SITKA Administrative History

Chapter 5:
SITKA NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK, 1966-1986 (continued)

Visitation

Seventy to eighty percent of 1960s visitors to Sitka National Monument/Historical Park came on cruise ships between May and October. [294] In 1967 the first jet airline service direct from Sitka to Anchorage and Seattle became available. The superintendent noted in his monthly report for June 1967 that the airline service increased park visitation. [295] (That year was also the Alaska purchase centennial and tourism figures were higher throughout the state.) About the same time, the state started its Marine Highway ferry system. During the past twenty years, visitation at the park as well as to Alaska has boomed. In 1985 a record 121,067 people visited the park. [296]

Most park visitors were on half-day tours of Sitka and their visit to the park was 25 to 30 minutes. The visitor center be came the focus of most people's visit to the park. Few actually got out into the park. [297]

Administrative issues

Under terms of the statehood act tidelands, except within city boundaries, became the property of the State of Alaska. Part of the visitors center had been built on property not owned by the National Park Service. Some of the land belonged to the City of Sitka. The other part belonged to the state. Park service personnel sought long-term leases to the tidelands and definition of its water rights to Indian River to protect the park's resources. In the 1972 legislation, Congress defined these areas as within the park. The law expressly prohibited the park from purchasing public property. The land could be donated to the federal government, however.

The City of Sitka granted the park a 55-year lease at minimal cost, $1.00 per year, to the 1.61 acres of tidelands it managed that were adjacent to the park on July 29, 1964. The lease was amended on December l, 1964, to correct the termination date of the lease to August 1, 2019, instead of 2119. A new lease was signed on March 28, 1972, to conform to new boundaries. It en compassed and slightly enlarged the first lease. The revised 55-year lease was for 69,943 square feet of tidelands and will terminate on March 28, 2027. [298

In 1964 the park staff approached state officials about transferring ownership of Lots 5 and 6, USS 3695 on the east boundary of the park that belonged to the state. No action on the request has been taken. Most of the land was within the Sawmill Creek Road right-of-way and development of the strip is extremely doubtful. At the same time the park applied to the state for a long-term lease to the tidelands adjacent to the park. In 1967 the park service arranged for a cadastral survey of the tidelands in question, required before the lease could be processed. The purpose of the lease was "to prevent further change in the salmon spawning habitat, to protect the Monument from any stream course change that would result in extensive erosion, and to preserve the historic scene commemorated there." [299] The lease of the state tidelands adjacent to the park was finalized on December 10, 1971, shortly after the state received title to the land. The park received a 55-year lease at $1.00 per year to 47.915 acres of tidelands adjacent to Sitka National Monument as described on Alaska Tidelands Survey 649, approved September 24, 1971. At that time the purpose of the lease was said to be to provide tidelands adjoining the Lark for recreational use and preservation of a historic site. [300] This lease was revised on March 22, 1973, when the National Park Service applied to construct a breakwater along the beach. The state had no objection. This lease will expire on March 21, 2028.