MuskogeePhoenix.com, Muskogee, OK

Homepage

Discussion

November 4, 2011

National recognition

Honey Springs Battlefield in Checotah may soon become national park

By Wendy Burton Phoenix Staff Writer

— Those involved in the Honey Springs Battlefield in Checotah are delighted by the prospect of the location becoming a national park.

The U.S. Department of Interior published a media release Friday regarding a 50-state report for President Obama's America's Great Outdoors Initiative.

The report, to be released in two weeks, proposes to make two areas in each state a national park, and Honey Springs is one of the two chosen sites in Oklahoma.

John Garrett, president of the Checotah Chamber of Commerce, said he wasn't aware of the announcement, but said a new 5,000-square-foot visitor center is already in the works.

“I’m sure it’s just going to make tourism explode in our town,” Garrett said.

Kathy Dickson, director of museums and historic sites for the Oklahoma Historical Society, which manages the site, said she's not yet sure what the announcement means for Honey Springs Battlefield, but she has received a follow-up e-mail from the Department of the Interior.

It said a park service person will be assigned to each site in the Great Outdoors initiative within the next 30 days, she said.

“We’re encouraged by the announcement and looking forward to working with the National Park Service and Department of Interior any way we can,” Dickson said.

The site will postpone for at least 30 days hiring a full-time director as was planned. The greater impact, Dickson said, is the national recognition the site will gain and an increase in tourism for the area.

Emmy Stidham, also with the Chamber of Commerce, said everyone involved in the historic site has been hoping it would someday become a national park.

“I think its a wonderful surprise for all of us,” Stidham said.

The July 1863 Engagement at Honey Springs at the historic site was the largest of battles in Indian Territory, according to OHS.

There were approximately 9,000 men involved in the battle, which included the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers, which was the first black regiment in the Union Army.

The OHS has worked for many years to help the site become a national park, Dickson said.

About 15 years ago, Washita Battlefield in Cheyenne, which was under OHS, became a national park.

OHS tried to get Honey Springs to become a part of the National Park Service at the time as well, she said, but was unable to.

The other site named in the upcoming report is the 141-mile-long Blue River, one of Oklahoma’s few remaining free-flowing rivers that lies within jurisdictional boundaries of the Chickasaw Nation and is also part of the Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer.

Friday's release said the Department of the Interior will work with each of its key bureaus — including the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — to direct available resources and personnel to make both Oklahoma projects a reality.

Reach Wendy Burton at (918) 684-2926 or wburton@muskogeephoenix.com.

Text Only
Local News

Sports

OU & OSU Sports
Features

Opinion

Fort Gibson

Things to Do

Oklahoma News