Lost in the Woods
The Forgotten Historic Structures of Missouri's Mark Twain National Forest
By Meghan Hogan | Online Only | March 14, 2008
At Blooming Rose Girl Scout Camp, lumber scavenging has destroyed the integrity of this cabin.
Credit: Jennifer Sandy, National Trust for Historic Preservation Midwest Regional Office
A vast oasis of nature, the Mark Twain National Forest stretches across 29 counties in central and southern Missouri, including seven Congressionally-designated wildernesses, more than 350 miles of streams, and hundreds of trails. But the U.S. Forest Service acquired much of the land was acquired long after its historic structures were built, and it may have little use for them. In fact, the agency had planned to demolish 150 of its ranger stations, fire towers, and cabins.
"The Forest Service is not really in the business of actively preserving and interpreting. Their main business is really timber," Judith Deel, a Missouri State Historic Preservation Office archaeologist, points out. Deel visited the structures after the Forest Service called her office to evaluate them as part of its report on all forest assets, and says it's a tough situation. The structures, if deemed historically significant, would be saved, but they aren't, she says. "While old, they just don't have enough integrity."
Some are barely standing after years of neglect, abandonment, and even vandalism. A photo of one cabin, once part of the long-defunct Blooming Rose Girl Scout Camp, shows a structure with half of its interior missing: a victim of lumber scavenging.
Although initially reluctant, Forest management has been working with the National Trust, the Advisory Council on Historic Places, and the Missouri State Historic Preservation Office to consider alternatives to demolition or removal from federal ownership
Sounding the Alarm
Two years ago, when a U.S. Forest Service employee called the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Barn Again! program about donating a historic barn located in Missouri's Mark Twain National Forest, the Trust knew there was a problem, since the program is aimed at restoring barns, not offloading them. "The barn was just the tip of the iceberg," says Amy Cole, senior program officer for the Mountains-Plains Office of the National Trust, which in June named the mark Twain National Forest one of America's Most Endangered Historic Places.
The problem: the U.S. Forest Service has devised a program for the 1.5-million-acre forest that could lead to the demolition of up to 70 historic structures. Created in 2005, the plan calls for downsizing the forest's 53 recreational spaces to 30; instead of 36 campgrounds there will be 22; just 25 picnic areas instead of 41, and 38 trailheads rather than 51. And many of the national forest's historic structures, including fire ranger stations, mills, and various campground complexes located on those grounds could soon be marshmallows for the campfire.
"We only maintain the buildings that we use for administrative offices or recreational purposes," says Kris Swanson, spokeswoman for the forest. As the plan points out, the deferred maintenance costs for the forest keep going up, so it makes sense that they are looking to cut costs where they can.
But the National Trust says the federal agency has favored the construction of new facilities rather than trying to renovate or reuse what it already has, ignoring federal mandates that require agencies to both care for and minimize damage to historic resources in their possession. "The main issues for us are Section 106 and 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act," Cole says. (Over the past decade, the National Trust has given grants to the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the Forest Service totaling $146,000.)
Ava Ranger Station in Mark Twain National Forest, Ava, Missouri
Credit: Jennifer Sandy, National Trust for Historic Preservation Midwest Regional Office
Citizen Builders
One thing the structures have on their side is history. After President Roosevelt established the forest in 1939 in Mark Twain's birth state, hundreds of unemployed men began building its many roads and facilities through the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) program Roosevelt had created six years earlier to ease the country out of the Depression. "They are a huge value to us as Americans because they stand for our rising above the Depression," says Joan Sharpe, president of the Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy organization.
Nationwide, the CCC program was responsible for millions of jobs, the building of 800 state parks, and eventually, despite its disbanding in 1942, the creation of today's 113 Service and Conservation Corps. However, according to Sharpe, there isn't really that much understanding or appreciation of the program and what it did for this country. "It's not mainstream history, but it should be," she says.
That's one of the reasons for its appearance on the 11 Most Endangered List. Another key factor is that forest downsizing is taking place across the country.
"The buildings in jeopardy in Mark Twain National Forest exemplify a national problem: lack of funding for the stewardship of historic places on federal lands," said National Trust for Historic Preservation President Richard Moe, of the listing.
Fee or Free?
The absence of funding isn't new; many preservationists and outdoor enthusiasts have been especially angered over that since the late 1990s, when the agency instituted a recreation fee for all forest visitors. "Out West, it's a huge issue because the national forests are your back yard," says Kitty Benzar, president of the Western Slope No-Fee Coalition, one of several groups trying to restore free access to the forests.
Benzar has documented the Facilities Master Plans scheduled for more than 30 forests, a spreadsheet filled with a complex assortment of numbers and percentages, among them: 605 sites to be removed, 567 sites whose capacity will be reduced, and 132 sites whose service will be limited. Opponents argue that, if anything, a fee to use public land should mean increased, not reduced or limited, services. After years of campaigning against fees, a couple of senators are now listening. A new bill, the Fee Repeal and Expanded Access Act of 2007, was recently introduced, and if passed, could mean an end to some of the charges.
Power of the People
It looks as though public campaigning is ultimately what might save the structures inside Mark Twain National Forest, which collects $70,000 each year in fees for use of its ATV and motorcycle trails. The National Trust, in addition to suggesting that the Forest Service renovate some of the structures into rental properties, urges citizens to contact the agency and voice their concerns. Sharpe thinks finding groups to partnership with the Forest Service and providing money could also be the start of a solution. Highlighting the importance of CCC sites to the public through programs such as Adopt-A-Forest and National Public Lands Day could also make a difference in finding funding for their restoration, not just at Mark Twain but at forests across the country.
"People might have to just do the grassroots thing," Sharpe says, adding that she thinks the Forest Service is doing as much as they can, given that they receive no funding for cultural resources, unlike the National Park Service.
She hopes people start doing it soon, however. This year marks 75 years since the CCC program was initiated–not long in the scope of history, but long enough, considering that the actual CCC members are now between 85 and 100 years old, and time is running out for them to tell their story. "The precedence of CCC history is now coming to the forefront," Sharpe says.
Meghan Hogan is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C.
Comments
Submitted by Pat at: April 28, 2008
Good luck. I hope you can get them to save the structures. All history is important to our future.
Submitted by Kerry McGrath at: March 23, 2008
Your article regarding the Mark Twain National Forest is disturbing. In part because of the threat to cultural resources within MTNF lands but also because of what was not covered or explored. When I was with the Center for Archaeological Research, Missouri State University, we did a great deal of work for the MTNF locating prehistoric and historic archaeological sites as well historic period buildings, structures and objects, as well as undertaking mitigation of resources threatened by MTNF projects. There were several archaeologists on the staff of the MTNF. In addition, the MTNF maintains an excellent archive of documents, maps, and photographs relating to the history and prehistory of the Missouri Ozark region. I am curious as to why you never mentioned this. What will be the impact on archaeological properties? Aren't they as important as standing structures? Why did you not interview the forest archaeologist? Judith Deel is the the Missouri Historic Preservation Office, what plans do they have regarding preservation of cultural resources within the Forest? Why did you not talk to someone from the Missouri Preservation Trust or to James Denny, Missouri State Parks historian, or Lynn Morrow with the State Archives, both are well acquainted with the cultural resources in the MTNF. I appreciate your bringing this issue, which apparently applies to all of the National Forest holdings. However, an article of this type would be greatly improved and much more useful if experts and key players had been interviewed. Also missing from the article was a solid and clear discussion of action steps that the public and preservationists might take. The paragraph regarding free access or fees was really ambiguous and unclear. Good luck in you future efforts. .