[Senate Report 113-53]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 107
113th Congress Report
SENATE
1st Session 113-53
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BUFFALO SOLDIERS IN THE NATIONAL PARKS STUDY
_______
June 27, 2013.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Wyden, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 225]
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was
referred the bill (S. 225) to authorize the Secretary of the
Interior to conduct a study of alternatives for commemorating
and interpreting the role of the Buffalo Soldiers in the early
years of the National Parks, and for other purposes, having
considered the same, reports favorably thereon without
amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.
PURPOSE
The purpose of S. 225 is to authorize the Secretary of the
Interior to conduct a study of alternatives for commemorating
and interpreting the role of the Buffalo Soldiers in the early
years of the National Parks.
BACKGROUND AND NEED
In the late 19th and early 20th century, America's Buffalo
Soldiers--segregated cavalry units of the U.S. Army--played an
important, yet little known role in the history of our national
parks. The African American soldiers of the 24th Infantry and
9th Cavalry were responsible for patrolling the 320-mile route
between the Presidio in San Francisco to Sequoia and Yosemite
National Parks. Their units built roads and trails along the
route and they protected these new parks from poaching,
logging, fire, and trespass grazing. Starting in 1903, the
Buffalo Soldiers were led by Lt. Colonel Charles Young, only
the third African American to graduate from West Point. Young
was assigned as the Acting Superintendent of Sequoia National
Park in California for the summer and is regarded as the
driving force behind completion of a much needed wagon road
through Sequoia National Park and the trail to the top of Mount
Whitney. The road and trail are still in use today.
S. 225 would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to
conduct a study to determine effective ways to commemorate the
Buffalo Soldiers and their role in helping to protect, build,
and preserve America's national parks, as well as to ascertain
the suitability and feasibility of potential historic sites,
national landmarks, and a national historic trail related to
their work.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
Senators Feinstein and Boxer introduced S. 225 on February
4, 2013. The Subcommittee on National Parks held a hearing on
S. 225 on April 23, 2013. At its business meeting on May 16,
2013, the Committee ordered S. 225 favorably reported.
In the 112th Congress, Senators Feinstein and Boxer
introduced similar legislation, S. 544, on March 10, 2011. The
Subcommittee on National Parks held a hearing on S. 544 on
October 19, 2011 (S. Hrg. 112-224).
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in
open business session on May 16, 2013, by a voice vote of a
quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 225.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1 provides the short title, the ``Buffalo Soldiers
in the National Parks Act''.
Subsection (a) contains congressional findings.
Subsection (b) provides that the purpose of the act is to
authorize a study of the role of the Buffalo Soldiers in the
early years of the National Park Service.
Section 2(a) authorizes the Secretary of the Interior
(Secretary) to conduct a study of alternatives for
commemorating and interpreting the role of the Buffalo Soldiers
in the National Parks.
Subsection (b) directs the Secretary to include within the
study, identified in the previous section, a historical
assessment of the Buffalo Soldiers who served in the National
Park, evaluate the feasibility of establishing a national
historic trail, and identify properties that could meet the
criteria for listing in the National Register of Historic
Places or designation as a National Historic Landmark. The
Secretary is further directed to evaluate appropriate ways to
enhance historical research, education, interpretation, and
public awareness of the Buffalo Soldiers story including ways
to link the story to the development of National Parks and the
story of African-American service following the Civil War.
Subsection (c) requires that the Secretary submit a report
containing the study's findings and recommendations to the
Committee on Natural Resources of the House and the Committee
on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate.
COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS
The following estimate of costs of this measure has been
provided by the Congressional Budget Office:
S. 225--Buffalo Soldiers in the National Parks Study Act
S. 225 would require the National Park Service (NPS) to
conduct a study of alternatives for honoring the Buffalo
Soldiers (members of several African-American regiments within
the U.S. Army established after the Civil War) in their role in
the development of the National Park System. The U.S. Army,
including regiments of Buffalo Soldiers, was responsible for
protecting national parks before the National Park Service was
established.
Based on information from the NPS and assuming the
availability of appropriated funds, CBO estimates that
conducting the study would cost about $400,000 over the next
three years. Enacting S. 225 would not affect direct spending
or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
S. 225 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal
governments.
On May 2, 2013, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R.
520, the Buffalo Soldiers in the National Parks Study Act, as
ordered to be reported by the House Committee on Natural
Resources on April 24, 2013. The two pieces of legislation are
nearly identical, and the CBO cost estimates are the same.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Martin von
Gnechten. The estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION
In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in
carrying out S. 225.
The bill is not a regulatory measure in the sense of
imposing Government-established standards or significant
economic responsibilities on private individuals and
businesses.
No personal information would be collected in administering
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal
privacy.
Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the
enactment of S. 225, as ordered reported.
CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING
S. 225, as reported, does not contain any congressionally
directed spending items, limited tax benefits, or limited
tariff benefits as defined in rule XLIV of the Standing Rules
of the Senate.
EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS
The testimony provided by the National Park Service at the
April 23, 2013, Subcommittee on National Parks hearing on S.
225 follows:
Statement of Peggy O'Dell, Deputy Director for Operations, National
Park Service, Department of the Interior
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. 225, to authorize the
Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study of alternatives
for commemorating and interpreting the role of the Buffalo
Soldiers in the early years of the national parks, and for
other purposes.
The Department supports S. 225. However, we feel that
priority should be given to the 31 previously authorized
studies for potential units of the National Park System,
potential new National Heritage Areas, and potential additions
to the National Trails System and National Wild and Scenic
River System that have not yet been transmitted to Congress.
