08.18.08
More trees down
Keeping up with the recent theme of “things falling in national parks,” here’s an article from today’s Washington Post on the clearing of 140 acres of rare oak trees at Manassas National Battlefield Park. They’re being cleared to restore the historic vistas of the Union assault at 2nd Manassas (Bull Run, for you boys in gray).
Trees Lose on Manassas Battlefield
National Park and Pr. William Officials Try to Restore Civil War-Era Views
By Kristen Mack
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 18, 2008; Page B01There is Jackson, sitting astride his mount, Little Sorrel, surveying vistas of rolling fields, towering signs, high-voltage power lines and trees.
The iconic statue of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson commemorates the place where he inspired Confederate troops to victory. Federal and Prince William County officials want to preserve views of Manassas National Battlefield Park. There’s not much they can do about the signs and power lines. But the trees? They can go.
More than 140 acres of rare oak trees on the Civil War site were getting in the way of historic vistas of the last Union assault at the second battle of Manassas. So the National Park Service cut them down.
Preserving Prince William’s physical battlegrounds is no longer enough. Historians want to re-create historic battlefields so visitors can see the land the same way that those who fought in the Civil War would have seen it.
Staff members from the park and the county’s planning department are studying how to protect views on the battlefield. The study will attempt to guide future development outside park grounds and potentially limit road construction and the heights of office parks, apartment buildings and billboards.
I like the idea of restoring vistas–we inhabitants of the 21st century lose so much in our understanding of the historic topography when it’s obscured by trees–but it’s still painful to see!
08.10.08
Gettysburg ‘Witness Tree’ Blows Down in Storm
Thanks to Mom for pointing out this one:
Battle of Gettysburg ‘witness tree’ falls in storm
GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Standing just 150 feet from the platform on which President Abraham Lincoln delivered his most famous speech, one of the few remaining “witness trees” to the Battle of Gettysburg has been severely damaged by a storm, National Park Service officials said.
The huge honey locust tree on Cemetery Hill fell Thursday evening.
“The top of it is totally broken off, and (the storm) severely damaged 70 to 80 percent of the tree,” Gettysburg National Military Park spokeswoman Jo Sanders said. “That means there’s not a whole lot left of it. But it didn’t kill the tree.”
The tree, which stood on the right side of the Union lines, “was there as a silent witness — to the battle, to the aftermath, to the burials, to the dedication of the cemetery,” park historian John Heiser said.
“I have no doubt that Union soldiers sat under it for all three days of the battle,” he said.
Park maintenance officials will assess what to do with the remains of the tree.
“When it’s something this bad, it’s highly doubtful that a tree like that can survive,” Heiser said.
Heiser said he knows of only three other witness trees that still stand in the heart of the battlefield.
“It’s a shame when you lose the last living entities on this battlefield,” he said. “Nothing lives forever, unfortunately.”
Strange that it doesn’t make the Gettysburg NP news page.
In other news, their new visitor center is open!
Wall Arch Collapses in Arches National Park
When I saw the headline that a “popular arch” had collapsed in Arches, I feared that Landscape Arch had fallen. Instead, it was Wall Arch, which is located nearby.
Before and after shots of Wall Arch
You can read the Arches NP press release here.
I had my opportunity to see Wall Arch on my first visit to Arches NP, back in 2003, when Justin Powell and I went on a late afternoon hike to Double-O Arch. After Landscape Arch, the trail becomes rugged and difficult and shortly thereafter we would have had the opportunity to admire and photograph Wall Arch. As we kept going, we walked along the narrow backbone of rock fins with at least a 100 foot drop on one side, looking for obscure and nearly hidden arches and marveling at the setting sun, which had started to make the red rock glow in red and orange hues. Maybe we managed to see it from a distance, pointing it out to one another as we hurried on to our destination.
After making it to Double-O Arch we quickly realized that with sunset the trip back to the car would become dangerous as we backtracked along the trail with some of its dangerous drops. It was around the time that we returned to the Wall Arch area that we had to break out the flashlights and head lamps.
You see the huge boulders and rubble at the base of some of the arches and you don’t know whether those were deposited there 1 year or 1 million years ago. It’ll be interesting to go there the next time and realize that this geologic change happened in my lifetime. Wish I could tell my kids that I “remember” this arch, but I’m now curious to dig around in my files for photographic proof that I admired it once upon a time.
The Devils Garden area near Wall Arch
Update: No picture of Wall Arch in my collection. I do vaguely remember being low on film that evening, so I may have been conserving my shots. However, when looking at the park map, I notice that going to the arch requires turning off the main trail onto a short side trail. Considering that we were in a hurry to hoof it out to Double-O Arch, I now doubt that we took this side trip.
How depressing. You take for granted that one of these arches will be around for centuries to come. Wall Arch was apparently a “next time” arch and now I’ll never see it.
