midshipman. On May 12, 2004, NASA dedicated its new ``Altix''
supercomputer to the memory of Kalpana ``KC'' Chawla, flight engineer
and mission specialist on the Columbia.
If the Committee recommends immediate establishment of these new
units of the National Park System, we suggest that the bill be
clarified in several areas. The legislation is unclear whether the
intent of the bill is to authorize the Secretary to manage a process
that would produce a commemorative work--such as a plaque, statue, or
other art that would be located on the properties identified in the
legislation, or if the bill is authorizing the purchase of these
properties to be developed as units of the National Park System that
would then require on-site management, development, and funding. The
costs for establishing and managing these four areas as units of the
National Park System would be difficult to determine at this time, but
they could be expensive given the dispersed sites. These costs could
best be estimated through the completion of a study.
Also, the bill does not clearly state a purpose for the memorials.
In her floor speech introducing the legislation, Senator Hutchison
spoke about memorializing the spirit and adventure of the space program
and the men and women who accept the dangers and challenges of
accomplishing NASA's mission. She also recognized the impact and
efforts of four Texas communities and citizens that provided support
and assisted with the collection and identification of debris and the
remains of the crew. A clear and concise purpose would help guide the
efforts to meet the legislation's intent.
NASA and other communities and organizations have already
established a variety of memorials that recognize the tragedy as well
as the enduring spirit of the crew and others associated with the final
voyage of the Columbia. An NPS suitability and feasibility study would
determine how, or if, this proposal would complement or add to those
already established memorials.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my remarks and I would be happy to
respond to any questions that you or other members of the subcommittee
may have.
ON S. 262
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to appear before your
committee to present the views of the Department of the Interior on S.
262, to authorize appropriations to the Secretary of the Interior for
the restoration of the Angel Island Immigration Station in the State of
California. This legislation would authorize appropriations of $15
million for restoration of the Angel Island Immigration Station
Hospital and for other station facilities if excess funds remained.
The Department commends the work that is being done to restore the
Angel Island Immigration Station at Angel Island State Park and to make
it more accessible to visitors. In fact, the National Park Service has
been an active partner in that effort. However, we oppose this
legislation. We believe it is inappropriate to use limited National
Park Service appropriations to pay for restoration projects for non-
National Park Service structures. We encourage the State of California,
California State Parks, and the Angel Island Immigration Station
Foundation to continue seeking other sources of funding for this very
worthy project.
For many years, the Department has opposed legislation authorizing
appropriations for non-National Park Service construction projects.
Many of these projects, like the restoration of the Angel Island
Immigration Station, represent an important contribution to the
preservation of our Nation's history. However, each time such
legislation is enacted and appropriations follow, it further reduces a
limited amount of discretionary funds available to address the priority
needs of our national parks and other programs administered by the
National Park Service. With the emphasis we have placed on the
President's initiative to reduce the deferred maintenance backlog, it
has become more important than ever to avoid authorizing funding for
non-National Park Service projects that would likely draw funds from
the National Park Service's budget.
Angel Island is located in San Francisco Bay, not far from Alcatraz
Island. The Federal government built the Angel Island Immigration
Station in Winslow Cove and operated it between 1910 and 1940 to
enforce the Chinese Exclusion Act. Over one million new arrivals to the
United States, including Russians, Chinese, Japanese, Hispanics, and
others, were processed through the immigration station, although some
never set foot on the island.
The most poignant history associated with Angel Island is that of
detained Chinese immigrants. Angel Island is often referred to as the
``Ellis Island of the West,'' although unlike Ellis Island, where
immigrants typically spent one day, many of the Chinese immigrants were
detained for weeks, months or even years. The Chinese Exclusion Act, in
effect from 1882 until 1943, required Chinese immigrants to go to extra
lengths to prove that they met the necessary requirements to be allowed
to stay. Over 100 poems carved by detainees on walls of the Detention
Barracks, expressing the fear, hopes, and despair of those with
uncertain futures, provide a first-hand historical commentary on the
plight of these immigrants.
The immigration station was closed in 1940 after a fire destroyed
the Administration Building and American policy shifted in support of
China in World War II. The U.S. Army used the buildings during World
War II for internment of prisoners. The Army later vacated the site,
and it fell into disrepair. Angel Island, which also had other military
installations, was declared surplus to Federal needs and transferred to
the State of California for park purposes in 1963. Today, on the 13-
acre site, only the Detention Barracks, Hospital, Power House, Pump
House and Mule Barn remain intact, and only the Detention Barracks is
open to visitors. Angel Island State Park is reached by ferry and used
for sightseeing, hiking, picnicking, educational trips, and limited
camping.
The Secretary of the Interior designated the Angel Island
Immigration Station as a National Historic Landmark in 1997. In late
1998, Congress appropriated $100,000 for the National Park Service to
evaluate the feasibility and desirability of preserving and
interpreting sites within Golden Gate National Recreation Area,
including Angel Island Immigration Station, that are related to
immigration; we are continuing to work to complete this study. A few
months later, the National Park Service, California State Parks, and
the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation formed a partnership
consortium to undertake two major projects: (1) develop a restoration
and interpretation strategy for restoration work at the Angel Island
Immigration Station, and (2) explore the feasibility of developing a
Pacific Coast Immigration Museum to provide interpretation and
education related to immigration and migration to the West Coast. The
consortium's efforts led to securing $15 million in state funds and $1
million in grants and donations for restoration work on the immigration
station.
The National Park Service has also contributed technical assistance
and managed contracts for reports that were completed in 2002--a
Historic Structures Report, Building Condition Assessments, a Poem
Preservation Study, and Cultural Landscape Report for the immigration
station. These reports were intended to serve as baseline studies to
guide preservation and use decisions. In addition, in 2000, the Angel
Island Immigration Station received a $500,000 grant for conservation
work through the National Park Service's Save America's Treasures
program.
As a follow through on the consortium's agenda, the National Park
Service has also been the conduit for appropriations from Congress of
$280,000 in FY 2002 and $385,000 in FY 2004 for in-depth feasibility
studies for the Pacific Coast Immigration Museum.
As the activities listed above show, the National Park Service is
playing an active role in promoting the commemoration of immigration
history on the West Coast, which is unquestionably a nationally
significant story, by working in partnership with the State of
California and the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation. We are
proud of the work the Service is doing toward planning and promoting
the restoration of the immigration station and the Pacific Coast
Immigration Museum, as these two entities will make an important
contribution to the understanding of immigration history in this part
of the country--and they will be significant additions to the
historical attractions within Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
However, we do not believe it is appropriate for the National Park
Service budget to be used as a major funding source for the restoration
of the Angel Island Immigration Station, a state property.
Mr. Chairman, that completes my statement. I would be happy to
answer any questions you or the other members of the committee may
have.
ON S. 336
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you
today to present the views of the Department of the Interior on S. 336,
a bill to amend the National Trails System Act to direct the Secretary
to study the feasibility of designating the Captain John Smith
Chesapeake National Historic Watertrail as a National Historic Trail.
The Department supports S. 366.
While the Department supports the authorization of this study, we
also believe that any funding requested should be directed toward
completing previously authorized studies. Currently, 30 studies are in
progress, and we hope to complete and transmit 15 to Congress by the
end of 2005.
As we approach the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown Settlement
and the anniversary in 2007 of the beginning of Captain John Smith's
explorations, the examination of this study is most timely. The
proposed trail would follow a series of routes extending approximately
3,000 miles along the Chesapeake Bay and the tributaries of the
Chesapeake Bay in the States of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and
Delaware and the District of Columbia that trace Captain John Smith's
voyages charting the land and waterways of the Chesapeake Bay and its
tributaries.
S. 336 would require the study to be conducted in consultation with
Federal, State, regional, and local agencies and representatives of the
private sector, including entities responsible for administering the
Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network, coordinated by the National Park
Service, and the Chesapeake Bay Program, coordinated by the
Environmental Protection Agency.
Captain John Smith explored the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries
in a series of voyages and travels from 1607 through 1609, while
executing his company's directives to search for a ``northwest
passage'' to the Pacific Ocean. Smith's two major voyages occurred in
the summer of 1608, each leaving from Jamestown, Virginia. Between the
two voyages, Smith and a small crew traversed the entire length of the
Chesapeake Bay, explored the shoreline of the lower half of the Eastern
Shore, and ventured into the major tributaries along the western shore
of the Bay. Smith had extensive interactions with Native Americans and
recorded significant information about these peoples and the general
Chesapeake environment in his book published in 1612. He also made one
of the first, and most detailed maps of the Chesapeake Bay.
Four hundred years later, the Chesapeake Bay's basic geography
remains relatively similar to Smith's time, but much else has changed.
More than 16 million people live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, with
the densest concentrations at locations adjacent to where Smith
traveled (Washington, DC, Baltimore, MD and the greater Norfolk/Hampton
Roads area in VA). Human uses of the Bay region have caused significant
impacts on the Chesapeake environment and the Bay itself.
Today, the Chesapeake Bay is the focus of a conservation and
restoration effort led by the Chesapeake Bay Program, authorized under
the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. The Chesapeake Bay Program, a
partnership effort of the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania and
Virginia, the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay Commission, and
the Federal government (represented by the Environmental Protection
Agency) coordinates a multi-faceted effort to improve Chesapeake water
quality and restore habitat for aquatic species.
As one part of the effort to restore the Chesapeake Bay, the
National Park Service coordinates the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network,
authorized by the Chesapeake Bay Initiative Act of 1998. This
partnership system of 147 designated Chesapeake Bay Gateways serves to
connect the American public with the resources and themes of the
nationally significant Chesapeake Bay. These designated Gateways
include more than 20 water trails spanning more than 1,500 miles of Bay
shoreline and tributaries, including a number of the same routes
traveled by Captain John Smith. Through its coordination of the
Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network, the National Park Service is also
authorized to provide technical and financial assistance to Gateways
for enhancing interpretation, improving public access, and stimulating
citizen involvement in conservation and restoration efforts.
Through the Department's existing authority under the Chesapeake
Bay Gateways Network, we could establish a Captain John Smith
Chesapeake Water Trail that would follow the routes of Captain Smith's
travels and would be an effective means of further engaging the
American public with the vital role of Smith and the overwhelming
importance of the Chesapeake Bay. Currently, there are 22 water trails
across four states included within the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network.
However, to be designated as a national historic trail under the
National Trails Act, an amendment to the Act would be required.
Congress normally only considers such a designation after the
completion of a study of the proposed trail, which S. 336 would
authorize. The study would allow a complete examination of the proposed
trail to determine if it meets the criteria for designation as part of
the National Trails System. The study is estimated to cost
approximately $250,000.
This concludes my prepared testimony, Mr. Chairman. I would be
pleased to answer any questions you or the committee might have.
ON S. 670
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to present the views of
the Department of the Interior on S. 670, a bill to authorize the
Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study of sites
associated with the life of Cesar Estrada Chavez and the farm labor
movement.
The Department supports S. 670. We believe that this study will
provide a good opportunity to work with the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation
and others to identify valuable resources associated with the story of
Chavez's life and the movement he led and ways to protect those
resources.
While the Department supports the authorization of this study, we
also believe that any funding requested should be directed toward
completing previously authorized studies. Currently, 30 studies are in
progress, and we hope to complete and transmit 15 to Congress by the
end of 2005.
Ask historians to name one person who had the greatest impact on
farm labor, and the name of Cesar Estrada Chavez leaps to mind. Between
the 1950's and the 1980's Chavez cultivated a life-long commitment to
bringing respect, dignity, and democracy to the nation's farm workers,
many of whom were Hispanic. After an initial career as a community
organizer, Chavez focused his organizing skills on the farm workers,
inspiring them to look their employers in the eyes, stand up for their
rights and take active roles in creating their union and wielding its
power. As a result of his efforts, he continues to serve as a symbol
not only for Hispanic-Americans, but for all Americans, of what can be
accomplished in this country through unified, courageous, and
nonviolent action.
