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This story appeared in The Times on Thursday, April 23, 1998.
Groups offer options to protect Bend
By Judy Walton
The Chattanooga TimesThe notion of preserving the archaeological and historic record of thousands of years of human habitation at Moccasin Bend began to take on flesh this week.
After two days of workshops, it was clear that most of the 200-plus people who took part in the planning favor a national park at the Bend.
But ideas ranging from a tribal park, owned and maintained by American Indians, to a commission to administer the site will be considered as the National Park Service continues its study of how to protect Moccasin Bend.
The latest step in the lengthy process -- funded by a federal grant secured by U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Chattanooga -- saw citizens working to distill the ideas gathered from previous hearings into concrete alternatives.
Poring over maps and scribbling on flip charts in meeting rooms at the Trade Center, people struggled to identify and reconcile the myriad of competing interests that complicate any effort to protect the Bend.
"This is where the rubber begins to meet the road," said Mike Spratt, a Park Service planning team member.
Landowners and business people, American Indians and Civil War buffs, environmentalists and advocates for recreation all wanted to make sure their voices are heard.
And there aren't any easy answers.
Advocates of a national park, like the group Friends of Moccasin Bend, favor federal protection for cultural and natural resources on the 956 acres proposed for a park -- and the tax dollars to make it happen.
But that power works both ways; decisions about the site would be made in Washington, D.C., and local input, if any, would be only advisory. Some worry that the Bend would suffer if Congress, as it has in the past, slashes funding for parks.
And a national park wouldn't allow "incompatible uses." That means the state mental hospital, the police pistol range, the model-airplane flying field and the golf course would have to go -- and each of those has a constituency that wants to see them stay.
The long and rich history of American Indian cultures on the site suggests to some that the land be given back to them.
But representatives from eight independent Creek and Cherokee nations, who were in Chattanooga for the workshop, said that idea needs a lot of work -- beginning with a decision on which tribes might take ownership.
While the native people want the village and burial sites protected, the tribes don't necessarily want the burden and cost of taking over the site.
"We can't help it that we live somewhere else but the bones of our ancestors are here," said Corkey Allen, representing the Kialegee Tribal Town of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. "That's taking on a lot of responsibility."
Added Joyce Bear of the Creek Nation, "It is an alternative; whether it's a serious alternative I don't know. We'll have to take it back to our tribes."
Each of the four alternatives that emerged from the process has pluses and minuses, and that's the way it's supposed to be, said planning team members.
Using the information developed this week, the team will flesh out the alternatives with facts -- what's doable, what it will take, how much it will cost -- and come back to Chattanooga this fall with a draft plan that will eventually be given to Congress for a funding decision.
"We want to present viable alternatives that have a good chance of success," said Pat Reed, superintendent of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park and leader of the planning team.
"Everybody has a common goal of preserving and protecting Moccasin Bend -- it's just how we get down that road to do that."
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