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Report calls military park economic asset
November 18, 2010 12:35 am
By CLINT SCHEMMER
The Fredericksburg area has a unique economic asset in its midst, and ought to leverage it.
So says the National Parks Conservation Association, which issued a report yesterday on Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park and its role in the local community.
The region has "great potential" to protect the park and provide better recreational opportunities for local residents, the NPCA study states.
In 10 years, Virginia projects that demand for low-impact recreation options will greatly outstrip supply in the Fredericksburg area.
"This growing demand for recreational facilities suggests ways that the region can diversify its economic base and broaden its appeal to tourists, while also making the region a better place to live," Joy Oakes, NPCA's senior Mid-Atlantic regional director, said yesterday.
The 8,000-acre national park, which includes four major Civil War battlefields, is a significant "economic engine," she said.
Park visitors spent $24 million in 2008 in Fredericksburg and the four surrounding counties, supporting 450 jobs and more than $9 million in labor income, the 12-page report states.
Nationally, every federal dollar invested in national parks generates at least four dollars of economic value to the public, another NPCA report found.
But keeping that engine pumping requires maintaining the time-traveler feeling the park's historic landscape creates for those visitors, Oakes said.
"A park's long-term economic benefits to its neighbors are directly linked to its integrity and its setting," she said.
People who travel here from out of the area will be less inclined to return if that Civil War-era atmosphere is degraded or traffic and modern distractions intrude, Oakes said: "If they come to a place that looks like anywhere else in America, why would they come back?"
Already, far fewer people visit the Chancellorsville battlefield today than 15 years ago because strip development along State Route 3 makes the 8-mile drive less attractive, according to park staff.
Traffic on Route 3 between Chancellorsville and the Wilderness battlefields is projected to increase by at least 65 percent in the next 20 years, the NPCA report states. State Route 20 could see 42 percent more vehicles. In Fredericksburg, traffic on Lafayette Boulevard may more than double. Park officials already are concerned about traffic along Lee Drive, the backbone of the 1862 battlefield.
"The region is a crossroads," Oakes said. "There's a lot of pressure on what's so special about this area.
"But on the brink of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, there is an incredible opportunity to thoughtfully look at how growth is occurring and how it might happen in ways more compatible with what makes it such a special place."
More than a third of visitors to Fredericksburg come primarily because of Civil War history, according to a Fredericksburg-area tourism survey.
Nationally, travelers rank recreation on par with visiting historic sites and museums as desired activities.
"The region can both protect its historic character and encourage economic development. It's not an either/or situation," Oakes said. "In fact, that will encourage those tourists to become repeat visitors."
The NPCA report notes ongoing efforts that can serve as models, such as the Spotsylvania Greenways Initiative, the Stafford County Heritage Loop Trail, Spotsylvania's First Impressions Commission, Fredericksburg's historic preservation plan and the Journey Through Hallowed Ground.
Among its recommendations, the report:
Encourages coordination among Spotsylvania, Orange, Stafford and Caroline counties and Fredericksburg focused on tourism, recreation and battlefield preservation;
Suggests getting the word out to more landowners about tax benefits of conservation easements and development-rights purchases;
Urges developing local, regional or state parks to provide outdoor recreation, open space and natural areas, locating them near battlefields whenever possible.
The report--titled "Making Connections: Linking Outdoor Recreation, Open Space & History"--is only the fourth such study that NPCA has done over the past decade. The association issued one earlier this year for Shenandoah National Park, now marking its 75th anniversary, and for Yellowstone and Glacier national parks before that.
With 325,000 members and supporters, including more than 11,000 in Virginia, NPCA is America's largest park-advocacy group. It was founded in 1919.
--Staff writer Jeff Branscome contributed to this report.
nps.gov/frsp
Clint Schemmer: 540/368-5029
Email: cschemmer@freelancestar.com
Online at: http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2...1182010/589119
November 18, 2010 12:35 am
By CLINT SCHEMMER
The Fredericksburg area has a unique economic asset in its midst, and ought to leverage it.
So says the National Parks Conservation Association, which issued a report yesterday on Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park and its role in the local community.
The region has "great potential" to protect the park and provide better recreational opportunities for local residents, the NPCA study states.
In 10 years, Virginia projects that demand for low-impact recreation options will greatly outstrip supply in the Fredericksburg area.
"This growing demand for recreational facilities suggests ways that the region can diversify its economic base and broaden its appeal to tourists, while also making the region a better place to live," Joy Oakes, NPCA's senior Mid-Atlantic regional director, said yesterday.
The 8,000-acre national park, which includes four major Civil War battlefields, is a significant "economic engine," she said.
Park visitors spent $24 million in 2008 in Fredericksburg and the four surrounding counties, supporting 450 jobs and more than $9 million in labor income, the 12-page report states.
Nationally, every federal dollar invested in national parks generates at least four dollars of economic value to the public, another NPCA report found.
But keeping that engine pumping requires maintaining the time-traveler feeling the park's historic landscape creates for those visitors, Oakes said.
"A park's long-term economic benefits to its neighbors are directly linked to its integrity and its setting," she said.
People who travel here from out of the area will be less inclined to return if that Civil War-era atmosphere is degraded or traffic and modern distractions intrude, Oakes said: "If they come to a place that looks like anywhere else in America, why would they come back?"
Already, far fewer people visit the Chancellorsville battlefield today than 15 years ago because strip development along State Route 3 makes the 8-mile drive less attractive, according to park staff.
Traffic on Route 3 between Chancellorsville and the Wilderness battlefields is projected to increase by at least 65 percent in the next 20 years, the NPCA report states. State Route 20 could see 42 percent more vehicles. In Fredericksburg, traffic on Lafayette Boulevard may more than double. Park officials already are concerned about traffic along Lee Drive, the backbone of the 1862 battlefield.
"The region is a crossroads," Oakes said. "There's a lot of pressure on what's so special about this area.
"But on the brink of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, there is an incredible opportunity to thoughtfully look at how growth is occurring and how it might happen in ways more compatible with what makes it such a special place."
More than a third of visitors to Fredericksburg come primarily because of Civil War history, according to a Fredericksburg-area tourism survey.
Nationally, travelers rank recreation on par with visiting historic sites and museums as desired activities.
"The region can both protect its historic character and encourage economic development. It's not an either/or situation," Oakes said. "In fact, that will encourage those tourists to become repeat visitors."
The NPCA report notes ongoing efforts that can serve as models, such as the Spotsylvania Greenways Initiative, the Stafford County Heritage Loop Trail, Spotsylvania's First Impressions Commission, Fredericksburg's historic preservation plan and the Journey Through Hallowed Ground.
Among its recommendations, the report:
Encourages coordination among Spotsylvania, Orange, Stafford and Caroline counties and Fredericksburg focused on tourism, recreation and battlefield preservation;
Suggests getting the word out to more landowners about tax benefits of conservation easements and development-rights purchases;
Urges developing local, regional or state parks to provide outdoor recreation, open space and natural areas, locating them near battlefields whenever possible.
The report--titled "Making Connections: Linking Outdoor Recreation, Open Space & History"--is only the fourth such study that NPCA has done over the past decade. The association issued one earlier this year for Shenandoah National Park, now marking its 75th anniversary, and for Yellowstone and Glacier national parks before that.
With 325,000 members and supporters, including more than 11,000 in Virginia, NPCA is America's largest park-advocacy group. It was founded in 1919.
--Staff writer Jeff Branscome contributed to this report.
nps.gov/frsp
Clint Schemmer: 540/368-5029
Email: cschemmer@freelancestar.com
Online at: http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2...1182010/589119