The Archaeological Survey of the Natchez Trace

1944 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 408-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse D. Jennings

The Natchez Trace Parkway is an area, still in a construction stage, controlled by the National Park Service. The Park Service's three general policies of presentation, protection, and interpretation are familiar to most Americans through either reading or travel, or both. Recently an innovation in Park Service areas—on a grand scale—has been introduced by congressional action, so that the Service has begun the development of a series of parkways. These parkways—sired by the East's super-highways with restricted traffic—are in effect elongated parks consisting of a high-standard roadway insulated from unsightly commercial encroachment and despoliation by the usual Park Service regulations regarding protection of natural beauty. Of the three parkways, the George Washington in Virginia is both scenic and utilitarian, the Blue Ridge is essentially a scenic recreational effort, while the Natchez Trace Parkway is commemorative of an ancient road of considerable importance in the early history of the nation.

Author(s):  
Terence Young ◽  
Alan MacEachern ◽  
Lary Dilsaver

This essay explores the evolving international relationship of the two national park agencies that in 1968 began to offer joint training classes for protected-area managers from around the world. Within the British settler societies that dominated nineteenth century park-making, the United States’ National Park Service (NPS) and Canada’s National Parks Branch were the most closely linked and most frequently cooperative. Contrary to campfire myths and nationalist narratives, however, the relationship was not a one-way flow of information and motivation from the US to Canada. Indeed, the latter boasted a park bureaucracy before the NPS was established. The relationship of the two nations’ park leaders in the half century leading up to 1968 demonstrates the complexity of defining the influences on park management and its diffusion from one country to another.


Author(s):  
James Pritchard

This project investigated the history of the backcountry trail system in Grand Teton National Park (GTNP). In cooperation with GTNP Cultural Resources and the Western Center for Historic Preservation in GTNP, we located records describing the early development of the trail system. Only a few historical records describe or map the exact location of early trails, which prove useful when relocating trails today. The paper trail becomes quite rich, however, in revealing the story behind the practical development of Grand Teton National Park as it joined the National Park Service system.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 255
Author(s):  
Jon E. Keeley ◽  
Anne Pfaff ◽  
Anthony C. Caprio

History of prescription burning and wildfires in the three Sierra Nevada National Park Service (NPS) parks and adjacent US Forest Service (USFS) forests is presented. Annual prescription (Rx) burns began in 1968 in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, followed by Yosemite National Park and Lassen Volcanic National Park. During the last third of the 20th century, USFS national forests adjacent to these parks did limited Rx burns, accounting for very little area burned. However, in 2004, an aggressive annual burn program was initiated in these national forests and in the last decade, area burned by planned prescription burns, relative to area protected, was approximately comparable between these NPS and USFS lands. In 1968, the NPS prescription burning program was unique because it coupled planned Rx burns with managing many lightning-ignited fires for resource benefit. From 1968 to 2017, these natural fires managed for resource benefit averaged the same total area burned as planned Rx burns in the three national parks; thus, they have had a substantial impact on total area burned by prescription. In contrast, on USFS lands, most lightning-ignited fires have been managed for suppression, but increasing attention is being paid to managing wildfires for resource benefit.


2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 631-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam D. Chupp ◽  
Amy M. Roder ◽  
Loretta L. Battaglia ◽  
John F. Pagels

2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura C. Walkup ◽  
Thomas J. Casadevall ◽  
Vincent L. Santucci

ABSTRACT Geologic features, particularly volcanic features, have been protected by the National Park Service since its inception. Some volcanic areas were nationally protected even before the National Park Service was established. The first national park, Yellowstone National Park, is one of the most widely known geothermal and volcanic areas in the world. It contains the largest volcanic complex in North America and has experienced three eruptions which rate among the largest eruptions known to have occurred on Earth. Half of the twelve areas established as national parks before the 1916 Organic Act which created the National Park Service are centered on volcanic features. The National Park Service now manages lands that contain nearly every conceivable volcanic resource, with at least seventy-six managed lands that contain volcanoes or volcanic rocks. Given that so many lands managed by the National Park Service contain volcanoes and volcanic rocks, we cannot give an overview of the history of each one; rather we highlight four notable examples of parks that were established on account of their volcanic landscapes. These parks all helped to encourage the creation and success of the National Park Service by inspiring the imagination of the public. In addition to preserving and providing access to the nation's volcanic heritage, volcanic national parks are magnificent places to study and understand volcanoes and volcanic landscapes in general. Scientists from around the world study volcanic hazards, volcanic history, and the inner working of the Earth within U.S. national parks. Volcanic landscapes and associated biomes that have been relatively unchanged by human and economic activities provide unique natural laboratories for understanding how volcanoes work, how we might predict eruptions and hazards, and how these volcanoes affect surrounding watersheds, flora, fauna, atmosphere, and populated areas.


2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Lowry

In the 1990s, policymakers at Yellowstone and Banff National Parks enacted two of the most controversial programs in the history of protected lands. At Yellowstone, the U.S. National Park Service (nps) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (fws) personnel reintroduced wolves into the Yellowstone ecosystem. This program restored a crucial element to the park ecosystem that had been eliminated decades before and not returned since extermination. At Banff, federal authorities imposed strict limits to growth of the town of Banff. This action reversed a policy dating to the park's establishment in the late nineteenth century of allowing and encouraging growth and development of the town within Banff. How did these policy changes occur?


1952 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Cotter

The Mangum Plate consists of three fragments of elaborately embossed copper sheeting formed of separate parts overlapped and hammered together and riveted where necessary. The pieces were found in 1936 by Spurgeon C. Mangum on a knoll situated on his farm 5 miles northeast of Port Gibson, Mississippi, 1 mile south of Bayou Pierre (R 3E, Tn 12N, S 28). The site has since been acquired by the State of Mississippi for the National Park Service for development as a feature of archaeological interest along the Natchez Trace Parkway.


2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 236-263
Author(s):  
Joan M. Zenzen

This article chronicles the history of administrative histories within the National Park Service. Administrative histories describe the history of a site or a group of parks. They can be important resources for management decisions. Managers, however, often do not know about or pay attention to these documents. Some managers have even threatened the intellectual integrity of these histories. Despite these issues, administrative histories matter: they fill an acute need by park superintendents and others to inform decision making and help with reporting and preservation.


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