The article copied below was published in Chattanooga's online newspaper, chattanoogan.com, this week. Please read it and help in any way you can: letters to the editor and/or calls to your congressmen and senators requesting them to intervene are both GREAT ways to assist in saving the viewshed of the Park's Bragg Reservation unit on historic Missionary Ridge. Use the Contact Us feature on this web site if you need more information from the Friends. We are working hard to try and stop this tower from being built in the center of the view from Bragg Reservation!



Photo: The orange balloon in this January 2007 photo shows where a proposed 150-foot cell tower will intrude into the viewshed of Bragg Reservation on Missionary Ridge, where the seige of Chattanooga was broken in 1863, opening the lower South to the Union Army and hastening the end of the Civil War. Click on the photo to enlarge it, then click on your browser's 'back' arrow to return to the story.  read more (980 words)

Runners, walkers and volunteers are invited to the Chickamauga Battlefield unit of the Park this Saturday morning, April 14th, for the 39th running of The Chickamauga Chase road race. The Chase is the oldest and largest event sponsored annually by the Chattanooga Track Club. It includes a 15k main event, 5k race and Scenic Walk for individuals and families (strollers and baby joggers welcome for the Walk!). Proceeds benefit Friends of the Park, and IcyHot is the presenting sponsor.  read more (154 words)

Members of Friends of the Park have an unprecedented opportunity between now and May 31, 2007, to let the National Park Service hear their vision of what Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park should be like in the future. Public feedback on the NPS' Centennial Initiative is being actively sought at www.nps.gov/2016 as part of the government's planning for a decade-long celebration that will culminate in the national parks' 100th anniversary in 2016. Interested Friends are also invited to contact their U.S. congressional representatives and senators to demonstrate their support for sweeping Centennial Initiative legislation that will position America's national parks -- including Chickamauga and Chattanooga -- for their second hundred years.  read more (787 words)

Superintendent Shawn Benge invites the public to celebrate Women’s History Month with "Generations of Women Moving History Forward," a series of events at the Chickamauga Battlefield.   read more (298 words)

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne and National Park Service Director Mary Bomar will host a National Parks Centennial Initiative Listening Session from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday evening, March 13, 2007 in the multi-purpose gathering room at Great Smoky Mountains National Park Maintenance Area in Gatlinburg, TN. The Park Service is seeking public suggestions on a ten-year initiative that will culminate in the celebration of the Park System's centennial in 2016.  read more (198 words)

The Friends of Moccasin Bend, sister organization of Friends of the Park, invite the public to join Jim Ogden, chief historian of Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park, for a walking tour on the Park's Moccasin Bend unit. The tour will take place Saturday, March 3, beginning at 2 PM from the Model Airplane Field on Pineville Road on the Bend. It will explore Civil War fortifications that were key to the resolution of the Battles for Chattanooga in 1863.





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In early December of 2006, Friends of the Park learned that a commercial developer was applying for a license to build a 150-foot cell tower approximately 1000 feet from the boundary of the Park's Bragg Reservation unit on Missionary Ridge. Since then, we have been working to try and block the application, since the tower would severely and negatively impact the historic Bragg Reservation viewshed and the National Register neighborhood of Missionary Ridge. The question remains of whether or not the tower will be built, but a decision should come within the next 30 days, according to Dr. Joe Garrison of the TN State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). Garrison is heading a review of the cell tower application under Section 106 of the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act.




A January 24, 2007, study using a 5 1/2-foot diameter helium balloon to simulate the placement of a cell tower proposed for Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga showed that the historic viewshed from Bragg Reservation would be severely impacted. (Note: You can click on this photo to see a larger version. Photo courtesy of Dewayne Smith.)


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The National Park Service (NPS) Southeast Region in Atlanta has announced that Shawn T. Benge has been selected as the new Superintendent of Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park, headquartered at Fort Oglethorpe, GA, effective February 4, 2007.  read more (311 words)

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park extends an invitation to the community to join us for a seasonal Open House on Saturday, December 23, from 11:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center.


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Young visitors to Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park (CCNMP) can now take advantage of a free enrichment program that allows them to earn multiple certifications at the local Park as Junior Rangers. The program is being underwritten with funds from Friends of the Park and a Volunteer Action Grant from UBS Financial Services in response to a challenge from the National Park Foundation and Unilever, a National Parks Partner and the corporate sponsor of the national Junior Ranger program.



Above: Jeff Cronan (L), manager of the Chattanooga branch office of UBS Financial Services, Inc., congratulates Park Interpretive Specialist Rebecca Karcher (C) and Friends of the Park president John Hilbrandt (R) on the successful launch of the new Junior Ranger program for Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park. UBS provided seed funding through a Volunteer Action Grant that was matched by the Friends to qualify for a Junior Ranger grant from Unilever and the National Park Foundation.


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