[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 236 (Friday, December 6, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64758-64759]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-30702]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Record of Decision; Final Environmental Impact Statement General
Management Plan; Richmond National Battlefield Park, Virginia
Pursuant to Section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969 (Pub. L. 91-190 as amended), and specifically to
regulations promulgated by the Council on Environmental Quality (40 CFR
1505.2), the Department of the Interior, National Park Service, has
prepared the following Record of Decision on the Final Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS) for the General Management Plan for the Richmond
National Battlefield Park (RNBP), Virginia.
Introduction: Richmond National Battlefield Park, located in
Hanover County, Henrico County, Chesterfield County, and the City of
Richmond, Virginia, was established in 1936 by the Congress of the
United States as part of the National Park System for the battlefield's
historic significance.
Public Law 95-625, the National Parks and Recreation Act, requires
the preparation and timely revision of GMPs for each unit of the
national park system. Section 604 of that Act outlines several
requirements for GMPs, including measures for the protection of the
area's resources and ``indications of potential modifications to the
external boundaries of the unit and the reasons therefor.'' The
previous general plan for this Park was completed in 1971, called the
Master Plan for Richmond National Battlefield Park. The issues at RNBP
have changed dramatically since 1971. New challenges for park
management have emerged since then.
This General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement
identifies the purpose, significance, and primary interpretive themes
for RNBP. The Plan addresses visitor experience, resource protection,
and administrative requirements that will affect the park over
approximately the next 15 years.
Background: The Park owns 763.99 acres in 11 individual units
spread over a 132-square mile area. The Park interprets the repeated
efforts by the Union army in 1862 and 1864-65 to take Richmond, the
capital of the Confederacy, and to destroy the Army or Northern
Virginia. The Park contains relatively few acres for the thirty plus
battles that occurred in the area. Many visitors expect to see more
battlefield land preserved and support addition of more acreage to the
park. The Congressional definition of the boundary for the park
includes too much land for some property owners and local government
representatives.
The park evolved from private and state actions to protect the
battlefields. The March 2, 1936, authorizing act of Congress (49 Stat.
1155) defines the mission of RNBP as follows:
* * * all such lands, structures, and other property in the
military battlefield area or areas of the City of Richmond,
Virginia, or within five miles of the city limits of said city or
within five miles of the boundary of the present Richmond
Battlefield State Park, as shall be designated by the Secretary of
the Interior, in the exercise of his discretion as necessary or
desirable for national battlefield park purposes, * * * such area or
areas shall be, and they are hereby, established, dedicated, and set
apart as a public park for the benefit and inspiration of the people
and shall be known as the Richmond National Battlefield Park.
Decision (Selected Action): The National Park Service will
implement the proposed action as described in the Final Environmental
Impact Statement released July 29, 1996.
The National Park Service will manage resources, staff, and
visitors in order to preserve the battlefields and interpret the
military actions of the Richmond Civil War integrated with an
understanding of the importance of the Confederate capital to both
sides. Visitors will be directed to battlefields and other Civil War
resource sites in Virginia. The main visitor center will remain at
Chimborazo Park augmented with interpretation of the hospital story;
NPS will continue to explore the possibilities for cooperative
development of a heritage education/Civil War visitor center in
Richmond. The plan responds actively to the Civil War Sites Advisory
Commission report to Congress recommending federal involvement in
protection of certain battlefields. RNBP's enabling legislation is
proposed to be amended by Congress to authorize the appropriation and
expenditure of federal funds for the purchase of battlefield lands,
including specific tracts outside the existing legislative boundary. In
order to allay concerns of property owners and be specific for
potential donations, the NPS will request that Congress (1) redefine
the authorized boundary of RNBP to reduce it to include approximately
7,121 acres, within which battlefield resource protection and/or
interpretation would be accomplished through a partnership among local,
state, and federal government and the private sector; and (2) stipulate
that any real property interest acquired by the NPS be acquired only on
a willing seller basis; and (3) authorize that appropriated funds may
be used to acquire interest in real estate. The environmental
consequences of this plan will include expansion of the battlefield
resource protection effort, and, with partnerships with other entities,
a greatly improved and integrated interpretation of all the Civil War
resources in the Richmond area. Expanded partnerships and resource
protection efforts would lead to an expanded visitor base. More
visitors to the battlefields will result in longer visits to the area
by more people, resulting in expanded heritage tourism and increased
tourist spending. The benefits will positively affect the metropolitan
Richmond area. Nationally significant battlefields would enjoy a
greater measure of protection and natural resources would be carefully
considered as cultural resource restoration and management plans are
developed.
Basis for Decision: The draft plan for this park's general
management was carefully crafted over a five year period with
considerable public input.
At Richmond National Battlefield Park (RNBP) there is an
opportunity to convey to visitors the meaning of the war. Not only is
there a strategic explanation for the battles at Richmond, but also the
Confederate capital's industrial, economic, political, and social
fabric merge with the battlefield stories there. The concentration of
diverse Civil War resources found in the Richmond area is unparalleled.
