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TANASI
NEWS
Moccasin Bend National Park Plan Postponed
According to a story in the Chattanooga Times / Free Press story published on February 10, Congressman Zach Wamp has temporarily shelved plans to incorporate Chattanooga's Moccasin Bend historic area into the National Park system because of dispute between community and state officials over the continued operation of Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute.
Mental Health Facilities on Moccasin Bend
The Moccasin Bend area contains some of the richest and most significant historical sites in the United States, from 10,000 year old Indian towns to Civil War related sites. In 1950 Congress enacted legislation that authorized the addition of 1400 acres of the Bend to the Chickamauga National Military park, but the plan was never carried out.
Hundreds of Indian graves on Moccasin Bend have been looted over the years. In the mid 1990's the Hamilton County Sheriiff's Department created a volunteer force of deputies to patrol the area. The group, called the Native American Reserve Force, carries firearms and has the power to make arrests. Their efforts have practically eliminated looting of graves on the Bend, but many Indian people feel that the site would gain added protection if it were owned by the federal government, which would bring federal laws such as the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, and the Archaeological Resources Protection Act to bear on looters and other threats.
In 1999, the National Park Service proposed the creation of a National Park unit at Moccasin Bend. The NPS plan notes that Moccasin Bend "has the highest potential for rich and varied high-volume public interpretation and display of its contents of any known archaeological resource in the United States."
The National Park Service plan for the park unit calls for gradual acquisition of properties on the Bend and eliminating those that do not fit in with the cultural landscape. The mental health facility is one of these properties. According to the plan it would be acquired and removed by the year 2009. The facility will be obsolete and in need of major renovations or complete rebuilding by this point.
A
map showing areas of Moccasin Bend
and the timetable for acquisition of property.
Click on the image to view a full size map.
The state has planned to consolidate mental health care facilities in East Tennessee for the last ten years, and closing the Moccasin Bend facility has always been part of this plan. Community and mental health industry officials have opposed these efforts, and the issue flared up last year when the NPS plan for creating the park unit was announced.
Governor Sundquist's proposed budget for the state's 2000-2001 fiscal year calls for closing the Winston Building, an 81 bed unit of the Moccasin Bend Health Institute. This is part of a shift to providing outpatient treatment, and the proposal also provides 6 million dollars for community outpatient services statewide. Even so, the proposal has upset local officials. A Chattanooga Times / Free Press story published on February 9 detailed their concerns (follow the link below to read story).
Rep. Wamp had planned to introduce a bill on February 10 that called for the National Park Service to acquire Moccasin Bend, but would leave the mental health facilities intact. According to the Times / Free Press article that ran that day, he backed away from filing the bill because he is afraid it will undermine local efforts to keep the facilities open.
Read the Chattanooga Times / Free Press Articles
February 9 - Moccasin Bend Facing Cuts
February 10 - Bend Plan Put on Hold
