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TANASI
NEWS
Moccasin Bend Bill Up For Vote
By Toye Heape
Nashville - A bill that would create a National Park unit at Moccasin Bend will be considered by the U.S. House of Representatives' Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation, and Public Lands on Tuesday.
Moccasin Bend, on the Tennessee River in Chattanooga, is a National Historic Landmark. It contains a large number of highly significant historic properties, including Native American archaeological sites and cemetery areas. H.R. 980, sponsored by Rep. Zach Wamp, would include 911.5 acres of the 956 acre Moccasin Bend Archaeological District National Historic Landmark as well as a nearby 97 acre parcel containing historic sites related to the Trail of Tears and the Civil War.
The bill specifically excludes the Moccasin Bend Golf Course property, owned by the City of Chattanooga and leased to private operators. The National Park Service (NPS) had recommended that the golf course property, which is within the National Historic Landmark boundary, be included as part of the park. The NPS Management Plan proposing the creation of a new park unit at Moccasin Bend calls for acquiring the golf course property after the expiration of its lease in 2005, then removing the golf course and restoring the area to its natural state. Rep. Wamp refused to include the golf course property in his legislation after protests by golfers, despite a refusal by the NPS to endorse the bill. In June, Denis P. Galvin, Director of the NPS, told the Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation, and Public Lands that NPS does not support the bill, citing exclusion of the golf course as the major reason.
The Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute would be included within the park boundary according to H.R. 980. Congressman Wamp at first opposed inclusion of the hospital within the park boundary because the NPS plan calls for removing the forty-year old institution by 2009. Governor Don Sundquist had earlier announced long range plans to close the hospital as part of a mental health care consolidation effort. Local supporters of the hospital, including Hamilton County Executive Claude Ramsey and Chattanooga Mayor Jon Kinsey, feared the NPS plan would undermine their efforts to keep the facility open and refused to endorse the park proposal.
In December of 2000, NPS announced that it would be willing to accept closing the hospital at a later date, and local politicians softened their stance on the NPS plan. In March, 2001, Wamp introduced the current Moccasin Bend legislation. The bill's language does not include a deadline for acquisition of the hospital property and prohibits the "donation of the parcel for inclusion in the historic site only after the facility is no longer used to provide health care services." NPS Director Galvin, in his June statement before the House subcommittee, cited the lack of an acquisition deadline for the hospital property as another major reason why the NPS would not support the H.R. 980.
Native American reaction to Wamp's plan has been mixed. Tom Kunesh of the Chattanooga Inter Tribal Association voiced opposition to the bill's exclusion of the golf course property, calling it "the Balkanization of the Moccasin Bend National Historic Landmark." During a Moccasin Bend conference sponsored by the Friends of Moccasin Bend National Park last year, Wilbur Gouge, speaker of the Muscogee (Creek) National Council, expressed appreciation for the effort to establish a national park at the Bend, but he also questioned the propriety of having a golf course in an area that contains burial sites. He compared Moccasin Bend to a National cemetery, asking "Do they play golf at Arlington National Cemetery?" Early this year, in a letter to Congressman Wamp, the Cultural Preservation Committee of the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes, an inter-governmental body composed of representatives from the federally recognized Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole nations of Oklahoma, pledged "support through the legislative process" for Wamp's plan. The committee expressed it's preference that the golf course be included in the park boundary but also stated the belief that "the goal of creating the Park is the most important objective."
Acquisition of property on Moccasin Bend by the NPS would put any cultural resources on the property under the protection of federal historic and cultural preservation laws, such as the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and the National Historic Preservation Act.
On Tuesday, September 11, H.R. 980 will be considered in a markup session of the subcommittee. During a markup session the views of both sides of a bill are studied in detail and at the conclusion of deliberation a vote is taken to determine the action of the subcommittee. It may decide to give a favorably recommendation to the full committee, or it may decide to give an unfavorable recommendation. The subcommittee can also refuse to make a recommendation or it may suggest that the committee "table" the bill or postpone action it.