A site-specific focus on the battles at Richmond, the combatants, and
an understanding of why those battles occurred at Richmond can
contribute to a visitor's understanding of the complexity of the
American past and provide a means to appreciate strengths and
shortcomings in our collective heritage. With a carefully developed
battlefield preservation, commemoration, and interpretive effort,
including close cooperation with other public and private agencies
preserving Civil War resources, RNBP can become
[[Page 64759]]
a moving and eloquent place where visitors can examine for themselves
the meaning of the American Civil War and its relevance in the modern
world.
Protection and interpretation of the battlefield resources around
Richmond has engendered debates about where, how much, and by whom
since the local citizenry began the push for battlefield preservation
early this century. In 1927 the Richmond Battlefield Parks Corporation
began assembling the original battlefield acreage; and in 1932 the
corporation deeded all of its property to the Commonwealth of Virginia
to become Virginia's first state park--the Richmond Battlefield State
Park. That same year, a study done by the Secretary of War for the U.S.
Congress determined that these acres were appropriate for acquisition
by the War Department should they be offered for donation. The War
Department study further recommended that an additional 1,905 acres of
core battlefield land be purchased. The donation was ultimately
accepted by federal authorities, but he recommendation regarding
additional land acquisition was not acted upon. In 1993 the
Congressionally chartered Civil War Sites Advisory Commission submitted
its report that highlighted seven (7) battlefields around Richmond in
the list of the fifty most significant and most threatened battlefields
in the country. This Plan is consistent with the recommendations of the
Commission.
Other Alternatives Considered: Three other alternatives to the
selected action were considered: (1). Under the no-action alternative,
the park would continue to have amorphously defined boundaries that
include large portions of developed land and would emphasize
recreational development. This alternative was defined by the 1971 Park
Master Plan and supporting implementation plans. The interpretive ideas
were to deemphasize battle tactics and explain the Civil War in general
in Richmond with no attempt to lead visitors on an interpretive theme
from one site to another. Chimborazo would revert to the City while a
new visitor center and headquarters would be constructed at Fort
Harrison; (2) The first development option would create a new visitor
center in downtown Richmond and deemphasize battlefield preservation.
Interpretation would emphasize the importance of the Confederate
capital, and visitors would be directed to a wide range of surviving
Civil War resources in the metropolitan Richmond area; (3) The other
development option would emphasize an expanded battlefield land
protection and cultural/natural landscape scene restoration effort. The
visitor center would be located adjacent to a battlefield, and
interpretation would emphasize the military actions to take the city.
Measures to Minimize Impacts and Address Public Concerns: The
environmental consequences of the proposed action and the other
alternatives were fully documented in the DEIS and are re-presented
with modifications in the FEIS. The public review period on the DEIS
ended October 2, 1995. The ``Affected Environment'' section that
follows the alternatives described the park's surroundings and
community context, the current visitor experience, existing cultural
and natural resources, and current park operations and administration.
In the Environmental Consequences section the proposal and alternatives
are analyzed for their general and specific impacts on the visitor
experience, resource protection, park administration, and the
surrounding community.
The results of public comment on the DEIS are included in the FEIS.
A major concession on the part of the National Park Service was to
eliminate objectionable provisions of the power of eminent domain and
to propose to buy land from willing sellers only. Further, the Savage
Station battlefield and parts of the Totopotomy Creek battlefield were
dropped from the proposed boundary. The main Visitor Center is planned
to remain at Chimborazo and partnerships with the private and public
sectors pursued to augment visitor services to establish a Civil War
center in Richmond.
Also in response to public comment, this action reaffirms the NPS
commitment to battlefield resource protection and responds actively to
the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission report to Congress recommending
federal involvement at certain battlefields. Changes in the park's
enabling legislation would be sought to authorize the appropriation and
expenditure of federal funds for the purchase of battlefield lands,
including specific tracts outside the existing legislative boundary.
These changes will enable RNBP to be a more effective steward and
partner with private interests and local and state governments to
protect the principal Civil War resources associated with the long and
difficult struggle for the capital of the Confederacy and to interpret
these resources so as to foster an understanding of their significance
as parts of a whole. If the legislation is not enacted, the plan will
be able to be effected except that property would be acquired only
through the use of donations.
The no-action period on this final plan and environmental impact
statement ended September 9, 1996, thirty (30) days after the
publication of a notice of availability in the Federal Register.
Environmentally Preferable Action: The environmentally preferred
alternative is the one that causes the least damage to the biological
and physical environment. If is the alternative that best protects,
preserves and enhances the historic, cultural, and natural resources of
the area where the proposed action is to take place.
The proposal is the alternative the best fits the definition. This
Plan will best protect resources cultural and natural.
Conclusion: The above factors and considerations justify selection
of the preferred alternative as the General Management Plan for the
Richmond National Battlefield Park as identified and detailed in the
final EIS.
Park personnel will begin working with local and state officials,
the private sector, other staff of the National Park Service, and the
Congress of the United States to implement the plan.
Dated: November 25, 1996.
Cynthia MacLeod,
Superintendent, Richmond National Battlefield Park, (804) 226-1981.
Dated: November 26, 1996.
Warren D. Beach,
Assistant Field Director, Northeast Field Area, (215) 597-7013.
[FR Doc. 96-30702 Filed 12-5-96; 8:45 am]
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