Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve: Cultural Landscape Report, Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

Bahr Vermeer & Haecker, Contractor; John Milner Associates, contractor

This CLR is intended to support the ongoing efforts of the NPS and NPT to adapt a working ranch to the needs of visitors who are interested in learning about the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve’s history. The GMP prepared by the NPS established an overarching approach to site management that is followed in spirit and detail by this CLR. The CLR provides “general and specific preservation treatment(s) for the landscape of the Preserve based upon the historical significance and integrity identified through site physical history development and National Register level evaluation, and on the strategic vision embodied in the GMP.” The primary objective of this document is to draw together the varied knowledge of the physical history and current condition of the Preserve landscape into a synthetic document that subsequently suggests appropriate means for implementing the overarching management approach laid out in the GMP. Land and Community Associates (LCA) of Charlottesville, Virginia, commenced work on Phase 1 of this Cultural Landscape Report (CLR) in the summer of 1998. The scope of work prepared by the NPS for the report divided the CLR into two distinct phases—Phase 1 would address historical documentation and site analysis and evaluation, including assessment of historical integrity and evaluation of significance; Phase 2 would focus on existing conditions documentation, the documentation of Preserve resource management concerns, and the development of a treatment plan. Phase 1 was completed in late 2000. The site history chapter included in Phase 1 addressed the physical evolution of the site’s landscape during the following five time periods: pre-Euro- American habitation; Euro-American settlement and homesteading; 19th-century ranching; 20thcentury ranching; and purchase by the NPT. The written narrative is accompanied by historic photographs, maps, and other historic images as well as period plans developed by LCA to illustrate physical changes during each of the five historic periods identified. The analysis chapter identifies the period of significance appropriate for the site, evaluates its overall integrity, its significant components and characteristics, and includes maps that identify zones of relative levels of integrity. Phase 2 was prepared by John Milner Associates, Inc. (JMA), formerly OCULUS, of Charlottesville, Virginia, subconsultants to Bahr Vermeer Haecker Architects (BVH) of Lincoln, Nebraska. It is composed of existing conditions documentation developed through field investigations and collection of material; revision to the site history and analysis chapters developed in Phase 1 based on new findings; documentation of management concerns; and preparation of a treatment plan. The treatment plan was developed in accordance with the General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (GMP) finalized in 2000. During the course of the development of this project, a separate, but related, study was completed through modification to the CLR contract. This study, which focused on the corral area located along the County Road and the former railroad spur, was completed in May 2002. The CLR makes reference to information collected in preparing the corral area report, which included personal interviews with local residents and additional historical research.

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve: Cultural Landscape Report, Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

Series

See also