SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/134296
According to Lawhon, it was then a matter of determining which features were significant to the fighting of the battle. The battle action for each day of the battle was studied by reviewing official maps, War Department after-action reports written by officers of the various units that participated in the battle, letters from soldiers, diaries, and newspaper accounts. According to the NPS, the resulting battle action maps for each day showed where troops were positioned, where they moved, and where on the field they were engaged. The maps for all three days were then combined, and a map showing the action for all three days was prepared. Comparison of the theoretical terrain analysis map with the actual battle action map showed exactly which terrain features were significant to the outcome of the Battle of Gettysburg. Those significant features automatically became the highest priority for preservation and rehabilitation. According to Lawhon, the project also calls for re-establishing grasslands; restoring wetlands; replanting orchards; fencing cattle from streams to improve water quality; increasing habitat for grassland species, ground nesting birds and native plants; and more. But rehabilitation is not without its challenges. "Mapping and other historical documentation does not always provide enough detail to rebuild an individual landscape feature such as a fence," said Lawhon. "Sometimes, we will know that a fence existed in a certain place, but there is not enough detail in the historical record to tell us what it looked like. Was it a five-rail fence, a Virginia worm fence, or some other type? We try to confirm each feature with two or more sources before we try to return it to the battlefield." REHABILITATION AND RESTORATION The rehabilitation project began in 2000 following completion of the GMP/EIS. Much progress has been made, but there is much more yet to be accomplished. Understanding how the generals organized the terrain for battle requires removal of non-historic trees that have grown over the past 65 to 70 years. Understanding the avenues of approach that were available and/or used requires restoration of farm lanes and roads that once crisscrossed the battlefield, but have long since disappeared. According to the NPS, small-scale features such as fences, orchards, open woodlots and buildings affected the tactical movements of small units. These missing, dilapidated or damaged features are being repaired or replaced so that visitors can clearly understand the cover and concealment available to the soldiers and the obstacles that affected them during combat. For example, for years visitors saw the field of Pickett's Charge as one large, unbroken field. Now, nine miles of fences have been rebuilt, showing the field of Pickett's Charge in its historic configuration of 12 small fields, and the difficulties and challenges facing those troops can be understood in more depth. www.stma.org SportsTurf 23