Chavez's death on April 22, 1993, brought a resurgence of interest
in his life and work and a new wave of assessments recognizing his
national and, indeed, international significance. He has taken his
place among other national labor leaders in the Department of Labor's
Hall of Fame and been recognized by an ever-increasing number of states
and communities with special holidays, events, and place names. Because
of the tremendous impact he had, we believe it is appropriate to study
sites associated with Cesar Chavez and the farm labor movement he led
in order to consider ways to preserve and interpret this story of
enormous social change.
The National Park Service and the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation first
discussed the possibility of conducting a national historic landmark
study of sites related to the work of Chavez and the farm workers'
movement several years ago, as a way of identifying sites important to
the history of the man as well as the migrant worker. The Foundation
represents and fosters the ongoing legacy of Chavez and has a strong
interest in seeing that heritage preserved. In 2002, the National Park
Service collaborated with the Foundation and scholars at universities
in Washington State and California in preparing a preliminary
assessment and scope for future research on sites associated with
Chavez and the farm workers' movement. The information gathered through
that assessment would give the National Park Service a head start on
the study authorized by S. 670.
S. 670 would authorize a study of sites in Arizona, California, and
other States that are significant to the life of Cesar Chavez and the
farm labor movement in the western United States to determine
appropriate methods for preserving and interpreting sites. Through this
study, the National Park Service could examine whether certain sites
are suitable and feasible for addition to the National Park System. The
study would be conducted in accordance with the criteria for new area
studies contained in Title III of the National Parks Omnibus Management
Act of 1998.
The study also would consider whether any sites meet the criteria
for listing on the National Register of Historic Places or for
designation as a National Historic Landmark. This would enable the
National Park Service to complete the work that was begun with the
preliminary assessment described earlier. The legislation specifically
requires that the National Park Service consult with the Cesar Chavez
Foundation, the United Farm Workers Union, and other entities involved
in historic preservation on this study. The study is estimated to cost
approximately $250,000.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my testimony. I would be pleased to
answer any question you or the other members of the subcommittee may
have.
ON S. 777
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to present the views of
the Department of the Interior on S. 777, a bill to designate Catoctin
Mountain Park in the State of Maryland as the ``Catoctin Mountain
National Recreation Area.''
The Department supports S. 777 with two technical corrections added
at the end of the testimony. This legislation would provide a name for
Catoctin Mountain Park that is appropriate for the purpose and use of
this unit of the National Park System, and it also would update the
authorities for administering this park.
Catoctin Mountain Park had its origins as one of 46 Great
Depression-era Recreational Demonstration Areas established by the
Resettlement Administration, which was authorized under the National
Industrial Recovery Act (1933) and Executive Orders of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Resettlement Administration acquired and
developed Recreational Demonstration Areas across the nation to provide
accessible, low-cost, quality outdoor recreation opportunities. They
were used for day trips, picnicking, and overnight camping by families,
social groups, and public organizations.
Catoctin Recreational Demonstration Area, which comprised
approximately 20,000 acres, was acquired after the area had sustained
years of charcoal production, mountain farming, and harvesting of trees
for timber. The Works Progress Administration and the Civilian
Conservation Corps administered projects at Catoctin both to put people
back to work and to establish an outdoor recreation area for the urban
dwellers of nearby Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland.
Jurisdiction over the Catoctin Recreational Demonstration Area was
transferred to the National Park Service in 1935 by Executive Order.
In 1942, one of the cabin camps built at Catoctin, Camp Hi-
Catoctin, was selected by President Roosevelt as the Presidential
Retreat we know today as Camp David. Catoctin's distinctive history
also includes serving as an O.S.S. training camp during World War II,
and having the first Job Corps camp in the United States and the
nation's oldest camp for the disabled.
In 1954, approximately 4,400 acres of the area was transferred to
the State of Maryland and became Cunningham Falls State Park. That same
year, the Director of the National Park Service approved the renaming
of Catoctin Recreational Demonstration Area as ``Catoctin Mountain
Park'' and Congress provided authority to exchange lands to consolidate
holdings in the park. Catoctin Mountain Park is currently 5,810 acres
in size and has an average annual visitation of 700,000. The park,
consisting largely of eastern hardwood forest, has many attractions for
visitors: camping, picnicking, fishing, 25 miles of hiking trails and
scenic mountain vistas.
The proximity of Catoctin Mountain Park, Camp David, and Cunningham
Falls State Park has caused longstanding confusion for visitors to the
area. Catoctin Mountain Park is continually misunderstood as being
closed to the public because of the presence of Camp David. Renaming
the park as a ``national recreation area'' would offer an opportunity
to reintroduce the park as an area that is open to public recreation.
The public also has difficulty understanding why there is a difference
between the activities permitted at Catoctin Mountain Park and those
permitted at Cunningham Falls State Park. Including the word
``national'' in the name of Catoctin Mountain Park would facilitate
efforts to educate the public about these differences and to emphasize
the value the National Park Service places on protecting cultural and
natural resources for future generations.
In addition, the name ``national recreation area'' would also help
distinguish Catoctin Mountain Park from other local attractions, such
as the privately-owned Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo, which are
often confused with the park. And, the name change would enhance the
efforts of the Maryland Office of Tourism Development and local tourism
officials to promote the presence of the five National Park System
units located in Frederick County, one of which is Catoctin Mountain
Park.
In addition to changing the name of the Catoctin Mountain Park, S.
777 would provide the usual authorities that are included when a new
unit of the National Park System is established. These provisions will
make it easier for the National Park Service to administer the unit
than continuing to rely on the piecemeal authorities that were granted
since the 1930's. The authorities provided by S. 777 include providing
for administration of the unit in accordance with laws governing the
National Park System, and authorizing appropriations for the park. It
would also formally establish a boundary, which is essentially the
exiting ownership of the National Park Service, and permit land
acquisition that would allow for minor boundary adjustments although
none is contemplated at this time. These provisions will ensure that
the park is able to continue to appropriately administer the park's
significant historic resources and important natural areas. The costs
associated with this legislation would be negligible.
We are currently reviewing previous authorities for Catoctin
Mountain Park to determine whether any of them should be repealed in
conjunction with providing the new authority for the park under S. 777.
We will advise the subcommittee of our findings as soon as possible.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my remarks. I will be happy to answer
any questions you or the other committee members have.
Proposed amendments to S. 777:
On page 2, line 6, strike ``in 1952, approximately 5,000'' and
insert ``in 1954, approximately 4,400''.
On page 3, lines 10 and 11, strike `` `Catoctin Mountain National
Recreation Area,' numbered 841/80444, and dated August 14, 2002.'' and
insert `` `Catoctin Mountain National Recreation Area,' numbered 841/
80444B, and dated April 2005.''
Senator Thomas. Thank you very much.
On this last one, Catoctin, now Camp David is there. I
presume that is clearly a Federal responsibility.
Mr. Soukup. Yes.
Senator Thomas. How about the rest of that park? Is it a
Federal park? Is it a State park? What is its designation now?
Mr. Soukup. It is a Federal park now. It is operated as a
Federal park now. It does not have an official boundary. It
does not have a lot of the attributes that national park
legislation usually gives it. So it needs this legislation to
both define it as an administrative unit with the appropriate
administrative rules, but also to designate the name so that it
can be distinguishable.
Senator Thomas. But it is Federal property now.
Mr. Soukup. Yes.
Senator Thomas. It is not managed as a park. Is that right?
Mr. Soukup. It is managed as a park, but it is managed as a
park with really the uses and the activities that are normally
associated with a recreation area type of unit within the
National Park. The name does not really denote that.
Senator Thomas. Why couldn't the park manage it differently
if it is already a park?
Mr. Soukup. Well, it is. It is managing it the way it would
manage it under the new name change.
Senator Thomas. So really basically all you are doing is
changing the name?
Mr. Soukup. Right. We are not changing the uses or the
activities or the authorities or the way that we would
administer land or anything. It is already Federal land. It is
really a name change.
Senator Thomas. On this S. 670, conduct a resource study.
What would they be if you find that they are significant?
Mr. Soukup. Well, that is what a study would determine.
There are a number of sites that are important to the farm
workers movement and to the life of Chavez. A study would look
at the alternatives. First, it would determine what are the
important resources out there and look at the alternatives for
developing something that would really reflect the life of
Chavez and the farm workers movement and then assess the
alternatives. Who should manage it? What sites would be
appropriate? What would be the optimal approach to----
Senator Thomas. Do you see it as museums or historic
collections? You are not going to say here is a field where
Chavez worked or something like that, are you?
Mr. Soukup. It could be any number of combinations. It
could be sites where protests were made. It could be sites that
are important gatherings, that kind of thing.
Senator Thomas. But it is a study to determine.
Mr. Soukup. It is simply a study that looks into the whole
range of possibilities, and I am sure there are quite a range
of possibilities.
Senator Thomas. I understand.
S. 336 would name it a watertrail. We do not have any
watertrails now?
Mr. Soukup. Actually we do. We have a number of
watertrails. I think I have a list of them here somewhere.
Senator Thomas. Well, that is all right. I just did not
know whether this was a brand new designation or whether we
already had----
Mr. Soukup. There are a number of trails within the
National Trail System that have watertrails as part of that. So
there are some.
Senator Thomas. And they are named watertrails?
Mr. Soukup. Yes.
Senator Thomas. Okay.
Mr. Soukup. There is one in Virgin Islands National Park
that has a watertrail that we manage. Some wild and scenic
rivers, parts of the National Park System contain miles of
watertrails. We administer two trails that traverse both water
and land. The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail has
sections of watertrails in it. The Trail of Tears National
Historic Trail would be another.
Senator Thomas. All right. Thank you. I did not know if
that was a new idea.
In this S. 262, the Angel Island Immigration Station, there
is no national involvement there now at all.
Mr. Soukup. Well, there has been a fair amount of national
involvement from the Park Service and other players. We have
been really in the role of technical assistance. We have also
provided some grants and some restoration project money, but
those have been more in the lines of technical assistance.
Senator Thomas. If this passed, would it change the
designation, or is it simply a money thing?
Mr. Soukup. I understand it is largely a pass-through of
money. It does not change the designation or the ownership.
Senator Thomas. Thank you.
And the horse adjustment is because the numbers are in the
current legislation.
Mr. Soukup. The current legislation has numbers which are
not quite in sync with what the geneticists are telling us.
Senator Thomas. So basically what it does is it raises the
allowable number of horses.
Mr. Soukup. Right. It corrects the number to allow for
population blooms up to 130 horses as a max, and that has an
advantage for genetic viability over the long term.
Senator Thomas. Let us see. I was going to ask you
something on this Chesapeake Bay. Then what you would basically
be doing is amending the existing Trails Act to include this
facility.
Mr. Soukup. Yes. It would be an amendment that would make
this an official national trail.
Senator Thomas. All right. Thank you very much, sir. I
appreciate it. We will look forward to your studies and so on.
Let us see now. Felicia Lowe, vice president, Angel Island
Immigration Station Board, please, and Patrick Noonan, chairman
emeritus, The Conservation Fund, Arlington, Virginia.
Senator Feinstein asked me to say that she welcomes Felicia
Lowe from San Francisco and greatly regrets that she cannot
make the meeting. She also asks that her statement be inserted
into the record. So her statement will be inserted, and on
behalf of her, you are welcomed.
