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Ocmulgee National Monument, Macon County, Georgia
Go to Ocmulgee main page
Update: 2002 March 25
The following is in from Linday Holliday:
Posted on Mon, Mar. 25, 2002
Monument in danger, group says
Ocmulgee park on list of most-threatened properties
By Christopher Schwarzen
Telegraph Staff Writer
Normally, Jim David would love to see his facility listed next to
well-known Yellowstone National Park, Mojave National Preserve or Big
Cypress National Preserve.
But when it's a partial list of the 10 most-endangered National Park
Service properties for 2002 to be announced today by the National Parks
Conservation Association, the superintendent of the Ocmulgee National
Monument looks at the list with dread.
The reason for the listing, according to the conservation association, a
lobbying group for the national park system, isn't anything David or his
staff have done.
Instead, the group says the monument is threatened by the planned extension
of the Fall Line Freeway through the Ocmulgee Old Fields, property that has
often been considered a future extension of the park's boundaries.
"The initial authorization for the park that was signed in 1934 talked
about a park of 2,000 acres. We're at 702 acres now," David said. "Although
we have never been able to find a map of what exactly was envisioned in
legislation, there's always been talk they meant Lamar Mound and the Old
Fields."
Lamar Mound has since been acquired by the National Park Service, but it
and the main property are separated by more than 1,000 acres called the
Ocmulgee Old Fields. One optional route of the freeway splits the Old
Fields, now in private ownership, in half.
This proposed route - from the end of Eisenhower Parkway, which now
dead-ends overlooking the Old Fields, to Interstate 16 - is the
most-often-talked-about option for linking the highway joining Columbus,
Macon and Augusta. Proponents of the highway say the road will do much to
improve the region's economy.
Although state transportation officials say they no longer have a preferred
route, for years the proposal has been considered the easiest to build, at
about $100 million. Now state officials say they will be ready to make new
route suggestions in November to federal officials, who must sign off on
the project, following the completion of an environmental impact statement
already sent back to the state once.
The push from local and state legislators to build the Fall Line Freeway
connection in Macon continues to increase, with Gov. Roy Barnes saying once
again this year he's pushing for its completion. The project is more than
10 years old.
But if built, says Jennifer Stephens of the National Parks Conservation
Association, the Ocmulgee National Monument will lose twice.
"A roadway going through the Old Fields would affect how people would
perceive the Ocmulgee National Monument," she said. You'd hear the
rumblings and see it from the mound."
It would also end any possibility of adding more land to the property that
has a recorded history of human activity dating back more than 12,000
years, she said. The Old Fields were recently listed by the Keeper of the
National Historic Register as Traditional Cultural Property of the Muscogee
Indians, who are believed to have officially formed their nation on the
banks of the Ocmulgee River.
The federal designation is the only of its kind east of the Mississippi
River, and the Muscogee Nation opposes any road extension through the area.
Part of the Old Fields area is waiting for inclusion in the National Park
Service. Known as the Scott McCall Archeological Preserve, the 300 acres is
owned by the Archeological Conservancy.
"The property was donated to us by the Scott McCall family in 1995," said
Alan Gruber, Southeastern regional director of the conservancy.
"Their intent was to donate it to us so we could transfer it to the
National Park Service."
Because of the debate over the Fall Line Freeway extension, which would
split the McCall property if built there, the National Park Service wanted
a congressional order accepting the property. According to David, the
National Park Service didn't want to become involved in the middle of a
decision that had become hotly contested politically.
"That's where the hold-up is," Gruber said. "Although the congressional
delegation hasn't taken a stand on where the road should be built, they
want it built first."
Most people have looked to U.S. Rep. Saxby Chambliss, R-Moultrie, as the
broker. His office says it has never been contacted with an official
request to begin legislation that would transfer the McCall property to the
National Park Service or to find funds to purchase the remainder of the Old
Fields.
"Saxby is completely aware of the property there and the Fall Line debate,"
said Michelle Hitt, a Chambliss spokeswoman. "If that's something they are
interested in, they need to ask us. Saxby says he is willing to meet with
them."
Those are the kind of words Stephens likes to hear, she said. The National
Parks Conservation Association says adding a park to its endangered list is
primarily so a discussion about its problems can begin, and hopefully, a
solution created in the end.
"I think a good example is last year's Stones River National Battlefield
(in Tennessee)," she said. "It was listed because of a road that was
proposed to be built through the center of the park. All the parties came
together (following the listing) and figured a way to reroute this."
The battlefield is being removed from the endangered list this year, along
with other 2001 listings: Biscayne National Park, Fla.; a number of
Alaska's national parks; Frederick Douglass National Historic Site,
Washington, D.C.; Fire Island National Seashore, N.Y.; and Petrified Forest
National Park, Ariz.
As a National Park Service official, David is limited in what he can
publicly say about the Fall Line debate, he said. But Jack Sammons, a
Mercer University law professor and member of both the Friends of the
Ocmulgee Old Fields and the Ocmulgee National Monument Association, says no
one is opposed to extending the Fall Line Freeway through Macon. It just
shouldn't be through the Old Fields, he said.
"A lot of people's grandparents worked hard in the 1930s to protect this
area, but they couldn't come up with all the money to buy the land,"
Sammons said. "It's still possible, and folks here are working on that
project."
Sammons says Chambliss and others could be more proactive in the endeavor,
adding that the national attention from the conservation association could
be the necessary spur.
"I'm not surprised the Ocmulgee National Monument made their list," he
said. "This could be positive in the fact that it will make it easier to
acquire funds to purchase lands for future incorporation, and maybe it's an
additional incentive for those backing routes bisecting the Old Fields to
look again.
"It just requires creative, imaginative thinking."
To contact Christopher Schwarzen, call 744-4213 or e-mail
cschwarzen@macontel.com.
http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/2928968.htm
Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law.
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