ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 3, 1997 TAG: 9704030049
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: GETTYSBURG, PA.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Current funds cannot protect the largest and most-visited of the nation's Civil War parks.
Gray-green mildew streaks the leather flap of an Union Army cartridge pouch; ``red rot'' crumbles another in the steel storage drawer. Rust spots pock muskets and swords, warning of worse to come.
Out on Cemetery Ridge, where Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address a few months after the battle, a monument to one of the Union artillery units that pounded the Confederate soldiers of Pickett's Charge is eroded to a mere marble knob, its inscription obliterated by acid rain.
As park rangers at the Gettysburg National Military Park brace for the seasonal onset of more than 1.7 million visitors, an important part of Civil War heritage is disintegrating.
Some call it the Second Battle of Gettysburg - and this time both sides are losing.
Park officials, led by Superintendent John Latschar, say they face overwhelming odds in their struggle to preserve and protect this park, scene of the epic three-day battle in July 1863 in which 51,000 men were killed, wounded or captured.
They say current funds are not enough to stop the deterioration of many of the 400 cannons and 1,300 monuments and statues scattered about the 5,900-acre battlefield park, the largest and most-visited of the nation's 24 Civil War parks.
And at a time when the National Park Service faces a maintenance backlog of nearly $6 billion at 374 parks, from Yosemite to Independence Hall, there's little hope for significantly more money any time soon.
``I'm behind, and I don't think I'll ever catch up,'' says Gettysburg's Chief Ranger Brion Fitzgerald. ``We're past the point of irreparable damage. We're barely keeping our noses above water.''
The catalog of deficiencies is seemingly endless.
Crumbling under acid rain's corrosion is the cast-zinc memorial to the 4th Ohio Infantry on Cemetery Ridge. The soldier statue and shaft have been put in storage to preserve them, but cracks all over the stub of the memorial make it vulnerable to the weather.
The deterioration includes some of the park's more than 100 historic buildings, which are in terrible condition and have no fire-detection or suppression equipment, says Ranger Katie Lawhon, a park spokeswoman.
Paul Philipoteaux's vast (356 feet by 26 feet) 1884 Cyclorama painting of Pickett's Charge is in a building specially built for it in 1962. Water stains, peeling paint and cracked plaster show that the roof leaks. Ripples in the canvas are the result of frequent climate changes which put great strain on the painting and will lead eventually to separation of paint from canvas, says Ranger Scott Hartwig, who estimated that conservation could cost about $5 million.
Meanwhile, arms and artifacts deteriorate in cramped storage cubicles that lack temperature and humidity controls. Less than 10 percent of the 40,000-object collection is on display at a time.
``You could hang meat in here,'' Ranger Michael Vice, the curator, says as he opens one room. ``It's too cold and too moist.''
That Gettysburg has sunk to the present level of deterioration ``is a national disgrace that wants - indeed, demands - congressional action at the highest level,'' says Walter Powell, president of the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association.
Gettysburg's problems go beyond maintenance, park officials say. Last year, because of staff cutbacks, Gettysburg denied 25 percent of requests for intensive student tours.
Staff cuts also have curtailed researchers' access to the library and the archives. To help make up for staff shortages, volunteers created an 80-member Citizens Park-Watch Patrol last April to counter vandalism.
``The staff is asked to do more, on a continual basis,'' says Fitzgerald, the chief ranger. ``But I'm not going to do more with less by abusing my staff.''
Park officials say their demands for more money are hardly extravagant.
Gettysburg superintendent Latschar noted that the Park Service budget is $1.6 billion - less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the federal budget - for all 374 parks, including the big natural parks as well as cultural and historic sites.
``If the public at large knew the status of the National Park Service,'' he argues, ``the majority would be willing to double the tax dollars that go to it.''
``Gettysburg's budget for 1997 is $3,513,000, which means that for every $100,000 you pay in taxes, Gettysburg gets 21 cents,'' says Latschar.
But it seems unlikely that Congress will open its purse wider. That means the public and corporate America will be asked for more help, says Latschar.
Private help is the only practical option, says Vickie Greenlee, executive director of Friends of the National Parks at Gettysburg, a 16,000-member education and lobbying group. People are getting the message, she says, that places like Gettysburg are in big trouble and need help.
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