Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 26, 1994                   TAG: 9407270024
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PARK SERVICE WANTS RIGHT TO TAKE BATTLE SITES

The statement by Jerry L. Rogers, the park service's associate director for cultural resources, put the agency at odds with lawmakers and valley residents pushing legislation that would create the new park. The bill would forbid the federal government from using its right to obtain land by requiring an owner to sell it.

``The bill should be amended in a manner that does not restrict our ability to acquire lands important for resource protection purposes,'' Rogers told the national parks subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee.

Some 326 battles were fought during the Civil War in the Shenandoah Valley, which stretches from Lexington northeast to Harpers Ferry, W.Va. Confederate forces, led initially by Gen. Thomas ``Stonewall'' Jackson, marauded up and down the valley in an effort to divert Northern troops from advancing on Richmond, the South's capital.

Southern forces were not ousted from the area until 1864, after a successful Northern campaign led by Gen. Philip Sheridan.

Although much of the valley remains rural, increasing portions of it are being developed commercially and residentially, threatening the remaining battlefield sites.

The measure, sponsored by Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Fairfax County, would incorporate the sites of 12 scattered Civil War battles into the new Shenandoah Valley National Battlefields.

The bill is designed to satisfy the desires of local residents, many of whom remain bitter about the way the federal government condemned property when it created Shenandoah National Park earlier this century.

The land would be acquired through voluntary donations, or by easements for use granted by landowners. To encourage this, the bill would set aside $250,000 for payments to owners.

Local governments and landowners have been insistent that the federal government not be allowed to force them to sell their land for the park.

``There will be no federal taking of local property,'' said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, who testified to the subcommittee with Wolf and Sen. John Warner, R-Va. ``That approach would be antithetical to the residents of the valley who ... are fiercely proud of their heritage, yet deeply suspicious of big government.''

The Senate approved a similar bill last month. The House national parks subcommittee hopes to write its own version of the legislation before Congress' next recess begins in mid-August.