The National Park Service (NPS) is investing more than $2 million to preserve several historic battlefields. Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and Virginia will receive the funding to protect approximately 238 total acres, according to a July 27 news release.
“We are proud to help these state organizations and their partners to preserve and protect the irreplaceable historic and cultural landscapes in their communities through local stewardship of these hallowed grounds,” NPS Director Charles Sams said in the release.
The funded projects are guided by state and local governments "to protect significant battlefield landscapes that are vital to the shared history of their communities and the nation," the release stated.
"The Land and Water Conservation Fund, which reinvests revenue from offshore oil and natural gas leasing to help strengthen conservation and recreation opportunities across the nation, makes these awards possible," the release reported.
Grant recipients are the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, $172,133.16 to preserve 4.08 acres of Chickamauga Battlefield in Catoosa County; the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, $367,926.00 for preservation of 94.5 acres at Brice’s Cross Roads Battlefield in Prentiss County and $231,805.00 for preservation of 1.5 acres at Chickasaw Bayou Battlefield in Warren County; the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, $257,605.00 for preservation of 86.36 acres at Wyse Fork Battlefield in Jones and Lenoir counties; the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, $429,372.50 for preservation of 7.36 acres at Cedar Mountain Battlefield in Culpeper County, $605,750 for preservation of 41 acres at Malvern Hill Battlefield in Henrico County, and $153,464.87 for preservation of three acres at Reams Station Battlefield in Dinwiddie County, the release said.
The American Battlefield Protection Program awarded $2,218,056 in Battlefield Land Acquisition grants to further preserve seven Civil War battlefields. The Land Acquisition grant program is one of several administered by the ABPP. Eligibility depends on several criteria, including half of the land must be within the boundary of a battlefield from the Revolutionary War, Civil War or the War of 1812, but outside the National Park Service’s legislative boundaries. Grants also require a dollar-for-dollar match for the acquisition.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, the release stated. This grant opportunity was posted Dec. 30, 2022, and closes Dec. 31, 2023, according to the grant opportunity listing, which notes there is an estimated $17,400,000 available for this calendar year.
Sams was sworn in as Director of the NPS Dec. 16, 2021. He is an enrolled member of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and has blood ties to the Cocopah Tribe, as well as the Yankton Sioux of Fort Peck, according to his biography with the National Park Service.