[The prepared statement of Senator Feinstein follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Senator
From California, on S. 262
I would like to welcome a witness from my hometown of San
Francisco, Felicia Lowe, the Vice President of the Board of the Angel
Island Immigration Station Foundation. Felicia, I am proud to sponsor
this legislation that you are supporting today to restore the Angel
Island Immigration Station.
It is hard to think of a more American story than that of hard-
working immigrants, risking travel to a foreign land to make a better
life for their families.
The federal government has dedicated its resources to commemorate
the eastern gateway for this county, Ellis Island.
It is time to make an equal commitment to our Western port of
entry, Angel Island. Mr. Chairman, I understand that the old hospital
structure that this bill would protect is on the verge of literally
falling down. In 2000, the Immigration Station was placed on
``America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places'' list.
The State of California and the local community have banded
together to save this site. We as the federal government should help.
I look forward to the day when the descendants of the one million
immigrants who came through Angel Island, including approximately
175,000 Chinese-Americans, can revisit the spot where their ancestors
made such great sacrifices for them.
There are few more intimate and personal reminders of our history
as immigrants than the poems carved on the walls of the Detention
Barracks by those who awaited word on whether they would be admitted
into this country.
Mr. Chairman, it's an accident of circumstance that we don't have
many monuments to early generations of Chinese-Americans. I can't think
of a better place to start to remedy this situation than Angel Island.
I hope you will. support this bill.
Thank you.
STATEMENT OF FELICIA LOWE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD, ANGEL
ISLAND IMMIGRATION STATION FOUNDATION, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Ms. Lowe. Thank you very much, Chairman Thomas, Senator
Akaka, and members of the Subcommittee on National Parks for
this opportunity to speak to you about S. 262, the Angel Island
Immigration Station Restoration and Preservation Act.
On behalf of the Angel Island Immigration Station
Foundation, I did want to thank Senator Feinstein for her
leadership and for introducing this legislation and again for
Senator Akaka's continuing support for our project.
I am Felicia Lowe. I am vice president of the board of the
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation. I am a producer of
a documentary called Carved in Silence and I am a descendent of
immigrants detained at Angel Island. Both my grandfather and my
father were held there. This I learned after their deaths
because the ordeal was never discussed.
The foundation is the nonprofit partner of the California
State Parks and the National Park Service. We have been
actively working together toward the goal of preserving and
restoring the National Historic Landmark since 1997.
Angel Island Immigration Station is the Ellis Island of the
West, with a twist. It was built to enforce the Chinese
Exclusion Act, a series of Federal legislation designed to bar
Chinese laborers from entering the United States from 1882
until 1943. And it also prevented Chinese from becoming
naturalized citizens. It was the first and only time in the
history of America that Congress passed legislation that
restricted immigrants solely on the basis of race.
Just as my father kept his Angel Island experience from me,
few Americans have even heard of the immigration station
located in the middle of San Francisco Bay and in the footprint
of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Its role in
immigration history is virtually unknown, a dramatic contrast
to the stories of Ellis Island.
The immigration at Angel Island served as the guardian of
the western gate, enforcing these racially restrictive Federal
immigration laws, detaining immigrants for weeks, months, and
even years to ensure that they fit a narrow definition of the
exempt class. My father was held there for 3 weeks.
In operation from 1910 to 1940, a million immigrants from
around the world had their papers processed through this
station. They included Japanese, Punjabi, Filipino, and Russian
immigrants.
However, Angel Island's greatest significance is tied to
the story of the estimated 175,000 Chinese immigrants who
risked everything to come to Gold Mountain. Anguish and
uncertainty led some of them to write or carve poetry on the
walls of the detention barracks. Today more than 100 of these
poems are still visible at the island, capturing the voices of
the immigrants in that time and place and serving as a physical
and emotional testament that resonates with all Americans who
share a history of immigration.
It has been 50 years since the last active use of the
immigration station. Of the original structures, only the
detention barracks, hospital, power house, pump house, and mule
barn remain.
A master plan for the site has now been completed, calling
for five phases of site restoration. The first phase of the
master plan to rehabilitate the detention barracks and its rare
poems is being funded by nearly $18.5 million in State money,
plus the $500,000 Save America's Treasures grant awarded by the
Department of the Interior. This represents roughly a third of
the entire cost of the core project, which is expected to be
$50 million.
Further, we have engaged Signature Philanthropy, the
principal fund raisers for Ellis Island, to assist us in a
national campaign to raise $15 million in private funds. That
would take us two-thirds of the way to this dream.
Your support of S. 262 allows up to $15 million toward the
preservation and restoration of the hospital building, the
second most important structure on the site. As you can see in
the blow-up, it is deteriorating rapidly. Imagine instead a
world-class immigration museum, an education and family
genealogical research center, digital access to National
Archive records, in short a true bookend to Ellis Island.
While Angel Island Immigration Station represents a
difficult chapter in our national history, it is ultimately a
story of the triumph and the perseverance of immigrants who
endured and established new lives in this country. Angel Island
Immigration Station is of national significance, and at the
time of its operation, it was a Federal agency enforcing
Federal laws. Only through our collective efforts will we make
this a reality.
Thank you to the members of the subcommittee for holding
this hearing today. We hope that you will support our efforts
to restore and preserve Angel Island Immigration Station by
passing S. 262. In doing so, generations can come to appreciate
this very unique site.
I thank you for the opportunity to testify today and I
welcome any questions you might have at this time.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Lowe follows:]
Prepared Statement of Felicia Lowe, Vice President of the Board, Angel
Island Immigration Station Foundation, San Francisco, CA, on S. 262
INTRODUCTION
Thank you, Chairman Thomas, Senator Akaka and members of the
Subcommittee on National Parks, for this opportunity to speak to you in
support of S. 262, The Angel Island Immigration Station Restoration and
Preservation Act.
I am Felicia Lowe, Vice-President of the Board of the Angel Island
Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) and a descendent of immigrants
detained at Angel Island. AIISF is the non-profit partner of California
State Parks and the National Park Service working together to preserve
this historic U.S. Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay.
On behalf of the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation and
Americans descended from Angel Island immigrants like myself, I thank
you for holding a hearing on this important legislation. We also wish
to thank Senator Feinstein for her leadership in introducing this
legislation and Senators Akaka, Inouye and Boxer for co-sponsoring this
legislation.
In the House, our heartfelt thanks go to Representatives Woolsey
and Souder for their leadership. During the 108th Congress, the U.S.
House of Representatives held two hearings on the Immigration Station
and passed their authorization legislation unanimously with bipartisan
support.
S. 262, the Angel Island Immigration Station Restoration and
Preservation Act authorizes up to $15 million in federal funds to save
the ``Ellis Island of the West.'' The legislation also limits federal
funding to 50 percent of the total funds from all sources spent to
restore the Immigration Station. We urge you to approve this
legislation to be enacted into law this Congress.
Our nation offers a history of great diversity, one that matches
the wealth of experiences in our rich heritage. So many of these
stories, however, have gone untold. Angel Island Immigration Station is
one example of a hidden history now coming to light and enriching the
understanding of our nation in both historic and contemporary times.
The immigration experience is a common thread binding the histories
of most Americans. Whether escaping persecution, poverty, or lack of
economic prospects, immigrants have come to this nation for the ideals
it represents--freedom, democracy, and opportunity.
Angel Island is the ``Ellis Island of the West''. with a twist.
Most Americans know the story of Ellis Island, which processed millions
of immigrants crossing the Atlantic, but the story of Angel Island
remains virtually unknown. It too, was a federally owned site enforcing
federal legislation. Located in the middle of San Francisco Bay, within
the footprint of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA),
Angel Island Immigration Station was routinely the first stop for most
immigrants crossing the Pacific Ocean. Between 1910 and 1940, a million
immigrants from around the world came through this station; they
included Japanese, Punjabi, Korean, Filipino, and Russian immigrants.
Angel Island's greatest significance is tied to the story of the
estimated 175,000 Chinese immigrants who risked everything to travel to
``gam san,'' or ``Gold Mountain'' during a period in which the Chinese
Exclusion Acts were enforced. It was the first and only time in
American history that a specific ethnic group was barred entry solely
on the basis of race. Processing new immigrants at Ellis Island took 5
to 6 hours. At Angel Island, Chinese immigrants were detained for two
to three weeks, and often several months. A few were even forced to
remain on the island for nearly two years.
With such long stays, some wrote or carved poetry on the walls of
the detention barracks. Today, more than 100 of these poems are still
visible at Angel Island Immigration Station, capturing the voices of
the immigrants in that time and place, and serving as a physical and
emotional testament that resonates with all Americans who share a
history of immigration.
CURRENT STATUS OF THE IMMIGRATION STATION
Angel Island Immigration Station closed in 1940, after a fire
destroyed the Administration Building. The remaining detainees were
moved to San Francisco. The Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943,
when China became America's ally in World War II. The Immigration
Station site and buildings were transferred to the U.S. Army, which
quickly adapted the site to temporarily detain prisoners of war and to
house enlisted soldiers. The Army built mess halls, additional barracks
and guard towers on the site.
When the Army vacated Angel Island, the structures fell into
disrepair. Of the original Immigration Station structures, only the
Detention Barracks, Hospital, Power House, Pump House and Mule Barn
remain.
Angel Island Immigration Station is a part of Angel Island State
Park, owned and operated by the California State Parks system which
took over operations from the National Parks Service in 1963. From the
inception of the restoration and preservation planning, the National
Park Service has participated as a full partner. In the early 1980's,
limited restoration efforts by community members allowed the first
floor of the Detention Barracks to be opened to the public and some of
the poetry to be viewed. The site is a popular destination for school
field trips, with more than 30,000 students and their teachers visiting
it each year.
PRESERVING THE LEGACY
It has been 50 years since the last active use of Angel Island
Immigration Station. The buildings and the poems that were carved on
the walls of the detention barracks have been battered by time and the
elements. To protect these historical treasures, the Angel Island
Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) has worked tirelessly to raise
awareness and dollars to preserve the site and its history. Our goal,
in partnership with California State Parks and the National Park
Service is the creation of a world-class visitor and genealogical
research center to ensure that the story of Pacific coast immigration
can be told for generations to come, a bookend to Ellis Island. AIISF's
achievements include:
Designation of the site as a National Historic Landmark in
1997.
In 1998, Senator Daniel Akaka proposed and Congress approved
$100,000 to conduct a study to determine the feasibility and
desirability of preserving and interpreting sites within the
Golden Gate National Recreational Area (GGNRA) that relate to
immigration and the peopling of the nation, which included
Angel Island Immigration Station.
In 1999, designated as one of ``America's 11 Most Endangered
Historic Places''.
In 1999, placement of a $400,000 earmark in the state
budget.
In 2000, passage of a $15 million bond approved by
California voters for the restoration.
In 2000, U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service
awarded a ``Save America's Treasures'' grant of $500,000.
In 2004, United States House of Representatives pass of H.R.
4469, the Angel Island Immigration Restoration and Preservation
Act.
In 2005, the California Cultural and Historical Endowment
awarded $3 million for preservation and restoration efforts.
In 2005, AIISF is launching a national capital campaign
aimed at individual, corporate, private foundation giving to
supplement governmental funds towards the preservation of the
Immigration Station. The expertise of Signature Philanthropy
which raised funds for the restoration of Ellis Island and the
Statue of Liberty has been retained for this effort.
Over the past few years, AIISF and its preservation partners, the
California State Parks and the National Park Service, have conducted
approximately $500,000 worth of historic preservation studies with
funds raised from private, state and federal sources. A master plan for
the site has now been completed, calling for five phases of restoration
for the historic Immigration Station. The first phase of the master
plan is being funded by $15 million in state bond funds and a $500,000
Save America's Treasures grant. The core project is expected to cost
$50 million.