S. 225 would authorize a study to determine the most
effective ways to increase understanding and public awareness
of the critical role that the Buffalo Soldiers, segregated
units composed of African-American cavalrymen, played in the
early years of the national parks. It would evaluate the
suitability and feasibility of a National Historic Trail along
the routes between their post at the Presidio of San Francisco
and the parks they protected, notably Yosemite and Sequoia. The
study would also identify properties that could meet the
criteria for listing in the National Register of Historic
Places or designation as National Historic Landmarks. We
estimate that this study will cost approximately $400,000.
President Obama recognized the legacy of the Buffalo
Soldiers in issuing a proclamation on March 25, 2013,
designating the Charles Young home in Wilberforce, Ohio, as a
national monument. The Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National
Monument is now the 401st unit of the National Park System. The
Presidential proclamation that established this national
monument authorizes the NPS to complete a management plan that
would include interpreting the struggles and achievements of
the Buffalo Soldiers in their service to the United States. We
note that, if S. 225 is enacted, there will be overlap with the
Presidential proclamation, as this bill directs the NPS to
complete a study to increase understanding and public awareness
of the critical role that the Buffalo Soldiers played in the
early years of the national parks. However, this bill goes
beyond the direction in the Presidential proclamation by
additionally authorizing a study of the suitability and
feasibility of a national historic trail and identification of
National Register of Historic Places National Historic
Landmarks properties related to the Buffalo Soldiers. If
enacted, the NPS will coordinate the completion of the study
and the management plan.
African-American 19th and 20th century Buffalo Soldiers
were an important, yet little known, part of the history of
some of our first national parks. These cavalry troops rode
hundreds of miles from their post at the Presidio of San
Francisco to Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks in order to
patrol and protect them. The journey across the state took
sixteen days of serious horseback riding averaging over twenty
miles a day. Once in the parks, they were assigned to patrol
the backcountry, build roads and trails, put a halt to
poaching, suppress fires, stop trespass grazing by large herds
of unregulated cattle and sheep, and otherwise establish roles
later assumed by National Park rangers.
The U.S. Army administered Sequoia and Yosemite National
Parks from 1891 to 1914, when it was replaced by civilian
management. The National Park Service (NPS) was not created
until 1916, 25 years after these parks were established.
Commanding officers became acting military superintendents for
these national parks with two troops of approximately 60
cavalry men assigned to each. The troops essentially created a
roving economy--infusing money into parks and local
businesses--and thus their presence was generally welcomed. The
presence of these soldiers as official stewards of park lands
prior to the NPS's establishment brought a sense of law and
order to the mountain wilderness.
Lesser known, however, is the participation of African-
American troops of the 24th Infantry and 9th Cavalry, the
Buffalo Soldiers, who protected both Sequoia and Yosemite
National Parks in 1899, 1903, and 1904. These troops and their
contributions should be recognized and honored, and this bill
does just that.
The most notable Buffalo Soldier was Colonel Charles Young,
who served as a captain in the cavalry commanding a segregated
black company at the Presidio of San Francisco. Born in
Kentucky during the Civil War, Charles Young had already set
himself a course that took him to places where a black man was
not often welcome. He was the first black to graduate from the
white high school in Ripley, Ohio, and through competitive
examination he won an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy
at West Point in 1884. He went on to graduate with his
commission, only the third black man to do so. Colonel Young's
story and leadership are emblematic of the experience of the
Buffalo Soldiers during difficult and racially tense times.
When the new military superintendent arrived in Sequoia
National Park in the summer of 1903, he had already faced many
challenges. Young and his troops arrived in Sequoia after a 16-
day ride from the Presidio of San Francisco to find that one of
their major assignments would be the extension of the wagon
road. Hoping to break the sluggish pattern of previous military
administrations, Young poured his considerable energies into
the project. Young and his troops built as much road as the
combined results of the three previous summers, as well as
building a trail to the top of Mt. Whitney--the highest point
in the contiguous United States.
The soldiers also protected the giant sequoias from illegal
logging, wildlife from poaching, and the watershed and
wilderness from unauthorized grazing by livestock. A difficult
task under any circumstances, the intensity was undoubtedly
compounded by societal prejudice common at the turn of the
century. They also produced maps and assisted tourists in the
area.
Although Colonel Charles Young only served one season as an
acting superintendent of a national park, he and his men have
not been forgotten. The energy and dignity they brought to this
national park assignment left a strong imprint. The roads they
built are still in use today, having served millions of park
visitors for more than eighty years. The legacy they left
extends far beyond Sequoia National Park, as they helped lay
the foundation for the National Park System, which continues to
inspire and connect people of all backgrounds to public lands
and natural treasures to this day.
In recent years the NPS has made an effort to chronicle the
achievements of these men. In the Presidio of San Francisco,
Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the Presidio Trust
have developed an education program using the historic stables
that the Buffalo Soldiers actually used to house their horses.
In Yosemite National Park, a park ranger portrays one of the
U.S. Army's Buffalo Soldiers as part of his interpretation of
Yosemite's history. Sequoia National Park has a giant sequoia
named for Colonel Young in honor of his lasting legacy in that
park. These isolated but important efforts to educate the
public on the important role of the Buffalo Soldiers could be
heightened by this consolidated study.
There is a growing concern that youth are becoming
increasingly disconnected with wild places and our national
heritage. Additionally, many people of color are not
necessarily aware of national parks and the role their
ancestors may have played in shaping the national park system.
The NPS can help foster a stronger sense of awareness and
knowledge about the critical roles of African-American Buffalo
Soldiers in the protection and development of some of our
nation's natural treasures. As the 2016 centennial of the NPS
approaches, it is an especially appropriate time to conduct
research and increase public awareness of the stewardship role
the Buffalo Soldiers played in the early years of the national
parks.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my testimony. I would be glad
to answer any questions that you or other members of the
subcommittee may have.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no
changes in existing law are made by S. 225, as ordered
reported.