Working for the National Park Service (Cont'd) > Page 1,
2
Q. Dennis, I understand that
one of your responsibilities involves the
National Park Service Diving Control Board. What is its purpose?
The NPS has had an active dive program for many decades. Park divers participate in diving for a wide number of reasons,
including maintenance of facilities, resource & cultural management,
recovery, law enforcement, interpretation, etc.
|
The USS Arizona Memorial straddles the
sunken hull of the battleship USS Arizona
(HI), commemorating the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The underwater ship
hull was surveyed by the National Park Service
courtesy of National Park Service
Each Regional Director is responsible for designating a Regional Dive Officer (RDO)
who is responsible for that region's
overall diving management program. The
RDO also serves as the regional representative on the NPS
Diving Control Board (DCB). Regional
Directors and park managers will provide the RDO with information necessary to
meet Departmental and Servicewide reporting requirements.
The
DCB is charged with administrative oversight of the servicewide diving safety
program and will ensure compliance with OSHA, Departmental and NPS policies
and procedures. The DCB also
ensures proper training and certification of all NPS diving programs and
development and maintenance of a diving information management system.
Q.
I was surprised to learn recently about all the underwater areas that
are actually administered
by the NPS. How does NPS attempt to strike a balance between protecting
submerged natural and cultural resources and providing recreational diving for
park visitors?
I'm glad you asked because this is
one of the more fascinating programs that the NPS is involved in.
A SCUBA diver visiting the underwater resources managed by the NPS is
no different than a hiker visiting an alpine meadow in a mountain national
park. However, the saying
"take
only pictures, leave only footprints" might change to “take only
memories, leave only bubbles”. The bigger problem lies in determining what
our submerged cultural resources are and which of those resources are at risk.
| "It is probable that a greater number of monuments of the skill and industry of
man will, in the course of the ages, be collected together in the bed of the
ocean than will exist at any other time on the surface of the continents."
(Charles Lyell 1797-1875) |
With increasing awareness of America's
underwater cultural resources, employees of the National Park Service began in
the 1960's to investigate shipwrecks with
SCUBA equipment, and to document their locations and condition. This activity
accelerated in the 1970's as park managers became
increasingly aware of the richness and importance of these submerged
resources. In 1980 this effort was formalized within the Submerged Cultural
Resources Unit, staffed by professional underwater archaeologists, technicians
and other professionals to provide the National Park System with the necessary
expertise.
Its
major roles include:
- Inventory,
mapping and assessment of underwater cultural resources in the National
Park System.
- Development
of plans for management, preservation and recreational use of submerged cultural resources.
- Coordination
with other agencies on submerged resources throughout U.S. Territories.
- Development
of resource models designed to meet requirements of agency managers.
- Work
with professional and sport diving organizations regarding submerged
cultural resources in national park areas.
- International
cooperation with other countries on similar resource problems
- Develop
GIS-based, integrated cultural and natural resource data to be utilized at the
park level
for survey, inventory and evaluation.
To
expand its capability, the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit works extensively
with other institutions. In a project with the U.S. Navy, the Unit has
surveyed the U.S.S. Arizona and U.S.S.
Utah sites a Pearl Harbor, and has begun to locate and map ships and
planes in Palau and in the War in the Pacific Historical Park in
Guam. And in
a joint effort with the Ocean Sciences Research Institute, the Unit is
developing a stabilization plan for the H.M.S.
Fowey site in Biscayne National
Park, and is surveying the numerous
historic shipwrecks in Dry Tortugas National
Park. The National Geographic
Society has provided robotic equipment for deep, unmanned dives off Isle
Royale National Park in Lake Superior, and the U.S. Coast Guard provides
logistic support both in the Great Lakes and on the coast(s).
|
Fort Jefferson, the largest of the
19th century American coastal forts is part
of Dry Tortugas National Park, located 70 miles west of Key West (FL). The
reefs and shoals surrounding the fort are the site of hundreds of shipwrecks.
courtesy of National Park Service
For more than half of its history, America was explored and settled, and its
commerce was conducted almost solely by ships. By galleon, bark and shallop. .
. by sloop and brigantine. . . the New World was explored, and the peoples of
the Old World engaged in the greatest migration in human history. Inevitably,
there were losses of ships to storms and coastlines, to war and accident. Each
wreck became a time capsule, and each added itself and sometimes its contents
to the accumulating history of mankind buried by sand and water. These
features lay largely unattended and forgotten, until new technologies
permitted access to them and brought renewed awareness of what exists beneath
the waves. This new accessibility also brought the curious and the treasure
seekers, and inevitably, a loss of knowledge about America'
s
past.
Hundreds
of these sites lie within areas managed by the National Park Service. In all,
59 parks have identified important submerged cultural resources within their
boundaries creating
an underwater realm the size of Yellowstone National Park. And more are
discovered every year. The
documentation and protection of these resources is an enormous undertaking.
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