FEDERAL ROLE
Like Ellis Island, Angel Island's history and legacy is important
to all Americans, not just Californians. Nearly $18.5 million of scarce
state funds have been raised to date to support the preservation
project. The addition of federal dollars serves to endorse the national
importance of Angel Island Immigration Station's history, one which
differs significantly from Ellis Island, yet offers equally important
and inspiring lessons. Angel Island is more than a set of buildings,
the ``walls talk'' at this site which was built to enforce federal laws
and was operated by a federal agency throughout its period of
significance.
We strongly believe this National Historic Landmark which resides
within the footprint of the Golden Gate National Recreational Area
(GGNRA) elevates it to a level deserving of federal appropriations
dollars. In order to be eligible, we need your support of S. 262 which
allows up to $15 million towards the preservation and restoration of
Angel Island Immigration Station--the Ellis Island of the West.
Just as Ellis Island immigrants arriving from across the Atlantic
Ocean profoundly changed our country, so too did Angel Island
immigrants who crossed the Pacific. Angel Island immigrants played a
vital role in the development of the American West, and the peopling
and prosperity of our nation. Chinese immigrants were pioneers in the
agricultural and fishing industries of the West. They reclaimed the
Sacramento and San Joaquin deltas by constructing networks of
irrigation canals and constructing miles of dikes and ditches. In doing
so, they played a lead role in transforming California into the
nation's leading agricultural state. These immigrants and their
descendants helped create the vibrant palette of ethnic cultures that
first painted the American West and whose impact is now felt throughout
the nation.
The precious poems carved on the walls of the Detention Barracks
serve as a physical touchstone and testimony of the experiences of
immigrants who crossed the Pacific Ocean. Their experiences are further
enlightened by transcripts of their interrogations that are currently
stored at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in
San Bruno, California.
Digital access to NARA and other immigration records will be an
integral part of a Pacific Coast Immigration Museum, education and
family history/genealogy center housed in the Immigration Station's
Hospital building. Unfortunately, the hospital building is
deteriorating rapidly and each winter the structure faces an uncertain
survival. Timely funding to stabilize and restore the building is
desperately required to prevent further deterioration.
BUILDING THE FUTURE
The enduring value of Angel Island Immigration Station lies in the
lessons that its past can teach us about our present and our future.
Immigration is a national story, one which gets to the very heart of
the American identity--"Who is an American?'' and ``Who is included or
excluded and how has that changed over time?'' While Angel Island
Immigration Station represents a difficult chapter in our national
history, it is ultimately, a story of the triumph and the perseverance
of immigrants who endured and established new lives in this country.
Angel Island and Ellis Island serve as bookends, not only in geography,
but also in meaning and experience.
The restoration of Angel Island Immigration Station is a prime
example of how everyday Americans can work together with private, State
and Federal partners to preserve an important, yet little known chapter
of our national story. Collaboration is the only way to make this a
reality. We need a West Coast counterpart to Ellis Island to reflect a
uniquely American, yet universal story of immigration.
Thank you, the members of this subcommittee for your understanding
of the importance of this project. I urge you and your fellow members
of Congress to work to restore and preserve Angel Island Immigration
Station. In doing so, generations to come can appreciate this site, a
symbol of the perseverance of the immigrant spirit and the diversity of
this great nation. We ask for your support of S. 262, the Angel Island
Restoration and Preservation Act.
Attachment--Historical Background
THE CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT
Political chaos and economic struggles plagued China throughout the
19th and 20th centuries, prompting many to leave in search of
opportunities in America. California, with its news of gold in 1848,
and the building of the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, offered
dreams of survival and prosperity. By the late 1870s, however, America
found itself in economic turmoil, and many blamed Chinese labor for the
depression.
In 1882, Congress passed the first Chinese Exclusion Act,
prohibiting Chinese laborers from immigrating, and denying citizenship
to foreign-born Chinese. This act marked the first time any group of
laborers was denied entry to the United States solely on the basis of
race. Other exclusionary laws followed that profoundly affected all
Asian immigration until the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in
1943.
However, the Act did not stop the Chinese and other Asians from
coming to America. Many young men, desperate for a better life in
America, developed ways to circumvent a system they felt had unfairly
targeted them. They came as ``paper sons'', claiming to be related to a
legal resident or another family legally entering the country.
But, the burden of proof fell squarely on the shoulders of every
Chinese immigrant brought to Angel Island Immigration Station.
LIFE AT THE IMMIGRATION STATION
Isolated as Angel Island was, immigration officials regarded the
location as ideal--communication was limited, quarantine was possible,
and escape was unlikely. About 250 to 350 people were usually housed in
the barracks at one time. Immigration officials separated men and
women, and also segregated Chinese, Japanese, Korean and European
immigrants from one another.
New arrivals to the Immigration Station underwent a medical
examination. Unfamiliar with the language, customs, and Western medical
procedures, the examination was often characterized by newcomers as
humiliating and barbaric.
After the physical examinations, the entry hearing was the most
critical hurdle. Hearings often lasted two to three days, with
inspectors interrogating applicants about the smallest details of their
house, village, or family. A family member of the applicant was also
interrogated to confirm the applicant's answers.
Passing the interrogation was no simple task. Failure could mean
deportation. The last resort was an appeal to a higher court and an
indefinite stay on Angel Island while awaiting a decision. Inspectors
presiding over each case had wide discretionary power in determining
the fate of each applicant.
Questions typically asked included:
What is your living room floor made of?
Where is the rice bin kept?
Where is your village's temple?
What are the names of the neighbors who live in your village
and what are their occupations?
What direction does your home in China face?
How many windows does your house in China have?
POEMS
For Chinese immigrants detained on Angel Island, weeks easily
passed into months and in some cases, nearly two years. Anxiety,
depression and fear were expressed through poetry written or carved
into the barrack walls. Today, more than 100 of these poems are still
visible at Angel Island Immigration Station, capturing the voices of
the immigrants in that time and place, and serving as a physical and
emotional testament that resonates with all Americans who share a
history of immigration.
Imprisoned in the wooden building day after day,
My freedom withheld; how can I bear to talk about it?
I look to see who is happy but they only sit quietly.
I am anxious and depressed and cannot fall asleep.
The days are long and the bottle constantly empty;
my sad mood, even so, is not dispelled.
Nights are long and the pillow cold; who can pity my
loneliness?
After experiencing such loneliness and sorrow,
Why not just return home and learn to plow the fields?
A poem from the walls of Angel Island Immigration Station,
author and date unknown
Senator Thomas. Thank you very much. Mr. Noonan.
STATEMENT OF PATRICK F. NOONAN, CHAIRMAN EMERITUS OF THE
CONSERVATION FUND, ARLINGTON, VA
Mr. Noonan. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee,
thank you for the opportunity to be with you this afternoon in
support of S. 336, the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National
Historic Watertrail Study Act of 2005. I am Patrick F. Noonan,
chairman emeritus and founder of The Conservation Fund. It has
been my privilege for the past 30 years to work to conserve the
great natural and historic treasures of this country, including
sites such as Antietam and Gettysburg, the Flight 93 Memorial,
and sites along the Lewis and Clark Trail.
I strongly support S. 336 to study the feasibility and
desirability of designating the route of John Smith's voyages
of exploration as a National Historic Trail. I would like to
thank Senators Sarbanes, Allen, Mikulski, Warner, and Biden for
their leadership and the Bush administration for support of
this bill. I am particularly thankful as a child of the
Chesapeake, having lived near its shores for my entire life.
This proposal comes from the Chesapeake communities who are
now preparing to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Jamestown.
They embrace the concept of the John Smith Watertrail for they
see it as an economic opportunity for tourism and historic
growth.
Because of the national, historic, cultural, and economic
importance of this area, and because of John Smith's
explorations of the bay, I urge support for the bill.
Importantly, supporters include the Chesapeake Bay Commission,
consisting of State legislators from Maryland, Virginia, and
Pennsylvania, unanimous support from the Chesapeake Executive
Council, the Governors of Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and
the mayor of Washington, DC, along with the Governor of
Delaware, and finally from economic development officers from
those States and from local governments.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to introduce some background
materials for the record, including letters of support and
historic information, which we have provided to you.
Senator Thomas. They will be included.
Mr. Noonan. Thank you.
Captain Smith's exploration of the Chesapeake Bay was a
monumental historic achievement shaping the boundaries of this
country just as did Lewis and Clark. He and his crew of just
over a dozen men courageously traveled some 3,000 miles from
the capes of Virginia to the mouth of the Susquehanna River.
His 1612 map, which we have here, is remarkably accurate and
served as a definitive map for the first 200 years of this
Nation as a guidepost. It is now being replicated by the
National Geographic Society for distribution to school children
throughout the watershed in celebration of its 400th
anniversary.
He saw a Chesapeake Bay with abundant resources and
thriving Native American cultures along the shores of what is
now today Maryland, Virginia, the District, Pennsylvania, and
Delaware, and he described the Chesapeake best when he said
``heaven and earth never formed a more perfect place for man's
habitation.''
Smith personified the chance for a better life, the chance
that would become the American dream of millions of immigrants
who would later benefit from his daring. He was raised on a
farm in rural England, became a soldier, and was not a part of
England's upper class. Arriving in Jamestown as a soldier, he
later became president and was able to provide leadership in
those difficult times. The impact of Smith's voyages on the
American Indians is a critical element of the story and one to
be told as part of this study. Yes, Smith is a proud part of
the region's rich maritime and cultural heritage. And the
working landscape of today would be celebrated by a study of
the trail. We believe the Chesapeake is an American treasure
and certainly warrants this study.
In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, the adoption of this bill is
important for four compelling reasons: first, the national
historic importance of Smith's voyages and the Jamestown
settlement; second, the unparalleled natural treasures of the
Chesapeake; third, and very importantly, the economic
opportunities of the trail are multiple, the celebration of the
working landscape, the opportunities for historic tourism, and
importantly, the opportunities for enhanced recreation. And
finally and maybe most important are the educational
opportunities of the trail, for this would surely be an
inspiration to American children and a way for them to learn
about history and the birthplace of American democracy. It is a
story to be told for future generations.
Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, it is my hope
that future generations will praise our foresight in
considering this bill. We urge your favorable consideration.
Thank you and I am pleased to answer any questions you may
have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Noonan follows:]
Prepared Statement of Patrick F. Noonan, Chairman Emeritus of
The Conservation Fund, on S. 336
Mr. Chairman, and members of the Committee, thank you for the
opportunity to testify today on S. 336, the ``Captain John Smith
Chesapeake National Historic Watertrail Study Act of 2005.'' I am
Patrick F. Noonan, Chairman Emeritus and founder of The Conservation
Fund--an organization dedicated to preserving historic, natural and
working landscapes. In addition, The Conservation Fund promotes
economic development through tourism, education and community-based
initiatives.
I wish to express my support for this bipartisan legislation that
authorizes the National Park Service (NPS) to study the feasibility and
desirability of designating the route of Captain John Smith's voyages
of exploration as a National Historic Trail. Specifically, S. 336
directs the NPS to study the voyages' historic significance, national
significance and potential for recreational use and historic
interpretation. I would like to thank Senators Sarbanes, Allen, Warner
and Mikulski for their leadership and crucial support on this issue.
