The 1863 Landscape: Treatment Philosophy, Gettysburg National Military Park, National Park Service

Campbell, Eric

Gettysburg National Military Park is beginning implementation of landscape rehabilitation, the alternative selected in its approved 1999 General Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement. Rehabilitating the nationally significant landscapes at Gettysburg National Military Park is an immense task that will take 15-20 years. The GMP recommends that the most significant missing elements of the battle, commemorative, and Soldiers’ National Cemetery landscapes be restored. The GMP provides guidance for the preservation, rehabilitation and interpretation of resources that contribute to the significance of the park. These include resources related to the Battle of Gettysburg, resources related to the nationally significant battle commemoration designed and built by its veterans, and resources related to the Soldiers’ National Cemetery. This treatment philosophy addresses the principles that will be used to preserve and rehabilitate the resources relating to the Battle of Gettysburg. To further define and understand these resources, the GMP defined four resource areas, including the Major Battle Action Area, the Battlefield Commemorative Area, the Soldiers’ National Cemetery, and the Other Resources Area. This treatment philosophy will be used to develop CLR/Treatment Plans for component landscapes of one of these areas, the Major Battle Action Area. Nearly every landscape feature, natural and cultural, small scale or large scale, influenced the battle in some way. From a farmer’s fence to the largest hill, military leaders and units were forced to react to the surrounding landscape in planning and conducting battles. Features are any objects that existed on the 1863 Gettysburg landscape. Features can be natural or man-made, large or small. Features possess characteristics, such as height, extent, color, mass, or age. Not every characteristic of a feature is considered necessary for rehabilitation. In some cases, restoration of a characteristic is difficult or impractical; for example, it is not possible to maintain an orchard at the age it was at the time of the battle, since natural systems grow, age and die. The exact placement of trees within a woodlot is not important, but the historic extent of the woodlot may be. The use of modern equipment to prepare fence materials, for example, does not interfere with visitors’ ability to understand the impact a fence had on the battle. However, its height, mass and tightness may be features that should be present in order for visitors to understand appropriately the battle action. This treatment philosophy outlines features that were significant parts of the battle landscape and distinguishes between the characteristics that must be restored in order to interpret the battle and those that do not have to be restored for a visitor to understand what happened here.

The 1863 Landscape: Treatment Philosophy, Gettysburg National Military Park, National Park Service

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