Threatened Historic Landscapes In Kansas
America’s Landscape Legacy
During the past 20 years, historic preservation has
grown beyond protecting a single structure or
district to include historic landscapes that have
regional or national significance. The Historic
American Landscapes Survey (HALS) plays an
important role in documenting these landscapes.
HALS does not limit development, no land is
purchased, and property rights are unaffected. If the
physical character of the region cannot be protected
through other means, HALS ensures a lasting record
and images of the landscape in its historic context
will endure. However, inadequate funding limits its
ability to keep pace with growing threats.
Kansas Examples
first armed skirmish of that significant American
conflict. While traditionally, and officially, the
Civil War began on April 12, 1861, with the
Confederate firing on Fort Sumter, the Battle of
Black Jack was the first of several skirmishes
occurring prior to the official opening of the war.
The Battlefield is approximately three miles east of
Baldwin City, Kansas along and south of Highway
56. The Black Jack Battlefield and Nature Park is
being developed on the site of the Battle. The goal
is to protect the site from the suburban growth that
threatens to destroy the very land where John
Brown and Henry Clay Pate fought the first battle in
the American Civil War. This part of northeast
Kansas is undergoing rapid growth and the area of
the Battlefield is being subjected to increased
urbanization. Since the extent of the Battlefield is
unknown, critical components of the site could be
lost if they are not soon identified and preserved
(http://www.blackjackbattlefield.org/).
• The Flint Hills Tall Grasslands
Black Jack Battlefield
Photo from The Black Jack Battlefield Trust
• Black Jack Battlefield
The Battle of Black Jack, on June 2, 1856, is
considered by most Civil War historians as the
The Flint Hills Tall Grasslands covers the Flint
Hills of Kansas and the Osage Plains of
northeastern Oklahoma. The Flint Hills Tall
Grasslands is the smallest grassland ecoregion in
North America. The flinty beds of limestone, from
which the name of this ecoregion is derived,
rendered large areas unsuitable for corn or wheat
farming. Today, the Flint Hills Tall Grasslands is an
anomaly–an essentially unplowed (although heavily
grazed) remnant of the tallgrass prairie. Historically,
fire, drought and grazing by bison and other
ungulates were the principle sources of habitat
disturbance in this ecoregion. Today the area is
threatened by intensive grazing and development of
small homesteads. This ecoregion offers the best
opportunity for restoration of tallgrass prairie in the
United States (Madson 1993). The Flint Hills and
adjacent Osage Hills contain the last large pieces of
tallgrass prairie in the world. (Text taken from
Terrestrial ecoregions of North America: a
conservation
assessment
and
http://www.
worldwildlife.org/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/na/n
a0807_full.html)
systems to make information more accessible to the
public.
•
Hurricane Katrina Response―Following
Hurricane Katrina, HALS staff provided FEMA and
state and local officials with maps that guided
bulldozers and other heavy equipment around and
through historic districts during the massive cleanup
process.
Position of the American Society of Landscape
Architects (ASLA)
HALS has established an impressive track record
with one full-time staff person and by piecing
together a limited budget from other National Park
Service accounts. Unfortunately, nationally
significant landscapes are disappearing or are being
altered at a rate that far exceeds the capabilities of
the existing program to respond. Without additional
resources, HALS cannot provide technical or
financial assistance to local groups, ASLA state
chapters, and historical associations interested in
developing and completing projects in or near their
communities.
Flint Hills
Photograph by John Charlton/Kansas Geological Survey
Recording Our Past, Providing Benefits Today
HALS was established by the National Park Service
in 2000 to document landscapes that serve as
tangible evidence of our nation’s heritage and
development. In general, the program achieves this
purpose through written descriptions, measured
drawings, and photographs. In addition to
chronicling significant and increasingly at-risk
landscapes for future generations, HALS provides a
wide range of practical uses today. For example:
•
Battlefield Studies―HALS has helped to
document the status of and threats to Revolutionary
and Civil War battlefields.
•
National Cemetery Inventories―HALS has
produced detailed inventories of a growing number
of national cemeteries and is developing interactive
ASLA requests $1.2 million to support HALS in the
fiscal year 2008 Interior Appropriations bill. This
appropriation would support core staff, including
landscape architects, historians, and geographic
information systems (GIS) specialists, as well as
allow the program to provide technical assistance
and small seed grants to local groups. With this
support, citizens can initiate and complete HALS
projects and help document nationally significant
landscapes.
For more information about historic landscapes in
our state or the HALS program, please contact:
Stephanie A. Rolley, FASLA, AICP
ASLA HALS Liaison
Kansas State University
302 Seaton Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506-2909
785-532-5961
[email protected]