Schoolhouse Ridge Land Preserved At Harpers Ferry
By Deborah Fitts
HARPERS FERRY, W. Va.

Making his change of heart official, U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) created new legislation in early June that would not only reverse his plan to convert 327 acres at Harpers Ferry into a firearms training center, but would award management of the property to the National Park Service (NPS).

Don Campbell, superintendent of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, cited "quite an outpouring from citizens across the U.S. to save Schoolhouse Ridge" as a significant factor in Byrd's change of heart.

Byrd had quietly introduced the transfer into a Senate appropriations bill for the Agriculture Department. When preservationists with the Harpers Ferry Conservancy stumbled on it, a wave of critical press ensued.

Byrd caved in to the pressure, scrapping his plan to transfer ownership of the tract from Interior to the Treasury Department, for use in training by the U.S. Customs Service. His legislation, which at presstime was expected to receive speedy passage, has the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service retaining ownership, and further directs that NPS assume management of the property through a Memorandum of Agreement.

The land comprises a significant portion of historic Schoolhouse Ridge, where Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson masterminded the siege and capture of the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry in September 1862. The 327 acres is part of a long-contemplated 1200-acre proposed expansion of the park.

Since the Fish & Wildlife tract "represents all of Jackson's right flank," said Campbell, "and the senator has preserved it, it was his final action that saved the history at Harpers Ferry."

Thanks to NPS's new role on the property, Campbell added, "We'll have trails there and wayside exhibits, and we'll see that the public enjoys the history of Schoolhouse Ridge."

Byrd is still setting aside 30 acres that Treasury will lease from Fish & Wildlife for the Customs Service, of which Campbell said about 5 acres will be devoted to the $25 million facility. Finding 30 acres of "nonhistoric" land will be "not a problem," he said.

Byrd also included in his legislation a requirement that the park conduct "outreach" to assess local sentiment regarding the park's proposed expansion. The park has been seeking Byrd's support for a dozen years to introduce the boundary expansion in Congress.

Campbell said he was awaiting the wording of the legislation "to see specifically what it directs NPS to do. Then we'll fashion some kind of outreach into the community." Campbell noted that the park has been working to educate the community regarding the expansion for 12 years, so the outreach will not involve more of the same. Rather, he said, it will be "a way of giving the citizens of the com-munity input into whether they favor preserving Schoolhouse Ridge or not."

"If it helps clarify a consensus, then it will be helpful. I believe there is a consensus now but it may not be clear." Preservationists at Harpers Ferry have expressed concern that development interests have Byrd's ear. Campbell pointed to a public hearing last November that drew more than 225 people Ü "the largest outpouring of citizens on any issue in Jefferson County" Ü at which only one person opposed park expansion.

"We'll try to determine how wide and deep the support is and report back to the senator," Campbell said. The park would start the process "fairly soon," he said, but he could not predict when it would be completed.

Campbell attended a meeting called by Byrd in early June to bring the players together, including representatives of the park, conservation groups in Harpers Ferry, and Customs, along with Jefferson County officials, Assistant Inte-rior Secretary John Berry, and NPS Director Robert Stanton. Byrd outlined to the group his changed plans.

The majority of the park's planned 1200-acre expansion lies on Schoolhouse Ridge, where 712 acres Ü including Byrd's 327 Ü are already preserved.

Campbell pointed to a 475-acre donation on Loudoun Heights earlier this year; combined with Byrd's action, "It's tremendous," he said.

"I've spent my adult life working in the area of conservation," Campbell said, and he could hardly remember a bet-ter one-two punch. "Our job isn't over, but this has been a good year for Harpers Ferry."