Pipestone NM, Final General Management Plan

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Pipestone National Monument · Minnesota Final General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement Pipestone National Monument Draft General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement PIPESTONE NATIONAL MONUMENT Pipestone County, Minnesota This General Management Plan / Environmental Impact use of the Three Maidens area would be unchanged. The Statement describes four alternatives for the future Hiawatha Club would continue to use the Three Maidens management of Pipestone National Monument. The as a backdrop for its pageant under permit restrictions, approved plan will guide the management of the national and the area would be restored to prairie. Sun Dances monument for the next 15 to 20 years. It will establish a would continue, but modifications of use might be made direction for managing cultural and natural resources, on the basis of impact and the sustainability of resources. the visitor experience, and American Indian cultural use Quarries would continue to be allocated by permit. so that future opportunities and problems can be Razing the visitor center would cause a major adverse addressed effectively. effect on a historic structure and one historic cultural landscape. Removal of the structures will be addressed in The Draft General Management Plan / Environmental Im- consultation with the State Historic Preservation Office. pact Statement identified alternative 3 as the preferred alternative. As a result of public comment on that Alternative 2 would focus on the significance of the document, the National Park Service reconsidered its pipestone quarries, the quarrying process, and its preferred alternative in light of substantial comment and importance in American Indian culture. The entry road consultation with American Indian tribes. Accordingly, and housing for a law enforcement ranger would be alternative 1 is now the preferred alternative. unchanged. Sun Dances would be discontinued, and the Pipestone National Monument protects quarries of area would be restored to tallgrass prairie. This would pipestone (catlinite) that have been used by American decrease compaction and allow remnant prairie to Indians since prehistoric times. Pipestone is carved into recover. The bridge below Winnewissa Falls would be objects, most notably pipes, for use in sacred rituals. The replaced downstream, removing a restriction to the quarries remain sites of sacred importance to American creek’s natural flow. The National Park Service would Indians. The national monument also contains examples acquire the Pipestone Indian School superintendent’s of remnant prairie types, some globally threatened, and house, the school district parcel, and the Pipestone two federally listed species, one threatened and one Wildlife Management Area, adding 116 acres of wildlife endangered. habitat and resulting in an overall increase of about 112 acres of restored prairie, a long-term major beneficial Issues of concern in the plan include sensitivity to and effect. Acquiring the USFWS/ MDNR land would interpretation of American Indian practices and tra- expand visitors’ opportunities to learn about cultural and ditions associated with the quarries and sacred sites, natural resources and prairie restoration. American inadequate facilities, external threats to the national Indian ceremonial use of the Three Maidens would be monument’s integrity from development along or visible unchanged. The Hiawatha Club would continue to use from its boundaries, and preserving the superintendent’s the Three Maidens as a backdrop for its pageant under house of the former Pipestone Indian School (outside the permit restrictions. The visitor center would be national monument). rehabilitated, and measures would be taken to protect it against flooding. The Pipestone Indian School The no-action alternative would continue the current superintendent’s house would be rehabilitated and management of Pipestone National Monument. interpreted to explain its relationship to the national Maintenance, the visitor center, trails, the entry road, and monument and the Indian school phenomenon in parking would be unchanged, as would onsite housing general. for a law enforcement ranger. American Indian ceremonial use of The Three Maidens rock formation Alternative 3 would focus on the improvement of would be unchanged, as would use by the Hiawatha Club existing facilities and conditions without a major change as a backdrop for its annual pageant. No land would be in operations. The visitor center would be rehabilitated acquired. Adverse effects on floodplains would continue, to better accommodate visitor services, exhibits, and if flooding occurred there could be some danger to American Indian demonstrators, the cooperating visitors and employees. association, and national memorial staff. The museum collections would be moved within the visitor center to a Alternative 1 is the new preferred alternative. The location out of the floodplain. The use of the Three alternative would reduce the development in the heart of Maidens by American Indians and the Hiawatha Club the national monument, preserving its setting, site would continue as in alternative 2. Sun Dances would be history, and spiritual significance as the source of permitted, but modifications of use might be made. The pipestone. The visitor center and parking area would be bridge below Winnewissa Falls would be replaced removed, enabling visitors to see the site much as it downstream, removing a restriction to the creek’s natural appeared prehistorically and to sense its significance to flow. The National Park Service would acquire the American Indians. The national monument would school district parcel and would seek a cooperative acquire a parcel of school district land to the northeast agreement to coordinate management of the and would seek a cooperative agreement with the U.S. USFWS/MDNR wildlife management area. The National Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Minnesota Park Service would not acquire the Pipestone Indian Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) to School superintendent’s house but would seek to assist coordinate management of the 100-acre Pipestone with preservation and interpretation. Wildlife Management Area. American Indian ceremonial ______________________________________________________________________________ United States Department of the Interior • National Park Service SUMMARY INTRODUCTION ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED This General Management Plan / Environ- Key management issues are summarized in mental Impact Statement is intended to define five questions, called decision points. The a direction for the management of Pipestone decision points helped define the manage- National Monument for the next 15 to 20 ment alternatives that are described and years. The approved plan will provide a evaluated in this draft general management framework for making decisions about man- plan. The decision points ask aging cultural and natural resources, the visitor experience, and American Indian cultural • How can the national monument use so that future opportunities and problems accommodate American Indian uses and can be addressed effectively. The plan will interests while managing for cultural and prescribe the resource conditions and visitor natural resource values? experiences to be achieved according to law, policy, regulations, public expectations, and • To what degree will affiliated tribes and the national monument’s purpose, signifi- the National Park Service collaborate to cance, and special mandates. interpret the history, culture, and artistic heritage of the Plains Indians? General management plans are intended to be long-term documents that establish and ar- • How can the national monument preserve ticulate a management philosophy and frame- cultural resources and natural resources work for decision making and problem solv- while providing effective visitor services? ing in units of the national park system. • To what degree can the national Pipestone National Monument protects active monument respond more effectively to quarries of pipestone (catlinite) that have been external activities, concerns, and threats? used by American Indians from prehistoric times to the present. The pipestone is carved • To what extent should facilities be into objects, most notably pipes, for personal expanded to accommodate current or or ceremonial use. The quarries remain a site future uses, and what type of management of spiritual importance to American Indians. actions might be desirable to better manage the flow of visitors in various Besides the quarries, the national monument facilities and areas of the national contains examples of remnant prairie types monument at one time? that have been lost elsewhere in the plains states. The area also is significant in the his- ALTERNATIVES AND EFFECTS tory of American botany. This document analyzes the current condi- The planning team evaluated the potential tions and three alternatives for the appro- consequences that the actions of each alter- priate levels of service and use at Pipestone native would have on cultural and natural National Monument. resources, the visitor experience, and socio- economic resources. The beneficial or adverse The Draft General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement identified effects were categorized as either short term alternative 3 as the preferred alternative. As a or long term, and their intensity was rated as result of public comment on that document, negligible,

Load more