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When visiting Shenandoah National Park
we had the opportunity to learn about the history and making of the park,
and about how nature should be managed.
When we first arrived we were greeted by Park Ranger Kathleen Harter who discussed with us the mission statement of the National Park Service, which is to protect the Park resources and provide for visitor enjoyment. |
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| Later we met with Claire Comer, the park's education officer. We learned
how Shenandoah NP was created in the "western" sense of a park, meaning
it was to be uninhabited by humans, to be completely natural. The people
who were living in the park area, were to be moved out. The people's remaining
homes were then torn down, to allow the forest's return to it's natural
state. Claire has created a new exhibit at the Byrd Visitor's center to
teach about these people who were moved off the land.
We then met with Jimmy Brown, a member of the group Children Of The Shenandoah. Children Of The Shenandoah is a group of people who are the decedents of the families who where moved off the park land. These people are attempting to regain their past and heritage, by being able to access park records and also by making people aware of the true story behind the making of the park. |
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The Shenandoah NP issue, demonstrates the necessity for balance between the two sides fighting for different things for the park. These two sides are, one of keeping the part in a western sense of no human traces, and the other side wanting to promote the human history. Just recently, in late May of 2000, the park issued a statement saying the archives pertaining to the history of Shenandoah NP, before it became the park, will be opened to the public sometime in the year 2001. |
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