Staying Involved in the Future on your National Mall

The National Park Service encourages your continued involvement in the
planning process.  We’ve heard from around 30,000 people thus far.  Their comments have helped us develop a range of alternatives as well as to modify and refine alternatives.

The national parks are America’s treasures and they belong to you. The NPS typically manages our shared natural and historic treasures - and the National Mall is the home to great symbols of our nation such as the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and Thomas Jefferson Memorial.  However the National Mall has a unique, essential and distinctive civic role as well.  The National Mall is the primary civic space in our country for the democratic expression of our First Amendment rights and it is also where our nation hosts national celebrations.  National celebrations include the Independence Day – 4^th of July, presidential inaugural activities, the National Cherry Blossom Festival and the Festival of American Folklife.  After hearing from so many of you, we know this is a place that we all care deeply about.

Your next opportunity for continued involvement is when the National Mall Plan Draft Environmental Impact Statement which has been released. The planning team has developed a set of five management alternatives that describe different visions for how the National Mall could be managed. This includes a No-Action and the agency Preferred Alternative. The Preferred Alternative combines ideas from each of the other alternatives to best achieve the plan goals. The No-Action Alternative would continue current management and ongoing actions; Alternative A would emphasize the historic landscape and education; Alternative B would emphasize a welcoming national civic space to accommodate large numbers of people in our country’s civic space; and Alternative C would emphasize urban recreation and a sustainable ecology.

 When the document is published it will be on public review for a minimum of 90 days.  As always we will encourage you to provide your comments online.