Special Feature
By John Kmitta
Hallowed
Ground
The landscape restoration and maintenance
of Gettysburg National Military Park
Photo provided by Gettysburg National Military Park
nature and human development have changed the appearance of the landscape and historic battlefields at
Gettysburg National Military Park (NMP). Now, as the 150th anniversary
of that historic battle draws near, Gettysburg NMP staff members share their
insights into the ongoing efforts to preserve the topographic, landscape and
cultural features that were significant to the outcome of the battle.
Since1863,
The battlefield is now a vast national park,
and the landscape is a mosaic of woodlands
and woodlots, agricultural fields, pasturelands and intermittent streams. And although most of the landscape is natural, it
still needs maintenance.
For example, fields that have not been
farmed during the past 65-plus years have
become forests. While some vegetation
features (thickets, woodlots and woodlands) were removed by man over the
years, others were overgrown by nature,
becoming dense and containing many
non-native species. In addition, some historic fields, pastures and other open areas
18 Landscape and Irrigation May/June 2013
are covered by non-historic vegetation.
In 1999, the Gettysburg NMP General
Management Plan/Environmental Impact
Statement (GMP/EIS) was approved, outlining goals for rehabilitating the 1863 cultural and natural features that impacted the
battle.
"Battlefield Rehabilitation is a multiyear project to return major battle action
areas on the Gettysburg battlefield to their
appearance at the time of the Battle of
Gettysburg in 1863, and to help the public
better understand the soldier's experiences
on the battlefield," said Katie Lawhon,
management assistant, Gettysburg NMP.
"The project includes removal of nonhistoric trees, but also the planting of trees,
maintaining historic woodlots, planting
historic orchards, building fences, and
more."
Obtaining historical accuracy
The initial challenge was to understand
the historic landscapes of the 1863 battle,
and how those landscapes had changed
throughout the years.
According to Lawhon, historians developed a history of the park landscapes and a
set of historical base maps that documented the park's landscape and built features. Those maps were based upon
extensive research, including park archival
materials, library records, historic photographs and sketches, maps, and — more recently — aerial photographs. The most
important mapping resources were Department of War and Gettysburg Battlefield
Memorial Association maps prepared in
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