For over thirty years, I have worked to protect America's great
treasures, such as historic lands, wildlife refuges and parks, and
working landscapes by forming partnerships among private landowners,
major corporations, and state and federal agencies. These historic
treasures include Civil War battlefields such as Antietam National
Battlefield, the Flight 93 National Memorial, and sites along the Lewis
and Clark National Historic Trail. The Chesapeake is particularly
special to me because I am a ``child of the Chesapeake'' and have lived
near its shores for my entire life. I can tell you that this proposal
comes from the people of the Chesapeake. Local governments and
grassroots organizations have embraced the idea of a John Smith
watertrail and support the study. Because of the historic, cultural,
and economic importance of Captain John Smith's explorations of the
Chesapeake Bay I urge your support for the bill.
CELEBRATING THE AMERICAN DREAM--CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH
The year 2007 marks the 400th anniversary of the founding of
Jamestown, the first permanent American settlement, and of Captain John
Smith's arrival in the New World. As the eve of Jamestown's founding
approaches, it is important to study the national significance of
Smith's voyages and the feasibility of establishing a water trail that
celebrates his explorations. I believe that John Smith's voyages are on
par with Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery and their exploration of
interior North America. By recognizing John Smith's leadership, we can
inspire generations of Americans and overseas visitors to follow
Smith's journeys, to better understand the contributions of the Native
Americans who lived within the Bay region and to learn about the roots
of American democracy.
Captain John Smith's exploration of Chesapeake Bay was a monumental
historic achievement, shaping the boundaries, character and future of
America. Smith and his crew of just over a dozen men courageously
traveled almost 3,000 miles along the Bay exploring a vast region from
the Virginia capes to the mouth of the Susquehanna River near
Pennsylvania. He saw a Chesapeake Bay with its incredible, productive
ecosystem intact and with sophisticated and diverse Native American
cultures thriving along the shores of what is known today as Maryland,
Virginia, Washington, DC, Pennsylvania and Delaware. A study of the
Capt. John Smith Chesapeake National Watertrail would allow us to
explore the idea of celebrating Smith's voyages that opened the door of
opportunity to establish our democratic forms of government for all
Americans.\1\
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\1\ For more information, see Love and Hate in Jamestown: John
Smith, Pocohontas, and the Heart of a New Nation by David A. Price,
published in 2003.
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During his years in the Jamestown colony, Smith explored the
Chesapeake Bay searching for the fabled Northwest Passage. His
exploration marked the territory, which would eventually become the
State of Maryland, the Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of
Delaware. Smith's 1612 map was the first accurate depiction of the
Chesapeake Bay and the native settlements present. For nearly a
century, the map served as the definitive map of the region, including
areas documented entirely with information supplied by Native
Americans. By providing accurate information, this map enabled the
colonization of the East Coast by the English.
On his voyages and as President of the Jamestown Colony, Captain
Smith became the point of first contact for scores of Native American
leaders from around the Chesapeake. His notes describing the indigenous
people he met in the Chesapeake are still widely studied by historians,
anthropologists and scientists. The impact of Smith's voyages on the
American Indians is a critical element of the story. Smith commonly
formed partnerships with the many different tribes by building an
economic relationship based on trade. The supplies he obtained through
trade with American Indians are credited with saving the Jamestown
colony, during its early years. The historic meeting between colonists
and Americans Indians profoundly impacted both cultures and changed the
course of history. These early interactions between the ambassadors of
both peoples were in many ways a significant prelude for events to
come.
As chronicled in his journals, Smith's voyages in America ignited
the imagination of the Old World. He produced many books and his
writing inspired hundreds, and then thousands of people to settle in
the ``dense woods and fertile valleys'' of the Chesapeake. His
adventurous spirit, descriptive writing, and accurate mapping all serve
to bolster his place in history. A man of humble birth, he was a
captivating individual that played a crucial role in our country's
history. The watertrail provides a practical opportunity for the
outdoor enthusiast as well as the historian to get a taste of his
Smith's spirit by traveling the same route he did nearly 400 years ago.
In many ways, Captain John Smith personified the chance for a
better life that would become the American dream for the millions of
immigrants who would later benefit from his daring. The son of a farmer
in Lincolnshire, England, Smith left his home to seek adventure and
fortune in the wider world. Although he was not part of England's upper
class, he became President of the Jamestown Colony as an agent of the
London-based Virginia Company, one of the first ``venture capital''
enterprises. Smith demonstrated that America was a different place,
where success was achieved through hard work, not necessarily nobility.
He helped set the foundation for America's philosophy of equality
through his famous ``Don't work, don't eat'' policy. Smith focused on
skills and talents, not titles, setting an egalitarian outlook that has
echoes in America to this date.
Smith was a bold leader who defied the odds and ignited a nation.
His contemporaries gave him the credit for having supplied the firm
hand and commonsense that saved the Jamestown colony during its early
struggles with starvation and disease. If not for his leadership, the
colony would most likely have failed like the earlier lost colony of
Roanoke. England may have lost its claim on the New World and our
history would have been vastly different. Instead, he planted the seeds
of our American democracy right here in the arms of the Chesapeake and
provided inspiration to our county's founding fathers, such as Thomas
Jefferson when writing the Declaration of Independence.
MARITIME HERITAGE, TOURISM AND RECREATION
The Chesapeake community is very excited to celebrate the upcoming
400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown and the compelling tale
of Smith's exploration of the Chesapeake and his interactions with the
American Indians. The idea for the John Smith Watertrail has built off
of local enthusiasm and makes sound economic sense. Smith is a proud
part of the region's rich maritime and cultural heritage, which
includes the fleets of working boats tied up to the docks at watermen's
villages, restored 19th century skipjacks and buyboats, Native American
villages, and documentation in local maritime museums. John Smith's
waterways of history would link these features with other recreational,
cultural and historic destinations providing a highly desirable tourism
opportunity for the region.
The potential historic tourism opportunities that the watertrail
would provide have garnered the support of the Chesapeake Bay
Commission, the Chesapeake Executive Council, and economic development
officers from Maryland, Virginia and various local governments.
Involving communities, non-governmental organizations, public agencies,
business and private landowners in establishing the watertrail would
demonstrate a new model for public-private partnerships so crucial to
protecting the ecological integrity of working landscapes and the
ability to experience history.
TRAIL INITIATIVES AND SUPPORTERS
An expansive network of diverse organizations that support the
creation of the watertrail has developed over the last few years. For
example, Sultana Projects Inc., which runs maritime education programs
for students out of Chestertown, Maryland, is building a replica of
John Smith's 28-foot boat used in mapping the Bay. In June of 2007 they
will retrace Smiths journey in the boat.
On the Eastern shore, the town of Vienna, Maryland funded a
geographer at Salisbury University to research exactly where Smith
voyaged on the Nanticoke River. The town of Vienna is also interested
in building a John Smith Discovery Center.
The Commonwealth of Virginia is developing the first two trail
segments of the watertrail on the James and York rivers as part of the
quadracentennial celebration.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, a regional 115,000-member grassroots
environmental organization dedicated to preserving and restoring the
Chesapeake Bay, is an active collaborator and supporter of a national
historic watertrail. The Foundation uses Smith's journals and
descriptions of the Bay 400 years ago as the baseline for their annual
State of the Bay report and in their education program.
Reflecting this excitement building for the 2007 celebration, many
key officials have pledged their support, including: Governor Ehrlich
of Maryland, Governor Warner of Virginia, Governor Rendell of
Pennsylvania, Governor Minner of Delaware, and Mayor Williams of the
District of Columbia, as well as the chair of the Chesapeake Bay
Commission Michael Waugh.
The National Geographic Society (NGS) has also recognized the
historic contributions of Smith. It is producing several Captain John
Smith and Chesapeake Bay related products including an article in the
upcoming June 2005 issue of National Geographic Magazine. NGS is also
creating a wall map, one side to describe the Chesapeake Bay as it is
today and the opposite side to depict the John Smith trail, with Indian
sites and other historic markers. The intent is to distribute this map,
supported by an educational website and other educational materials to
schools in the watershed, in conjunction with Chesapeake Bay
Foundation. In 2006, an NGS publication will include guide information
for boaters who want to follow Captain John Smith's routes around the
entire Bay trail.
CONCLUSION
The Chesapeake is an American treasure. It is the cradle of our
nation, and ties us to our history as a nation from Yorktown to Capitol
Hill. The Chesapeake is also a working landscape providing billions of
dollars annually to the economy of the region and is cherished by the
millions of people that live near its shores. I feel that a study of
the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Watertrail would find
exceptional opportunities for unparalleled recreation and historical
tourism experiences, education, and stewardship.
S. 336 recognizes the riches of the Chesapeake, just as John Smith
did when referring to the Chesapeake and said ``Heaven and earth never
agreed better to form a more perfect place for man's habitation.'' I
urge your favorable consideration of this bill and would be prepared to
answer any questions you may have.
Senator Thomas. Thank you. Thank you both.
Mr. Noonan, what is the name of this facility now?
Mr. Noonan. Presently the watertrail does not exist. What
we are calling for is a study as to the feasibility of creating
a multi-State jurisdiction national watertrail.
Senator Thomas. The Captain John Smith Chesapeake National
Historic Watertrail is----
Mr. Noonan. That is the proposed name of the study to
create that.
Senator Thomas. And that would be the first. So there is no
name to it now particularly.
Mr. Noonan. No. This would be the name that we are
proposing as part of the study to be conducted by the National
Park Service.
Senator Thomas. Apparently, as I mentioned to the other
gentleman, there are others. This was the first one where the
route is entirely over water apparently.
Mr. Noonan. This is the first of its kind over water and
multi-jurisdictional. Four States and the District of Columbia
would be affected.
Senator Thomas. I see. Thank you.
Ms. Lowe, you indicated that the Park Service is a partner.
What role have they played in this?
Ms. Lowe. Well, as was indicated, they have actually been
very instrumental in all the technical support and the
condition assessment of the facility and of all the preliminary
condition assessment reports. They actually even helped us to
write our proposal when we received our National Historic
Landmark designation. We have worked very closely with the
GGNRA. Superintendent Brian O'Neal has been instrumental in
helping us plan out our strategies for how to raise money on
this project. And of course, we did receive the $500,000 in
Save America's Treasures dollars.
Senator Thomas. So the Park Service apparently is somewhat
concerned about just doing the money.
Ms. Lowe. Yes.
Senator Thomas. It being not a State park or not really an
affiliated State area.
Ms. Lowe. I am sympathetic with that. Of course, we all
worry about the dollars. I have to say that if we had been able
to squeeze really $18.5 million from California State and as
this is a national story, we feel that the location is much
less an issue than the significance of the story. Of course,
during its time of operation as an immigration station, it was
Federal property. It was turned over to State parks in 1963.
Senator Thomas. Well, I understand your situation. On the
other hand, I understand what the parks are saying. We have 388
parks in this country and some other sort of historic sites,
all of which the Government has some responsibility for. So
there is not an excess of dollars, as you know.
Ms. Lowe. I understand. So we can either make the pie
bigger or maybe we can be creative and find a way to make this
a national historic site. In talking to your staff, I
understand that there might be ways around this if we really
put our minds to it.
Senator Thomas. Well, it is certainly very interesting, and
we will be happy to take both of these under advisement.
We thank both of you for being here.
Ms. Lowe. I appreciate very much the opportunity to answer
your questions and also to bring our heads together on this.
Senator Thomas. I appreciate it. If we have any further
questions, we will get them to you and put them in the record.
The subcommittee is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:25 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
APPENDIXES
----------
Appendix I
Responses to Additional Questions
----------
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation,
Board of Directors,
San Francisco, CA, May 19, 2005.
Hon. Craig Thomas,
Chairman, Subcommittee on National Parks, Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Thomas: Thank you for your kind note which I received
this afternoon regarding my testimony on behalf of Angel Island
Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF) to the Subcommittee on National
Parks on April 28, 2005. Your consideration of our request to enable
AIISF to be eligible for federal funds is greatly appreciated. The
approval of such legislation would be extraordinarily helpful in our
efforts to restore this National Historic Landmark and create the
``Ellis Island of the West.''
