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Home > The
Special Resource Study > Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a special resource
study -- and what initiated the Harriet Tubman special resource
study?
The National Park Service undertakes a professional
evaluation process, ending with a range of options and a recommendation.
When the study is finished, NPS publishes a report and sends it
to Congress. The National Park Service does not create parks - it's
Congress or the President that creates parks.
The Harriet Tubman study was requested by a law
passed in November 2000, sponsored by the Senators from New York
and Maryland, which specified five sites in Auburn, New York, and
two sites in Cambridge, Maryland, to be evaluated as potential NPS
areas. In addition, the law directed the NPS to look at other potential
sites and to examine a potential national heritage corridor.
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What is a "unit"
of the national park system? Is it the same thing as a "park?"
The national
park system consists of more than 390 units. They go by many
names - national park, monument, historic site, historical park,
seashore, recreation area, and many others, but all are referred
to as parks. In total there are more than 20 different park "titles"
within the Park System. For example, a national park is a large
natural place having a wide variety of attributes, including significant
historic assets, a national historic site usually contains a single
historical feature that was directly associated with its subject,
and a national historical park is a group of historic sites or properties
or buildings. A relatively new designation, although not a unit,
is a national heritage area, "a place ... where natural, cultural,
historic, and scenic resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally
distinctive landscape arising from patterns of human activity shaped
by geography."
Designations are tailored to the place that's
being protected and interpreted. The special resource study helps
determine options for protecting resources. There are many variations
of management for a park area, including some in which the land
is owned by a state and others, some that have a mixture of federal
and other ownership, and others in which the land is owned entirely
by the federal government. Congress specifies in its laws, the type
of area the National Park Service should operate.
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How long will it take to
finish the study?
Studies typically can take three to five years. Currently,
the study team is: gathering ideas from the
public; collecting and evaluating resource information; evaluating
the significance of Tubman sites; and formulating broad management
directions. The following timetable was updated in March 2006:
- Fall 2002 - Spring 2004: public feedback; collection and evaluation of
resource information
- Spring 2006: management options
- Summer 2006: draft report and draft environmental document
- Fall 2006: final report and environmental document
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How does this study relate
to the Underground Railroad program?
The National Park Service has a program called
National
Underground Railroad Network to Freedom in which groups propose
sites, facilities, or programs to be officially designated as part
of the Network. These sites are authorized to use the National Network
to Freedom logo, to receive funds (when available) to preserve the
sites, and interpret them for the public. Four of the Underground
Railroad program coordinators are contributing their expertise to
this study as team members. Although Harriet Tubman is most well-known
through her work in the Underground Railroad, her life and work
are broader than that activity, just as there were many more people
besides Tubman working in the Underground Railroad.
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Could there be more than
one national site dedicated to Harriet Tubman?
It is possible that the study may conclude that,
since there is more than one area where Tubman lived and worked,
a combination of sites might be recommended if they meet the established
criteria.
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If the special resource
study recommends a national park designation, when would that happen?
The timing is up to Congress. If Senators and Representatives are
interested in having a park area, they will introduce a bill. The
bill goes through the normal legislative process, which may take
years, and if there is enough support, the bill eventually will be
passed. Public support for a proposal influences congressional
action. The study will provide a framework for Congress and the
administration to consider what, if anything, will be done with
the study recommendations and in what time frame.
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Let's say a national park
area is created by Congress, what happens then?
After a park area is established, NPS begins evaluating
the resources in depth, setting up programs for the public, and
beginning a long-range plan. It takes many years for a national
park area to become fully operational. Most management plans, which
guide parks for 15 to 20 years, take three or four years to be completed.
Such plans are done with a great deal of consultation with the general
public and specific stakeholders.
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Who is doing the study?
A National Park Service professional team
of planners, landscape architects, and historians includes four
coordinators of the National Network to Freedom program. While the
study is is based in
the Northeast Region - Boston Office, team members are also
located in Philadelphia; Washington, DC; Atlanta; Charleston, SC; and Omaha.
In
addition, the team draws on expertise from NPS advisers and outside
consultants. Other important sources of information are the many
groups and activists associated with Harriet Tubman's legacy. The
study team relies on existing research rather than conducting original
research.
Although our professional team will actually write
and prepare the study report, the information and recommendations
it contains will be based on input from Tubman experts and activists
and environmental, community, and political leaders.
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Where is the study team
holding public meetings?
Initial public meetings were held in July 2002,
in Auburn, NY and Cambridge, MD. Other meetings have been held in Beaufort, SC, New York, NY, Wilmington, DE, Buffalo, NY and St. Catharines, ONT where there appears to be important Tubman resources.
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How can I give my input
and make suggestions?
Register your comments
online or in a letter by regular mail. If you would like to
be on our newsletter mailing list, send
us your name, affiliation, and address online or by mail to:
Barbara
Mackey
National Park Service
15 State Street
Boston MA 02109
Or you may send an e-mail to the team's key contacts,
Barbara Mackey or Barbara
Tagger.
The Harriet Tubman Special Resource Study
depends on input from those with an interest in Tubman. We welcome
your comments, questions, and suggestions. Your participation will
help us produce a report that reflects the deep significance of
Harriet Tubman, her associated resources, and the broad interests
of Tubman advocates.
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