Jul 31 2008
MEN: River Raisin Battlefield - Senate Testimony
Charles Slat at the Monroe Evening News has a review of Senate testimony related to the proposed River Raisin National Battlefield Park. Excerpts and link:
A group from Monroe returned from Washington, D.C., Wednesday night confident that they made a strong case that War of 1812 River Raisin Battlefield should be part of the national parks system.
“We came away heartened and encouraged,” said William H. Braunlich, president of the Monroe County Historical Society, who testified before a Senate subcommittee pondering legislation that would do that. “It was a very exciting day. I think all of us felt very heartened.”
But he noted that representatives of the national park system at the same hearing recommended to the Senate subcommittee that action on the legislation be deferred, possibly for two to three years until a special resource study of the idea was finished.
Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, who presides over the subcommittee, asked Daniel Wenk, deputy director of operations for the National Park Service, why the agency needed such a long time to do the study. Mr. Wenk replied that it was typical for a study to determine the national significance, suitability and feasibility of the site.
“I think to most people in our group there was a consensus that the answer was pretty much a bureaucratic one,” Mr. Braunlich said. “With all due respect to the National Park Service, I don’t think he really provided the chairman with any compelling identification of why it would take so long.”
Mr. Braunlich did not think that Mr. Wenk acknowledged the national significance of the site.
Sen. Akaka asked Mr. Braunlich why the Senate should act on the legislation and not wait for the study. Mr. Braunlich told him the progress on the study has been meaningful and substantial and the NPS already has acknowledged the national significance of the site. He said 40 acres of the battlefield area already are under title to public or nonprofit agencies and all stand ready to transfer those deeds to the federal government.
“I also said I thought the National Park Service neglected to consider that when considering a project like this, there’s a critical mass that’s achieved and it’s important to feed the momentum,” Mr. Braunlich said. “There’s a wave of community support we wanted to capitalize on, a critical mass now for the bicentennial, and I don’t think any of us will be around for the tricentennial. I seemed to get a laugh out of that one.”
http://www.monroenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080731/NEWS01/562604380