I hope this directly answers the questions raised in your letter.
Please feel free to contact me directly at (415) 824-5599 if I can
provide more information or clarification.
Again, we deeply appreciate your consideration of this extremely
important request.
Sincerely,
Felicia Lowe,
Vice President.
[Enclosure.]
Question 1a. What sources have you approached for funding to
perform the restoration work?
Answer. AIISF has been a legal 501 (c)(3) since 1985 and has
existed solely on the contributions of foundations, corporations and
individuals since then. We have approached a myriad of specific sources
within those three general categories. Approximately 2,500 individuals
have donated to Angel Island over that period ranging in size from $5
to $100,000. In addition, we hold a Fall Fundraising event each year
largely sponsored by local corporations such as Wells Fargo Bank, Bank
of America, United Parcel Service, etc. In total, approximately 50
corporations have donated at least $1,000 to our restoration work
through this effort.
AIISF has approached dozens of local (and some national)
foundations and have received grants from approximately 40 different
foundations including the San Francisco Community Foundation, the
Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, the Marin Community Fund, the Gerbode
Foundation, the Getty Trust and the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund. The
grants have ranged in size from $5,000 to $200,000. As was mentioned at
the hearing, the State of California approved a bond allocating $15
million to Angel Island Immigration Station and AIISF successfully
applied for a California Cultural and Historical Endowment grant for
which $3 million has been recommended towards the restoration work.
As we move forward with our $50 million capital campaign to restore
the Immigration Station, we expect to expand the scope of funders
nationwide.
Question 1b. Have you pursued funding from existing federal
preservation programs?
Answer. After National Historic Landmark designation was achieved,
AIISF did receive $500,000 through the federal program, Save America's
Treasures. That, however, is the only source of federal funds which
have been sought and obtained. Because the Angel Island Immigration
Station Foundation is on state-owned property, we have been ineligible
to receive federal funds beyond the Save America's Treasures grant.
This is a significant hindrance to our ability to successfully fund
this national project which during its period of operation was
enforcing federal legislation. Passage of S. 262 will allow us to seek
additional federal funds.
Question 2. What is the annual visitation to Angel Island?
Answer. More than 1 million people currently visit Angel Island
each year with over 60,000 (\1/2\ of whom are school children) making
special trips to tour the Angel Island Immigration Station.
Question 3. Are there user fees charged for visiting the site?
Answer. There are no user fees to visit the Island or the
Immigration Station. There is a fee charge for transportation to Angel
Island by the privately owned ferry company, and there is an optional/
suggested donation fee of $2 for those taking a tour of the Immigration
Station.
Question 4. How many buildings are part of the immigration station?
Answer. There are 7 original buildings that are a part of Angel
Island Immigration Station including:
The Detention Barracks
The Hospital
The Power House
The POW Mess Hall
The Pump House
The North and South Barracks
The Mule Barn
Question 4a. Will this funding restore all of the structures
associated with the immigration station?
Answer. No. Only the Detention Barracks, the Hospital, and the
Power House are included within our $50 million capital campaign. The
Hospital is the second most important structure and will house a
museum, family/genealogy research center and public space for learning
and performances. It is in horribly dilapidated condition and it is our
hope that federal dollars will help shore up this structure before it
collapses. The $15 million in California State bond which covers the
costs of Phase I restoration of the Detention Barracks with its
precious poems carved on the walls is now underway. In addition, the
original footprint of the Administration Building that burned down in
1940 will be used for circulation and interpretation. The remaining
buildings may be renovated at a later date and would require additional
funding. But the restoration of these additional buildings is not
central to the core project of restoring the Immigration Station.
Question 4b. What is the total estimate to restore all buildings?
Answer. The total restoration cost for the three primary buildings
is approximately $40 million. An additional $5 million will be raised
for interpretive programs and exhibits and $5 million will be needed to
support all the administrative functions of the national campaign, the
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation and staff time for project
management.
______
Department of the Interior,
Office of Legislative and Congressional Affairs,
Washington, DC, May 26, 2005.
Hon. Craig Thomas,
Chairman, Subcommittee on National Parks, Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: Enclosed are answers to the follow-up questions
from the hearing held by the Subcommittee on National Parks on April
28, 2005, on H.R. 126, S. 242, S. 262, S. 336, S. 670, and S. 777.
These responses have been prepared by the National Park Service.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to respond to you on this
matter.
Sincerely,
Jane M. Lyder,
Legislative Counsel.
[Enclosure.]
Questions From Senator Thomas
Question 1. (H.R. 126, Cape Lookout National Seashore, Shackelton
Ponies): Legislation to establish a target population for one species
does not happen very often. Is it necessary to define such a narrow
target population and will it be possible to achieve?
Answer. Statutory restrictions already have been enacted to
establish a target population for one species. H.R. 126, now under
consideration, if amended as recommended by the National Park Service,
would broaden the target range of the horses by ``allowing periodic
population expansion of the herd to a maximum of 130 horses''. While it
is possible to achieve a narrower target population, it would require
intensive management. The NPS believes that the ecology of the island
and the genetic viability of the herd would be better protected if the
population were allowed to fluctuate over time.
Question 2a. (S. 242, Space Shuttle Columbia Memorials):
Commemoration of the tragedy that occurred on February 1, 2001, is
necessary and appropriate. Memorialization of that tragic event has
been done at several locations, notably; the Space Mirror Memorial
dedicated to all our fallen astronauts, a commemorative plaque at
Arlington National Cemetery, and a `Columbia Room' has been dedicated
at the Vehicle Assembly Building of the Kennedy Space Flight Center in
Florida.
How will the establishment of the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial
complement these efforts?
Answer. In addition to the memorials mentioned above, as we stated
in our testimony there are other memorials dedicated to individual
astronauts and there may be additional memorials that we are unaware of
A study would be the best way of developing a comprehensive list and
understanding of what memorials already exist and how these memorials
might complement or duplicate commemoration efforts.
Question 2b. What management role will the National Park Service
have in this memorial?
Answer. A study would also address an appropriate role for NPS in
the management of the memorial depending on the type of memorial
recommended.
Question 2c. Will private donations be used in the design and
construction of these memorials?
Answer. Hopefully, private donations would be a significant part of
the process, but again, a study that examines the type of memorials
that would be established should be done. A study would examine the
interest and feasibility of relying on private-sector contributions for
a memorial.
Question 3a. (S. 262, Angel Island Immigration Station): Angel
Island Immigration Station is maintained and operated by the State of
California.
What management responsibility does the National Park Service
currently have at Angel Island Immigration Station?
Answer. The National Park Service has no management responsibility;
the immigration station is owned and managed by the State of
California. The Park Service role has been limited to one of assisting
in developing a restoration and interpretation strategy and managing
contracts for some reports and assessments that were done to guide the
preservation efforts.
Question 3b. Has the property been evaluated for possible
designation as a unit of the National Park System?
Answer. Angel Island is a state-owned property located within a
unit of the National Park System, the Golden Gate National Recreation
Area. In the FY 1999 appropriations for the Department of the Interior,
the National Park Service was directed to ``evaluate the feasibility
and desirability of preserving and interpreting sites within the Golden
Gate National Recreation Area, including the Angel Island Immigration
Station, that are related to immigration.'' The NPS made an informal
determination that, although it was possible that Angel Island might
meet the criteria for inclusion in the National Park System, there was
no need to pursue evaluation of NPS management of the site because the
State of California wanted to continue managing it.
Question 4. (S. 336, Captain John Smith Chesapeake National
Historic Watertrail feasibility study): Does the NPS currently manage
any watertrails?
Answer. Yes. As part of the National Park System, we have some
units such as Everglades National Park and Virgin Islands National
Park, which contain water trails that we manage. In addition, some Wild
and Scenic Rivers are part of the National Park System that contain
miles of water trails.
As part of the National Trails System, we administer two trails
that traverse both water and land. The Lewis and Clark National
Historic Trail is administered by NPS, with most of the trail following
the Missouri and Columbia Rivers. The Trail of Tears National Historic
Trail is administered by NPS, in partnership with other federal
agencies, State and local agencies, non-profit organizations, and
private landowners. The Corps of Engineers manages the water trail part
of the Trail of Tears NHT. Finally within the Chesapeake Bay Gateways
Network, there are 22 water trails. These are primarily managed by
State, regional, and local governments, and non-profit organizations.
Question 5a. (S. 670, Cesar Chavez Farm Labor Movement, special
resource study): What type of potential National Park designations are
being considered as part of this special resource study?
Answer. We will not know what types of National Park Service
designations, if any, might be appropriate until the study is
authorized and we begin examining sites. Often in cases where we are
looking at multiple sites, we look at not only potential designations
as a unit of the National Park System, but also potential designations
as a national heritage area or a trail or some other entity. Often
studies find that the National Park Service should have no role or a
very limited one in managing the resource. About three quarters of our
studies end up with a recommendation for actions that are more
appropriately carried out by another entity and do not involve
management by the National Park Service.
Question 5b. How many sites will be evaluated as part of this
special resource study?
Answer. We won't know how many sites we will evaluate until the
study is authorized and we determine the scope of the study.
Question 6a. (S. 777, Catoctin Mountain Park name change to
Catoctin National Recreation Area): Have community meetings been held
regarding the name change?
Answer. On May 2, 2005, the Superintendent of Catoctin Mountain
Park briefed President William O'Neil of the Town of Emmitsburg (the
northern gateway community for the park) regarding the change in unit
designation for Catoctin Mountain Park. At that meeting the Board voted
5-0 to endorse the name change in a resolution.
Question 6b. Does the name change have local support?
Answer. The town of Smithsburg in Washington and Frederick
Counties, MD is in full support of the National Recreation Area
designation. The town of Thurmont in Frederick County would also prefer
the national recreation area designation.
Question 6c. The legislation gives the National Park Service
authority for land acquisition. How much land have you identified for
possible acquisition?
Answer. The land acquisition authority is a restatement of existing
authority from Executive Order 7496, which established and provided the
acquisition authority for the Recreational Demonstration Project, of
which Catoctin is one, in 1935. We currently have approximately 1.0
acres proposed for acquisition as part of a land exchange to correct a
surveying error.
Question 6d. Who owns the land being considered for acquisition and
are any landowners opposed to this effort?
Answer. The land is owned by a single park neighbor who is
considering our offer at this time. There is no opposition to this land
exchange. Any acquisition would be only from a willing seller.
Question From Senator Allen
Question 1. The Park Service has again proposed an amendment that
would install a hard cap of 130 wild horses on Cape Lookout National
Seashore. However, when asked about this in the two prior congressional
hearings on the bill, NPS stated that their support was not contingent
upon adoption of their suggested amendment.
It is my understanding that the scientific consensus surrounding
the genetic viability of the Shackelford Banks herd is that in order
for the population to remain viable, it should be allowed to fluctuate
between 110 and 130, and to bloom occasionally to slightly above 130
(only of course to be brought back down again in future roundups).
Furthermore, I understand the experience with National Park Service
management of the horses under the existing statute is that
administering a hard cap is controversial, unnecessarily inflexible and
impractical. We don't want to perpetuate the problem by forcing the
Park Service to immediately remove a horse should the population go to
131.
In light of these things, I trust that the Park Service will
continue its past position of supporting the bill with or without the
amendment. Is that the case?
Answer. The Department supports H.R. 126, with an amendment
regarding the population range of the horses that allows the number of
horses to fluctuate between 120 and 130 free roaming horses and allows
for a periodic population expansion of the herd to a maximum of 130
horses. This number is based on sound science and provides the
population changes which are necessary for maintaining the genetic
viability of the herd.
