Seneca Falls, NY - The National Park Service (NPS) announces the availability of the Harriet Tubman Special Resource Study Report and Environmental Assessment. Authorized by Congress in 2000, the study examines sites associated with Harriet Tubman and evaluates the appropriateness of including areas in the national park system. The report finds that the environmentally preferred management alternative would be to establish national historical parks in Maryland and Auburn, New York, operated in partnership with existing managers.
Harriet Tubman is widely regarded as an American hero. She was born in Dorchester County, Maryland, in 1822, escaped from enslavement in 1849, and returned repeatedly to Maryland’s Eastern Shore as part of the Underground Railroad operation to rescue other enslaved people. During the Civil War she worked as a nurse, a scout, and a spy in the South. By the late 1860s she settled in Auburn, New York, where she established a home for the aged.
The special resource study is available for public review at www.HarrietTubmanStudy.org or https://parkplanning.nps.gov. A limited number of the 180-page printed report and compact disks are available by contacting the NPS at the address below or through the website. Comments may be made electronically or by mail until December 19, 2008. Copies will be available for review at public libraries in Dorchester, Caroline, and Talbot counties, Maryland, and Auburn, New York. In addition, public meetings will be held during the week of December 1 in Maryland and Auburn to take comments.
At the conclusion of the public comment period and after consideration of the comments received, the report will be forwarded to the Secretary of the Interior who will make recommendations to Congress.
National Park Service, Harriet Tubman Special Resource Study, 10th Floor, 15 State Street, Boston MA 02109, www.infoHarrietTubman.nps.gov
