By Marc Korman.
As PBS began airing a new Ken Burns’ documentary about the National Parks, the Washington Post decided to pick on one of the lesser known National Park units here in Maryland. The article was a disservice to National Park sites in Maryland and around the country.
When we think of National Parks, we usually think of Yosemite, Yellowstone, and other wide open, primarily western landscapes. Burns’ new documentary deservedly focuses on these impressive parks. But they are a small part of the almost 400 units in the National Park System. The National Mall is part of the park system, as is Gettysburg battlefield in Pennsylvania, Theodore Roosevelt’s birthplace in New York, and a Cold War missile silo in South Dakota. These sites and many more fall into more than ten different categories that make up the park system including monuments, preserves, historic sites, battlefields, seashores, and trails. It would have been helpful if Burns had helped expose more Americans to the diversity of the National Park System.
In Maryland, there are technically twenty-four national park units, including sections of several parkways and trails. The Washington Post chose to highlight Thomas Stone National Historic Site in their piece, without even mentioning the many other park sites in the area. The Post’s major points seemed to be that no one knows who Stone is, people do not visit the Historic Site, and the Parks have drifted away from their core purpose of expansive landscapes in favor of historic and cultural sites. I have not visited the Stone site, but preserving the home of a signatory to the Declaration of Independence certainly seems in keeping with the purpose of the National Parks. Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia tells the story of the Declaration itself. The Stone Site, as well as other park sites honoring Thomas Jefferson (VA), John Adams (MA), Thomas Nelson, Jr. (VA), and William Floyd (NY), focus on the personalities behind the signatures. Despite the low rate of visitors or name ID of Stone, that seems like a worthy topic.
Many other Park sites in Maryland are far more popular. The C&O Canal National Historical Park is the one I have visited the most, and have written about at MPW previously. As many Marylanders know, the canal was saved from conversion to a highway thanks to the leadership of Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. Fort McHenry in Baltimore, where the Star Spangled Banner was born during the War of 1812, is another famous Maryland site. As the Post was disparaging one historic site in Maryland, Chris Van Hollen was hosting his annual event at another, the Glen Echo Park. Glen Echo represents a once popular type of urban amusement park where young and old alike can still ride a carousel that dates back to 1921.
There are many other great parks just a drive away, including Shenandoah, where my wife likes to take me when she gets tired of the Billy Goat Trail in C&O, numerous historic sites in DC, and the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina if you are a bit more ambitious.
As PBS airs Ken Burns’ documentary, we should all prove the Washington Post wrong in its negative assessment of the broader park system. Whether you are looking for nature, history, or culture, the National Park System has a nearby unit for you to visit. Go visit some of them, you will not be disappointed.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
The National Parks in Maryland
Friday, October 03, 2008
C&O National Historical Park Damage
By Marc Korman.
The Gazette recently reported that the popular towpath at the C&O National Historical Park suffered major damage as a result of Tropical Storm Hanna. As a result, the National Park Service has closed over a mile of the trail between Anglers Inn and Stoplock, in the Montgomery County portion of the park. This is bad news for our region and the towpath’s many users.
Montgomery County is home to a few National Park Service sites. Glen Echo Park, which is technically part of the George Washington Parkway, and the Clara Barton House, a National Historic Site managed by the National Park Service, are wonderful places to visit. But when we think of National Parks in our community, we think of the impressive Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park.
Last year, C&O Canal had over 2.8 million visitors who enjoyed its hiking trails, biked or walked along the towpath, or explored one of the 1,300 historical sites along the towpath. C&O Canal is geographically the longest National Park in the country, stretching 184.5 miles from Cumberland to Georgetown. Among the most popular sites in the Park is the Billy Goat Trail, a three section trail in the Montgomery County section of the Park. When I was a student at Montgomery County Public Schools, we took field trips to the Park to learn about the Canal’s history and the lock system that made it work.
The Park has a fascinating history. The canal itself was outdated from almost the moment it opened due to the increase in affordable rail transportation. In the 1950s, planning was underway to convert the derelict canal into a roadway. Supreme Court Justice William Douglas, an avid hiker around the canal, joined with other community advocates to torpedo the road and have C&O declared a National Park. It took years of public advocacy, but in 1971 the Park was finally established.
The heavy damage along the towpath could not come at a worse time for the C&O Canal or the parks in general. According to the National Parks Conservation Association, the National Park Service has an annual $750 million operational shortfall nationwide, meaning just to continue doing what it is already doing it needs three quarters of a billion dollars more each year.
C&O Canal’s budget of approximately $9.8 million for operations last year is 37% of what the Park’s assessed needs are based on a business plan analysis conducted by parks advocates. In the past decade, the Park’s staffing has dropped by a quarter. The Park also has over $40 million in flood damage awaiting repairs, excluding the towpath damage. There are also continued pressures from adjacent development. For example, back in 2004 Dan Snyder created a controversy when he removed trees bordering the Park, altering the landscape.
The primary response in recent years to the degradation of our National Parks has been to promote the work of important organizations like the C&O Canal Trust and C&O Canal Association. These organizations, and others like them supporting National Parks across the country, are invaluable. They will likely provide many of the resources to fix the recent storm damage.
But ad hoc private group efforts are no solution to our parks’ needs. The Bush Administration, in honor of the National Park Service’s forthcoming 100th Anniversary in 2016, has proposed a Centennial Initiative to leverage private donations with matching federal funds to renew the parks. C&O Canal’s specific Centennial plan has multiple goals, including trail rehabilitation, historic building restoration among the 1,300 historical sites, and making the park “green” by encouraging park vendors to use alternative fuels. So far, the proposal has not received much traction in Congress.
The broader National Parks issues should be addressed, but what needs to happen now is our community, led by private organizations and our local Congressman, need to come together to repair the towpath and allow unhindered access to the C&O Canal National Historical Park in Montgomery County. And if you have the time, you should go visit and enjoy the Park. But try not to go all at once, it can get pretty crowded on nice weekend afternoons.