______
The Conservation Fund,
Arlington, VA, May 18, 2005.
Hon. Craig Thomas,
Chairman, Subcommittee on National Parks, Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Thomas: Thank you for the opportunity to testify
before the Senate Subcommittee on National Parks in support of S. 336,
a bill to authorize a feasibility study of the Captain John Smith
Chesapeake National Historic Watertrail.
Captain John Smith's role in establishing Jamestown and his
monumental exploration of the Chesapeake Bay is a compelling national
story. This legislation would recognize the importance of his voyage.
In response to your letter of May 1, 2005, I have attached answers
to the questions that you submitted for the record. Please let me know
if you need additional information. I look forward to working with you
to pass this important legislation.
Sincerely,
Patrick F. Noonan,
Chairman Emeritus.
[Enclosure.]
Question From Senator Thomas
Question 1. A watertrail is a new concept for the National Park
Service (NPS), are there examples of watertrails managed by other
entities?
Answer. There are over 400 watertrails across the country managed
by federal, state, and local government agencies, non-profit
organizations, and partnerships among these entities. The NPS manages
water trails in units of the National Parks System, and in components
of the National Trails System (NTS) and the National Wild and Scenic
Rivers System (NWSRS). For example, in the units of the National Parks
System, Everglades National Park has canoe trails, and the Virgin
Islands National Park has an underwater trail. In the case of the NTS,
both the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and the Trail of Tears
have terrestrial and aquatic components. Lastly, units of the NWSRS
have water trails within them, such as with the Upper Delaware Scenic
River.
Twenty-four states currently manage watertrails along with numerous
non-profit organizations. The following are examples of watertrails
from across the country:
Maine Island Trails: This trail runs for 325 miles along the
coast of Maine, extending from Casco Bay to Machias Bay. It
includes over 135 public and private sites along the route. The
Maine Islands Trails Association maintains the trail.
Lake Superior Water Trail: This trail was established by the
Minnesota Legislature in 1993 and will eventually be 150 miles.
The development and maintenance of the Water Trail is a joint
effort of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the
Lake Superior Water Trail Association of Minnesota.
Washington Water Trails: Washington State has an array of
watertrails, which connect inland lakes, rivers, waterways, and
ship canals with the shores of Puget Sound and the Pacific
Ocean. The Washington Water Trails Association coordinates
them.
Northeastern Illinois Water Trails: These trails are located
in Northeastern Illinois. There are over 10 trails that compose
nearly 500 miles of recreational water routes. The watertrails
are managed through a partnership of local governments and
volunteers.
Pennsylvania Water Trails: The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat
Commission (PFBC) have designated 17 official Pennsylvania
water trails. While the PFBC coordinates and designates the
trails, individual trails and trail corridors are conceived and
maintained by a network of volunteers, property owners, civic
groups and associations.
We would be pleased to provide more details upon request.
Question 2. How many sites in how many states do you anticipate
being part of the watertrail?
Answer. Captain John Smith's routes of travel included Virginia,
Maryland, Delaware, the District of Columbia and the northern extent of
his exploration nearly reached the Pennsylvania border. Should Congress
pass this legislation, the number of sites would ultimately be
determined by Congress or through a planning process as delineated by
the authorizing legislation establishing the trail.
Question 3. Are any recreation sites currently managed along the
proposed route of the watertrail?
Answer. Yes. There are many local, state and federal recreation
sites currently managed along the proposed watertrail. These include:
eight National Wildlife Refuges, over 20 state parks, and hundreds of
local parks and facilities.
Question 4. Do you anticipate any recreation sites or economic
development as a follow-on to the feasibility study or is the goal to
document the history of an area?
Answer. By directing the Secretary of the Interior to carry out a
study of the feasibility of designating the Captain John Smith
Chesapeake National Historic Watertrail as a national historic trail,
the bill will improve historical documentation of the Bay area. If the
National Park Service finds that the watertrail is both feasible and
nationally significant, and Congress establishes the trail, then we
anticipate that the watertrail will promote tourism and recreation-
related economic development, including guide services and hotel
accommodations.
Appendix II
Additional Material Submitted for the Record
----------
Statement of Hon. Hilda L. Solis, U.S. Representative From California,
ON S. 670
Thank you, Chairman Thomas and Ranking Member Akaka, for the
opportunity to testify in support of S. 670, a bill to authorize a
special resource study by the Department of Interior to honor the life
of Cesar Estrada Chavez. I appreciate the leadership of Senators McCain
and Salazar, and appreciate your willingness to give this legislation
quick hearing in your Subcommittee. I hope the full Energy and Natural
Resources Committee will consider this legislation in a timely manner.
I look forward to its passage again by the U.S. Senate.
Chavez was a humble man who knew the importance of hard work and
sacrifice. Raised during the Great Depression, Chavez's family lost
everything and he was forced to wander the southwestern United States
with thousands of other farm-worker families. Farm workers were united
as they fought to survive in the often harsh working and living
conditions of the migrant life. As a migrant farm worker he learned the
value of community and family.
Chavez eventually left the fields in 1952 and joined the Community
Service Organization where he conducted voter registration drives and
campaigns against racial and economic discrimination. In 1962, Chavez
returned to help farm-worker families and started the National Farm
Workers Association. Today we know this organization as the United Farm
Workers of America.
Chavez was a student of Mahatma Gandhi's non-violent philosophies.
The United Farm Workers continues the tradition of peaceful protest to
achieve change. Through this philosophy they have fought for fair
wages, health care coverage, pension benefits, housing improvements,
pesticide and health regulations and countless other protections for
the health and wellbeing of the farm worker and their family.
It is appropriate that this legislation authorizes the Department
of Interior to do a special resources study to examine the areas that
Chavez lived for potential incorporation into the National Park
Service. Ninety-six percent of Latinos believe the environment should
be an important priority for this country; we understand the link
between our environment and our health. As a child, my parents couldn't
afford to take my siblings and me on vacations, but nonetheless they
made sure we enjoyed the outdoors and learned to value and appreciate
what we have. It would be an honor to know that future generations can
walk through our National Park System and find ways this nation has
honored the legacy of one of our own, Cesar E. Chavez.
Despite the legacy of people like Chavez, there are no historical,
geographical or cultural designations in the National Park Service for
the Latino community. The life of Cesar Chavez provides an outstanding
opportunity to correct this injustice, by demonstrating and
interpreting the history of agricultural labor in the west through the
National Parks Service. A true American hero and co-founder of the
United Farm Workers, Chavez was a civil rights, and labor leader. A
religious and spiritual figure, a community servant and social
entrepreneur, he was a crusader for nonviolent social change, and
environmentalist and consumer advocate. The stories of his struggles
and triumphs need to be communicated and preserved for all Americans.
Since I was a young Latina, Cesar Chavez has been my inspiration.
His work inspired me to find ways to help others and led me to civil
service where I strive to do the best I can for those I represent.
I was the author and the primary sponsor of this legislation in the
U.S. House of Representatives in the 108th Congress, and I plan to
reintroduce this legislation again. Last year I was very pleased when
the U.S. Senate passed this legislation unanimously. I am glad Members
of Congress recognized the great influence of Cesar E. Chavez. I look
forward to the opportunity to reintroduce this language in the House
and hope that this session, unlike last, the House will also quickly
consider this important legislation.
Thank you again.
______
Statement of Edward Wright Haile*
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Edward Wright Haile is a leading expert on Captain John Smith. In
1998, he published the almost 1,000 page Jamestown Narratives--
Eyewitness Accounts of the Virginia Colony, an edited collection of all
primary source material for the first ten years of the Jamestown
Colony.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AMERICA, THE CHESAPEAKE BAY, AND CAPT. JOHN SMITH
Captain John Smith's Chesapeake Bay dwarfs any other stretch of our
coastline in historical firsts. It was on the broad estuary first
explored and mapped by the great captain in 1608 that the American idea
was first tried. Here America began in England's first successful
colony in 1607: the America of democracy and British dominion; the
America of freedom and slavery. Here was the first society to proclaim
religious liberty, the first government to separate church and state.
Here were the earliest forms of county and state government. The first
American deeds were written for Chesapeake land. When Jefferson wrote
that all men were created equal, he was thinking of a colonist on the
Chesapeake Bay. Our first president was the president of the council at
James Fort. The House of Representatives and the Senate are a direct
outgrowth of that council and the elected House of Burgesses at
Jamestown. In July 1619, what else deserves to be called the cradle of
democracy? The distance from the cattails at Jamestown island to the
cattails below Capitol Hill is two hundred and twenty-two miles. Up the
Chesapeake Bay.
Here was the common man's first foothold on history. The Council of
Virginia, sitting in London, sent a direct appeal to the lord mayor of
the city:
And if the inmate enjoined to remove shall allege he hath not
place to remove unto, but must lie in the streets, and being
off'red to go THIS JOURNEY shall demand what may be their
present maintenance, what may be their future hopes--it may
please you to let them know that for the present they shall
have meat, drink, and clothing, with an house, orchard, and
garden, and a possession of lands to them and their posterity:
ONE HUNDRED ACRES. (16 March 1609)
It set off an explosion still going on.
The first settlers at Jamestown (officially Anglican) included
Puritans, Catholics, atheists; even an individual who asked the council
if he might become a citizen of Virginia if he was a subject of the
shah of Persia. (The answer was yes.) The roster of early arrivals
included, among good old British names, a large group that could be
considered as merely first or second generation Anglicized: Anas
Todkill (Dutch?), Richard Mullinax (French?), Abram Ransack (Jewish?),
Anthony Bagnall (Italian?). The craftsmen at the glassmaking shop in
1608 were Polish. Germans built the emperor Powhatan a modern home at
Werowocomoco.
As the colonists came increasingly in contact with local Indians up
and down the Bay, the words chinquapin, chum, hickory, hominy,
moccasin, opossum, pecan, persimmon, (corn)pone, pokeberry, raccoon,
roanoke, squaw, terrapin, tomahawk entered our speech to stay. H. L.
Mencken's American Language was Powhatan first.
After several prior failures, England staked much treasure and
prestige on the survival of her Chesapeake colony. Had it failed,
America would have become French, Dutch, Swedish, Spanish. Or nothing
at all. There would have been no thirteen colonies.
Actually, it did fail, in a fashion. There were more lives lost
establishing a beachhead on the Chesapeake than were lost at Normandy.
On the morning of June 6, 1610, the English settlement at James Fort,
racked by starvation and disease, was abandoned. One hundred colonists
boarded ship to return to England. On the evening of the same day, the
supply fleet of Lord Delaware met them off Mulberry Island in the
James, and America was resuscitated.
It returned to serve as the model and the inspiration to all that
followed. After 1610, colony-making was no longer a gamble in the dark.
The East Coast was mapped, techniques were perfected, startup costs
calculated, Englishmen were familiar with native cultures and
languages. Samuel Argall, operating out of Jamestown in 1613, swept the
French from of an area that Captain John Smith a year later would dub
``New England.'' The Plymouth Colony, facing its share of shortages and
hardships in the 1620s, was relieved with supplies from the Chesapeake
Bay. All at once, in the wake of that epochal period, one speaks of
northern colonies, middle colonies, southern colonies, and the seaboard
map is filling up and thickening westward.
The Bay's first explorer is that same Captain John Smith. Of plain
origins, he became America's first and strongest popular leader and
best Indian trader. He was an adventure writer who lived the life. He
was an historian and lexicographer. He studied Indian culture and spoke
the Powhatan language. He promoted Virginia (read American)
colonization in print, cataloging its plants, describing its soil. His
contemporaries recognized his achievement and gave him the credit for
having supplied the firm hand as president that saved the Jamestown
colony at its first nadir. If George Washington is the father of our
country, John Smith is the grandfather.
