Washita Battlefield National Historic Site: Cultural Landscape Report Part 2, Washita Battlefield National Historic Site, National Park Service

John Milner Associates, contractor

In May 2002, JMA project personnel Rob McGinnis and Matt Whitaker undertook field investigations at Washita Battlefield NHS. They spent four days in the park collecting field data and meeting with NPS park and regional personnel and a Cheyenne and Arapaho tribal representative. Prior to the trip, a planning-level existing conditions AutoCAD base map was developed using electronic mapping files provided to JMA by Overland Partners, Inc. of San Antonio, Texas; GIS data from Greg Jarvis at the Denver Service Center; aerial photos; and the USGS topographic map for the area. The map was field-checked for accuracy during the May 2002 fieldwork visit. Additions, deletions, and other corrections to the base information were noted in the field, as was the character of the primary landscape features inventoried. JMA personnel also photographed the site’s primary landscape features during fieldwork efforts. The locations of the photographic station points, and the directions of the views, were noted on the base drawings in the field. Photographs of representative landscape features were selected to illustrate information conveyed within the CLR. These are included in the report and referenced in the text. Because the site has seen a range of human manipulations and the resulting vegetation compositions, as well as differing planned uses, the CLR includes the identification of fourteen landscape areas that reflect historic and planned land uses and management approaches. The landscape areas were utilized to describe and illustrate site-specific and customized treatment recommendations and management guidelines that best reflect the needs of the resources. Figure 3 illustrates the location of each of the fourteen landscape areas identified in the CLR. The recommendations provided in Part Two of the CLR for the treatment of Washita Battlefield NHS are intended to articulate a strategy for long-term management of the site that balances natural and cultural resource values. The recommendations are based on an understanding of the significance, integrity, and condition of the site as identified through previous historic and existing conditions research and documentation, and the interpretive goals of the NPS for imparting its history to the visitor. The treatment approach presented in this report is intended to further protection, preservation, and enhancement of the existing landscape, and to be compatible with the future planning and design efforts associated with visitor access, interpretation, and natural and cultural resource preservation, rehabilitation, and restoration. The treatment plan consists primarily of guidelines and recommendations. An overview passage introduces the philosophical approach to treatment that applies to all recommendations included in the CLR. This is followed by lists of site or area-specific projects. The treatment plan is illustrated graphically at a park-wide scale, and in plan enlargements of important areas where an additional level of detail is necessary to convey numerous recommendations.

Washita Battlefield National Historic Site: Cultural Landscape Report Part 2, Washita Battlefield National Historic Site, National Park Service

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