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Senate passes preservation bill
January 16, 2009 12:36 am
BY CLINT SCHEMMER
U.S. Sen. Jim Webb and his Senate colleagues have just breathed new life into America's most important effort to save its Civil War battlefields.
The Senate yesterday passed a bill introduced last year by Webb, D-Va., to re-authorize the national program that has protected more than 14,000 acres of battlefields endangered by sprawl and development. In Virginia alone, the program has preserved some 6,600 acres of historic landscape.
"The preservation of our nation's Civil War battlefields has held a special place in my life for many years," Webb said yesterday afternoon.
"For me, these hallowed grounds--where 620,000 Americans sacrificed their lives to fight in the Civil War-- have special, personal significance. Ancestors of mine fought on both sides during the war. It's not every day you can visit these battlefield sites and have an immediate, direct connection with your ancestors."
"We must preserve these sites so that future generations might see and touch the very places where so many sacrifices were made, by soldiers and civilians alike," he said.
Russ Smith, superintendent of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, said the program is vital to the National Park Service's mission.
"[It] has transformed our park," Smith said. "More than 400 acres of battlefield land at Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg have been saved as a result of this program. Without this invaluable tool, these hallowed battlegrounds would be little more than a memory."
Webb's measure, the Civil War Battlefield Preservation Act of 2009, revitalizes the effort for another five years.
The program, which was sparked by development controversies at the Manassas battlefields in the 1990s, fosters collaboration between state and local governments, the private sector and nonprofit groups, such as the Civil War Preservation Trust.
webb.senate.gov nps.gov/history/hps/abpp civilwar.org
Clint Schemmer: 540/368-5029
Email: cschemmer@freelancestar.com
January 16, 2009 12:36 am
BY CLINT SCHEMMER
U.S. Sen. Jim Webb and his Senate colleagues have just breathed new life into America's most important effort to save its Civil War battlefields.
The Senate yesterday passed a bill introduced last year by Webb, D-Va., to re-authorize the national program that has protected more than 14,000 acres of battlefields endangered by sprawl and development. In Virginia alone, the program has preserved some 6,600 acres of historic landscape.
"The preservation of our nation's Civil War battlefields has held a special place in my life for many years," Webb said yesterday afternoon.
"For me, these hallowed grounds--where 620,000 Americans sacrificed their lives to fight in the Civil War-- have special, personal significance. Ancestors of mine fought on both sides during the war. It's not every day you can visit these battlefield sites and have an immediate, direct connection with your ancestors."
"We must preserve these sites so that future generations might see and touch the very places where so many sacrifices were made, by soldiers and civilians alike," he said.
Russ Smith, superintendent of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, said the program is vital to the National Park Service's mission.
"[It] has transformed our park," Smith said. "More than 400 acres of battlefield land at Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg have been saved as a result of this program. Without this invaluable tool, these hallowed battlegrounds would be little more than a memory."
Webb's measure, the Civil War Battlefield Preservation Act of 2009, revitalizes the effort for another five years.
The program, which was sparked by development controversies at the Manassas battlefields in the 1990s, fosters collaboration between state and local governments, the private sector and nonprofit groups, such as the Civil War Preservation Trust.
webb.senate.gov nps.gov/history/hps/abpp civilwar.org
Clint Schemmer: 540/368-5029
Email: cschemmer@freelancestar.com
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