The colony was a year old when, over the summer of 1608, he made
two back-to-back Chesapeake voyages of discovery of 1100 miles each. He
chose fourteen volunteers to man a thirty-foot open boat, with sails
and oars, calling it a ``discovery barge.'' It was supplied with a
week's rations and water, firearms, including fireworks (to impress the
natives), navigational instruments, trade goods, writing materials, a
first-aid kit (one crewman was a doctor). In the event of bad weather,
they were expected to huddle under a tarpaulin, but no proper tent.
They were gone a month and a half, came back, rested and recouped for
three days; Smith picked twelve volunteers (eight were the same men),
and they left to be gone another month and a half. A crewman describes
their task and the result:
. . . to search [for] a glistering metal . . . but all we got
proved of no value. Also to search what furs and what other
minerals, rivers, rocks, nations, woods, fishings, fruits,
victual, and what other commodities the land afforded, and
whether the bay were endless or how far it extended.
Of mines we were all [disappointed], but a few [fur-bearing
animals] we found, and in divers places that abundance of fish
lying so thick with their heads above the water as for want of
nets we attempted to catch them with a frying pan, but . . . in
the Bay of Chesapeack [despite superabundance] they are not to
be caught with frying pans!
And further:
To express all our quarrels, treacheries, and encounters
amongst those savages I should be too tedious, but, in brief,
at all times we so encount'red them and curbed their
insolencies that they concluded with presents to purchase
peace, yet we lost not a man. At our first meeting, our captain
ever observed this order: to demand their bows and arrows,
swords, mantles, and furs, with some child or two for hostage,
whereby we could quickly perceive when they intended any
villainy.
The first day out took him through Hampton Roads, 254 years later
to witness the birth of ironclad warfare between the Monitor and
Merrimac.
On days three and four the explorers sounded the waters of the
Eastern Shore inlet where in the 1620s William Johnson would be
America's first black landowner.
Within a week Smith's party were the first Englishmen to enter the
future colony of Maryland. They ascended the Nanticoke River to set
foot on the southwest corner of Delaware. The discovery barge landed on
Tangier Island in search of water. Today it is still inhabited by
direct descendants of 17th-century settlers.
Crossing the Bay and cruising up the western shore of Maryland,
Smith found it devoid of population despite its ``dense woods and
fertile valleys.'' Englishmen read that in 1612 and wanted to go by the
hundreds, then by the thousands. If it was true of Maryland and
Virginia, it had to be true of the whole East Coast.
He passed the site of the Naval Academy on June 11, the next day
Baltimore harbor. Rowing past Fort McHenry Point, he heard no chorus
sing ``The Star-Spangled Banner,'' but if he had he would have been on
his feet. He writes in his General History that the land and the water
were rich beyond imagination, and would give rise to the greatest
nation on earth. The same day up the Patapsco River, on foot he passed
over the 1731 birthplace of Benjamin Banneker.
He turned south to the Potomac River, visiting its ``king's
houses,'' passing the birthplace of George Washington on the way from
Cecomocomoco to Potapaco. He looked into Pohick Bay, home of the Bill
of Rights, to stop next at Namassingakent, today Mount Vernon, crossing
the river that afternoon to Moyaons, the king's house of the Piscataway
tribe. The Piscataway are still there. The next day, July 3, 1608,
being the very day that Samuel de Champlain founded the city of Quebec,
620 miles to the north, Captain John Smith discovered the District of
Columbia and cruised past the site of the Lincoln Memorial, lands 180
years later surveyed by Washington and Banneker.
On his second voyage Smith's party cruised directly to the Bay's
headwaters, mapping en route the site of Maryland's first English
settlement in 1631.
They met a fleet of seven bark canoes on 31 July. It was the first
encounter of the English and the mighty Iroquois. The League of the Six
Nations later served as Benjamin Franklin's federal model for the
Constitution.
Smith named the place Pisings Point, after Edward Pising, a
carpenter and a soldier. Other explorers named places after saints or
royalty or wealthy patrons. Smith often named his discoveries for the
men beside him on the bench pulling oars. America was already going to
be different from Europe.
A week later, climbing Fair Hill, the explorers gazed over the
broad Delaware estuary below Philadelphia. It was another two years
before Lord Delaware discovered its sea mouth.
Rowing up the Bay's greatest river to the head of tide and to a
modern state line, the Captain met five chiefs of the Conestoga tribe
of central Pennsylvania. Their land would be purchased a century later
to become the nation's richest farm country and the center of
Pennsylvania Dutch settlement.
He learned from them that an era was coming to an end. A hundred
and sixteen years after Columbus and the sponsors of voyages of
discovery were still hoping to find a way around or through the
continent to Asia. Cabot, Verazzano, Frobisher, Drake, Cartier, and
other explorers had fed hopes of a northwest passage. Captain John
Smith named the rapids of the Susquehanna ``Smith's Falls'' on August
2nd, and it is fair to say the lash hope of a sea route to China was
gone.
On an evening in early September the explorers passed the mouth of
the York, rowing southward in a calm to drop anchor beside it a small
bay named for Bartholomew Gosnold, who had been the principal
instigator and organizer of the 1607 colonization. In passing south of
the York, Smith had completed his 2500-mile exploration establishing
England's continental claim. Yet it was here in 1781 the French fleet
would blockade the army of Cornwallis at Yorktown and bring about the
surrender of it all--to a new nation. And sent the British packing to
Champlain's Canada!
At Smith's return, the London Company now had a map that is still
usable and accurate, including the charting of shoals. They had a
location of settlements and a description of native America, a census
of its ``bowmen,'' including tribal names and territories, with an
accompanying text of eight thousand words.
Smith's Chesapeake discoveries made it clear that America was not
about gold and silver but about achievement and hard work. America was
the opportunity of land--rich, broad, and deep-soiled. It was not a
Peru or Mexico of instant conquest and treasure, nor was it an island
of lotus eaters. Its resources would yield only to yeoman faith,
patience, and ``American'' ingenuity. To Smith's kind of people.
______
Sultana Projects, Inc.,
The Captain John Smith 400 Project,
Chestertown, MD, April 27, 2005.
Hon. Paul S. Sarbanes,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Letter in support of Senate Bill S. 336--Captain John Smith Chesapeake
National Historic Watertrail Study Act of 2005
Dear Senator Sarbanes: Sultana Projects, Inc., based in
Chestertown, Maryland, is a strong supporter of Senate Bill S. 336 and
the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Watertrail Study
Act of 2005.
Our nonprofit organization is committed to this bipartisan effort
as a way of preserving the natural, historic and cultural resources of
the Chesapeake Bay for future generations.
This magnificent Bay and its fragile environment is a national
treasure, belonging to all Americans. It is the very birthplace of this
great nation, providing life and sustenance to its native peoples for
thousands of years, and those who have settled here in the past 400
years.
At the present time, Sultana Projects is engaged in a project
marking John Smith's exploration of the Bay in 1608 and will reenact
Smith's historic voyage in 2007, tracing a trail of nearly 1,700 miles.
This effort will help to bring national attention to the region and
demonstrate the viability of the national watertrail on the Chesapeake.
As proposed, this study of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake
National Historic Watertrail will support both conservation and
economic initiatives needed to rebuild the rich ecology of the Bay and
the fishing industries which once thrived here. Further, this
initiative is a necessary first step in examining the potential for
greater public access to the Chesapeake and its tributaries. This will
benefit not only the 16 million people living in the Chesapeake
watershed today, but millions of Americans who visit its waters each
year.
Future generations depend on our taking action now. We urge you to
throw your full political clout behind Senate Bill 336 and press your
colleagues to support this legislation to assure that the Chesapeake
Bay remains a national treasure for all time.
We appreciate your support and that of your Senate colleagues.
Sincerely,
Drew McMullen,
President.
______
February 17, 2005.
Hon. Paul S. Sarbanes,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Hon. John W. Warner,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Senators Sarbanes and Warner: The Chesapeake Bay, rich in
cultural heritage as the cradle of our nation, and internationally
known as a magnificent estuary abundant in natural resources, is truly
an American treasure deserving of national recognition.
In honor of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown in
1607 and the voyages of exploration in the Chesapeake Bay, we support
the establishment of the Capt. John Smith Chesapeake National Water
Trail. The current Chesapeake Bay Gateways effort and the Water Trails
program have been very successful, and this study would be an important
complement to the existing effort.
Accordingly, we wish to express our support for the bipartisan
legislation you are introducing to authorize the National Park Service
to study the national significance of Smith's voyages of exploration
and the feasibility of establishing a water trail to commemorate the
voyages. We believe that the study should include an analysis of the
benefits of the trail for education, outdoor recreation, and heritage
tourism.
It is only fitting to honor the man who ensured the survival of the
Jamestown colony, and explored and mapped in detail over 2,000 miles of
the Chesapeake Bay. Captain John Smith set the tone for a nation based
on egalitarian principles and fixed an indelible image of the natural
splendors and rigors of life on this continent through his descriptions
of American Indian culture.
A John Smith Chesapeake National Water Trail will serve as an
unparalleled aquatic national recreational resource--forever telling
the story of our nation's remarkable maritime culture, historical
settlements and our goal to sustain the world's most productive
estuary.
Your support of the study is critical to recognize this exceptional
national resource.
Respectfully,
Edward G. Rendell,
Governor,
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.,
Governor,
State of Maryland.
Mark R. Warner,
Governor,
Commonwealth of Virginia.
Ruth Ann Minner,
Governor,
State of Delaware.
Mike Waugh,
Chair,
Chesapeake Bay Commission.
Anthony A.Williams,
Mayor,
District of Columbia.
______
Commonwealth of Virginia,
Jamestown 2007 Steering Committee,
Williamsburg, VA, April 26, 2005.
Hon. George F. Allen,
Member, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Allen: I am writing to you in support of the Captain
John Smith Chesapeake National Historical Watertrail Study Act of 2005.
In 1997, you began the ten-year countdown to 2007 by challenging
the Jamestown 2007 Steering Committee to develop a vision for the 400th
anniversary of the establishment of the first permanent English
settlement in America. Likewise, the Jamestown 400th Commemoration
Commission, created by Congress in 2000, is working with the Jamestown
2007 Steering Committee and other agencies of the Commonwealth to
facilitate and implement federal involvement in this important effort.
Over 120 Virginia communities have taken up the challenge and are
developing local plans and grass roots involvement that reflects the
character of their localities. We are successfully coordinating these
efforts and are implementing a series of exciting, entertaining and
educational events and initiatives across the Commonwealth. These
projects will lead up to, and extend beyond, the May 2007 commemoration
of the landing at Jamestown.
The designation of the John Smith Watertrail will be an opportunity
for federal, state and local cooperation to create another important
and lasting legacy.
While we have been working hard to interpret many historical
components of the early years of the settlement, few projects speak as
pointedly to the concept of exploration as does this legislation. It
goes beyond our mandate and capability to fully educate the public on
the length and breadth of Smith's curiosity and struggle to document
America's bounty. The designation of the Watertrail would be an
extremely useful, real and thematic addition to our educational
efforts. Additionally, many of the locations encompassed in this study
still retain their natural beauty, to the degree that Captain Smith
would have little trouble recognizing them were he to come back today.
No doubt, if the Act is enacted, many future generations will have a
firsthand appreciation of your foresight as they explore these same
rivers, creeks, streams, coves, bays and islands for themselves.
Please consider complementing the work of the Jamestown 2007
Commemoration by passing this important and historic piece of
legislation.
Sincerely,
Stuart Connock,
Chairman.