STATEMENT OF DURAND JONES, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, NATIONAL PARK
SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL PARKS,
RECREATION, AND PUBLIC LANDS OF THE HOUSE RESOURCES COMMITTEE, CONCERNING H. R.
2628, TO AUTHORIZE THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR TO STUDY THE SUITABILITY AND
FEASIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING THE MUSCLE SHOALS NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA IN ALABAMA
FEBRUARY 7, 2002
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to present the
Department of the Interior’s views on H.R. 2628. This bill would direct the Secretary of the Interior to study the
suitability and feasibility of establishing the Muscle Shoals National Heritage
Area in Alabama.
The Department supports this bill, but we did not request
additional funding for this study in Fiscal Year 2003. We believe that any funding requested should
be directed towards completing previously authorized studies. Presently, there are 40 studies pending, of
which we hope to transmit 15 to Congress by the end of 2002. We have concerns about adding new funding
requirements for new park units, national trails, wild and scenic rivers or
heritage areas at the same time that we are trying to work down the deferred
maintenance backlog. To estimate these
potential new funding requirements, the Administration will identify in each
study all of the costs to establish, operate and maintain the proposed site.
Muscle Shoals is the name of a section of the Tennessee
River in northwestern Alabama that was a major navigation hazard due to the
shoals and other obstructions in that part of the river. Repeated governmental efforts in the 1800’s
to make that part of the river safe for navigation by building canals and locks
were unsuccessful. However, Muscle
Shoals was selected by President Woodrow Wilson as the site for a dam for
electric power and two nitrate production plants as a national defense measure
during World War I, which was possibly the nation’s largest public work of its
time. The completion of the dam in
1925, named for President Wilson, created a lake over the shoals and thus
solved the river’s navigation problems.
A major debate over public versus private ownership of the Wilson Dam and
the nitrate facilities made Muscle Shoals a focus of national attention during
the 1920’s and 1930’s. The issue was
resolved when the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was established in 1933 and
the facilities were transferred to that entity. For that reason, Muscle Shoals is generally considered the
birthplace of the TVA.
With the shoals submerged today, the name Muscle Shoals is
used to refer to the area that includes Lauderdale, Colbert, Franklin, and
Lawrence counties in Alabama, within which lie the cities of Florence,
Sheffield, Tuscumbia, and Muscle Shoals City.
Nearby areas in northeastern Mississippi and southwestern Tennessee are
considered part of the Muscle Shoals region.
In addition to the Wilson Dam, which was designated a National Historic
Landmark in 1966, the area has many notable historic and cultural resources
including the home of Helen Keller, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Rosenbaum House, and a
number of historic Victorian and Arts and Crafts residences. Florence hosts an annual music festival
named for blues musician W.C. Handy, who resided there, and the region is home
to several other musicians who have made significant contributions to
contemporary American music.
In addition, there are Native
American and Civil War resources in the area, some of which are managed by the
National Park Service. The Natchez
Trace Parkway, following the historic route of the Trace, runs through the
region. Part of the 1838 Trail of Tears
is located in the area. The Corinth,
Mississippi unit of Shiloh National Military Park is located in the
vicinity.
H.R. 2628 authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to
conduct a study to determine whether the Muscle Shoals region is suitable and
feasible to designate as a national heritage area. The bill contains the criteria for making this determination
that has been used for other national heritage area studies that Congress has
authorized in recent years, and it includes the three-year time frame for
conducting the study that most bills include. H.R. 2628 provides for the study
to be conducted in consultation with State historic preservation officers,
State historical societies, and other appropriate organizations. The bill further specifies that the study
consider a number of factors including local and state interest and support.
The National Park Service has defined a national heritage
area as a place designated by Congress where natural, cultural, historic and
scenic resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally distinctive landscape
arising from patterns of human activity shaped by geography. It is not the role of the National Park
Service to manage or regulate a national heritage area, but to assist the
variety of local partners and landowners that work together to achieve the
common goal of protecting and interpreting important places where people live
and work.
It is evident that communities and organizations in the
Muscle Shoals region value their heritage and open space and are looking for
ways to maintain and enhance these qualities. The city of Florence, for
example, has implemented a waterfront improvement program that includes an
outdoor amphitheater, biking and hiking trails, a marina, public riverside
walks, and other public spaces. The city has also constructed a new bridge with
intermodal connectors to road and trail systems across the river in Colbert
County and through the Tennessee Valley Authority Reservation, which provides
linkages to Natchez Trace National Historic Trail and Trail of Tears
interpretive sites, Civil War sites, and other cultural resources along the
Tennessee River.
A heritage area study conducted by the National Park Service
would help determine the level of support that might exist in the study area
for heritage area designation and would help identify other protection and
preservation options. The study would
likely examine existing efforts to enhance cultural, natural, and recreational
opportunities, such as those that are underway at Florence, and assess how such
efforts might tie in with other resources and values identified in the study
area. A critical element of the study would be the evaluation of the integrity
of the resources and the nationally distinctive character of the region.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared remarks. I would be
pleased to answer any questions you or other members of the subcommittee may
have.