Alabama: Space Simulator
(Huntsville)

Arizona: Holbrook Interchange
(Woodruff Butte)

California: Gold Mine (Imperial County)

Colorado: KMM
Parking Structure
(Black Hawk)

Connecticut: New London Train Station

Washington, DC: World War II Memorial

Georgia: Federal Courthouse (Savannah)

Hawaii: Ewa Villages (Honolulu)

Minnesota/
Wisconsin: Stillwater
Lift Bridge

Montana: Military Entrance Processing Station (Butte)

New Mexico:
El Rancho Electric Substation

Ohio: Buffington Island Sand and Gravel Mine

Pennsylvania: Gettysburg National Military Park

Virginia/Maryland: Woodrow Wilson Bridge

The Council is continuing to work with the Corps of Engineers, the Ohio State Historic Preservation Officer, and other interested parties on provisions that could be included in any Memorandum of Agreement executed for this project. Mitigation under discussion includes “battlefield archeology” studies of the Buffington Island battlefield and test excavations at many of the prehistoric archeological sites that also would be destroyed by the proposed mining operations.

Background

The Huntington District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is reviewing a permit application for development of a sand and gravel mine and barge loading facility at Buffington Island on the Ohio River, the site of Ohio’s only Civil War battlefield. The developers own approximately 500 acres where the cavalry battle took place in July 1863. This will be destroyed in the mining operations. Only about four acres of the battlefield are now protected as a State historic site.

In February, the Corps held a public meeting in the town of Pomeroy, in southeastern Ohio near the battlefield. Approximately 200 citizens attended the meeting, and virtually all were adamantly opposed to the planned mining operation. Veterans groups, Civil War organizations, and private citizens whose ancestors fought at Buffington Island spoke out against the project. Council staff attended the meeting and discussed Federal agency responsibilities under Section 106. Representatives of the Meigs County Historical Society and the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Chicago office also attended the public meeting.

Policy Highlights

This case illustrates two current and interrelated preservation issues. First is the question of Civil War battlefield preservation. Development continues to encroach upon many significant Civil War sites. The second issue illustrated by this case involves the role of a Federal agency in regulating actions taking on private lands. While Buffington Island is Ohio’s only Civil War battlefield, it is private land and is scheduled to be developed with private funds. The only Federal action is issuance of the Corps permit, which limits the ability of the Federal Government to promote preservation of the site through the Section 106 process.

Staff contact: Tom McCulloch