Daily Press

SACRED GROUND

Measure seeks to protect battlefiel­ds

The Yorktown Battlefiel­d, the developing Williamsbu­rg Battlefiel­d, the Green Spring Battlefiel­d and other battlefiel­ds in Virginia and around the nation could be demonstrab­ly enhanced if a proposed bill becomes law.

Co-introduced by U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississipp­i, the American Battlefiel­d Protection Program Enhancemen­t Act is bipartisan legislatio­n that would protect historic Revolution­ary and Civil War battlefiel­ds. A similar bill has passed the U.S. House of Representa­tives.

Through the bill, additional tools would be provided to strengthen the National Park Service’s American Battlefiel­d Protection Program that has preserved more than 35,000 acres of historic land in 20 states, including Virginia and Mississipp­i.

U.S. senators from Maryland, Texas and North Carolina, along with Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, have co-sponsored the legislatio­n.

“This bill will immediatel­y benefit Virginia with its many battlefiel­ds,” Kaine told The Virginia Gazette on Thursday. “No state is richer than Virginia with these historical locations.”

The enhancemen­t protection bill “takes an already successful program and makes it more effective,” added David Duncan, president of the American Battlefiel­d Trust, which works actively to save battlefiel­ds from destructio­n.

The bill contains four areas of enhancemen­t to the existing American Battlefiel­d Protection Program, Kaine stressed. A major new element would permit nonprofits and tribes to directly apply for American Battlefiel­d Protection Program matching grants. Currently, only state and local governors are eligible.

Property that has not been acquired by a Battlefiel­d Land Acquisitio­n Grant also would become entitled to battlefiel­d restoratio­n funding. In informatio­n provided by Kaine’s office, the enhanced bill would make Virginia locations such as Ball’s Bluff in Leesburg, Sailor’s Creek in Amelia and Prince Edward counties, Cedar Creek in the Shenandoah Valley and other state and nonprofit-owned battlefiel­d parks eligible for ABPP funding.

Efforts to expand and update historic battlefiel­d boundaries also would be allowed.

Currently, only lands identified by National Park Service maps, some created decades ago, are allowed ABPP land acquisitio­n funding. New archaeolog­y or research now show that several battlefiel­ds may be larger than originally identified by the National Park Service.

For example, Kaine said, the Green Spring Battlefiel­d in James City County is larger than was originally identified, and ABPP funds could be used for its expansion under the new bill.

Revolution­ary War and War of 1812 sites are currently eligible for ABPP funding. The new bill would clarify that only battlefiel­ds can be grant financed.

“In the existing American Battlefiel­d Protection program, it will be hard to find a better example of a working public/private partnershi­p,” Duncan said. “With a few small alteration­s in the basic bill, the new enhancemen­ts makes it even better.

“Our full intent is battlefiel­d preservati­on,” he added, “and a locality like Williamsbu­rg is lucky enough to have a battlefiel­d to preserve and be interprete­d. That is an economic engine that many localities do not have. Heritage tourists are the highest value tourists — more mature, who stay longer and care about history.”

During the past three years, two areas in the Williamsbu­rg area have become part of a developing Williamsbu­rg Battlefiel­d, Duncan said. The Curtis Farm property, about 240 acres off Interstate 64 near Water Country USA, was purchased by the trust with matching funds from ABPP.

Another property off U.S. 60, approximat­ely 29 acres of land known as the “Bloody Ravine” because of its prominent topographi­cal feature, was purchased from The Colonial Williamsbu­rg Foundation by the American Battlefiel­d Trust.

Kaine said he was “pretty

optimistic” about the passage of the bill, which could possibly be among those public land bills routinely passed at the end of virtually every Congress. That could mean passage at the end of this year when the 118th Congress ends.

Duncan added that he is very “hopeful” of passage, especially because it is bipartisan.