Park Planning

A recent update to National Park Service planning processes has halted Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania's work on a new General Management Plan. Superintendent Russ Smith offered this note of explanation for more details:

Dear Friends of the Park,

Work on the park's General Management Plan has been discontinued. The National Park Service is moving toward a more streamlined, less expensive planning process which will concentrate on critical issues facing each park, rather than covering a broad array of issues. In the case of Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania NMP, that means finalizing the Foundation Document part of the General Management Plan which will become a stand-alone document. The Foundation Document looks at the Purpose, Significance, Resources Values, and Interpretive Themes of the park

We will continue moving forward on the issue of Land Protection through a Boundary Study which we hope to have completed by the end of the year. That study will look at our current Congressionally authorized boundaries and recommend whether they should be expanded or not. Three alternatives will be developed (one "No Action" and two others). The public will have an opportunity to comment. If boundary expansion is recommended by the study, it will have to be approved by Congress. That action would authorize the park to buy additional land, but would not provide funding.

I'd like to convey my thanks to everyone who attended the scoping meetings and provided thoughts and suggestions. I want to assure you that our efforts thus far will not be lost and hope we can count on your continued participation in the Boundary Study.

Click here to read our current General Management Plan.