Tule Lake Unit of World War II Valor in the Pacifi c National Monument

General Management Plan Newsletter # 1 Public Scoping, Summer 2013

Mary Higuchi, , Series 7: Recess Time

You’re Invited to a Workshop! A Message from the Superintendent See details on page 10

Dear Friends,

You are invited to join us in charting the future of the Tule Lake Unit of World War We are especially fortunate to be guided in the planning process by the invaluable II Valor in the Pacifi c National Monument for the next 20 years. insight and inspiration of many individuals and groups closely tied to this story. We have communicated with many of you already, and we look forward to engaging The Tule Lake Unit, in rural Newell, California, preserves a landscape through new individuals and groups in the development of a comprehensive and long-term which the public can discover the impact World War II had on thousands of plan for Tule Lake. Japanese Americans, the local community, and our understanding of civil liberties for all Americans. Visitors to Tule Lake are often surprised to discover what This is your opportunity to help create a vision for the future of Tule Lake. We are occurred here, and some feel a haunting and spiritual connection to this place. asking for your help and ideas as we develop the general management plan. Start- Many believe the power of Tule Lake rests with the historical events and personal ing in June, the National Park Service will host public workshops in California, stories that unfolded here over 70 years ago. Already, the site’s designation as a Oregon, Washington, and online. We sincerely hope you will join us at one of National Historic Landmark is a tribute to the incredible stories of Tule Lake. these workshops to meet the planning team and share your ideas, concerns, and thoughts about Tule Lake. If you cannot attend a workshop, this newsletter identi- The National Park Service is dedicated to preserving the sites and stories of the fi es several other ways to provide comments and participate in the planning pro- past so we may continue to learn valuable lessons from them long into the future. cess. Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas with us at any time. While the historic buildings and landscape are evidence of the past, your help is needed in identifying how Tule Lake’s history is relevant today and how to share Your input is essential. Let us all join together in a spirit of cooperation and this history with visitors. Breathing life into the historic structures and landscape collaboration as we go forward. through fi rst-person accounts, enlightening interpretation, and improved access to the site will enable the public to more fully understand the signifi cance of Tule Sincerely, Lake’s history.

As a new unit, there is no comprehensive plan for Tule Lake, and the National Park Service faces many issues and challenges for its future management. The most overarching issues are how to interpret what occurred at Tule Lake and how to Mike Reynolds ensure that visitors have meaningful experiences at Tule Lake tied to its history. In Superintendent, Tule Lake Unit, WWII Valor in the Pacifi c National Monument addition, planning will also address the preservation of the unit’s historic features and landscapes, its internal and adjacent boundaries, and how its areas could be developed for greater public access. National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

Contacts Mike Reynolds Superintendent Tule Lake Unit and Lava Beds NM (530) 667-8101 Email: [email protected]

Anna Tamura GMP Project Manager Pacifi c West Regional Offi ce (206) 220-4157 Panoramic view of Tule Lake Segregation Center. 1946. Photographer R.H. Ross,WRA.

Mail Tule Lake Unit Tule Lake Unit of World War II Valor in P.O. Box 1240 Tulelake, CA 96134 the Pacifi c National Monument The Tule Lake Unit contains three GMP Website areas where Nikkei were incarcerated For current project information and to World War II Valor in the Pacifi c United States military and Imperial National Monument was established Japanese military. Five of these sites during World War II: provide comments online: 1) a portion of the Tule Lake http://parkplanning.nps.gov/tule by presidential proclamation on De- are located in the Pearl Harbor area cember 5, 2008 and includes nine of Hawai‘i and are largely managed by Segregation Center (44 acres), 2) The Peninsula called “Castle Tule Lake Unit Website historic sites in Hawai‘i, Alaska, and the National Park Service. Three sites California. The monument preserves are located in the Aleutian Islands of Rock”(1,293 acres), and 3) Camp For general information about the unit: Tulelake (66 acres). The Tule Lake http://www.nps.gov/tule and interprets the tangible and Alaska and are managed by the U.S. intangible historical resources Fish and Wildlife Service. The Tule Segregation Center area is owned and and the memories, attitudes, and Lake Unit is the ninth site, located administered by the National Park traditions associated with the within both Modoc and Siskiyou Service. The Peninsula and Camp Nikkei : U.S. citizens of Japanese descent December 7, 1941 attack in Hawai‘i counties, near Tulelake, CA, and Tulelake are owned by the U.S. Fish and resident immigrants of Japanese and the ensuing Pacifi c War. Eight Klamath Falls, OR. and Wildlife Service and co-managed ancestry ineligible for American sites are battle sites between the with the National Park Service.

Sites of the Tule Lake Unit incarcerees. Atop Castle Rock is a replica of the cross that was placed 1 2 there by Nikkei incarcerated at Tule The Tule Lake Segregation are essential for conveying the history The Peninsula was within the Lake before it became a segregation Center area includes the original jail, of Tule Lake. This area is a National boundary of the historic Tule Lake center. The Peninsula is managed stockade, and portions of the motor Historic Landmark and is owned Segregation Center. Originally an primarily for raptor and wildlife pool and post engineer’s yard. These and managed by the National Park island in Tule Lake, it contains an habitat. It is located in the Tule Lake features retain historic integrity and Service. 800 foot bluff called Castle Rock by National Wildlife Refuge and co- managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife To Klamath Falls, OR Oregon Service. It is closed to public access. 161 To US 97 California 3 Tulelake, CA

Camp 3 Tulelake 139 is a former (66 acres) Tulelake, CA East West Road Main See Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Enlarged East West Road Area Tulelake - Butte Valley Fairgrounds G Street camp that was established in the Museum Klamath (Tule Lake Unit 1930s. During World War II, after Basin Refuge Visitor Contact) the CCC program ended, the camp Visitor Center was used to imprison over 100 139 1 Nikkei from Tule Lake who protested Tule Lake and refused to answer the loyalty Segregation questionnaire. Center (37 acres) It was used again shortly after Tule Lake National segregation to house Nikkei Tule Lake Unit - WWII Wildlife Valor in the Pacific Refuge strikebreakers brought in from two National Monument Newell, CA other WRA camps to harvest the Historic Boundary of Segregation Center crops. The Tule Lake strikers had Hill Road 2 Modoc County Siskyou County demanded better living and working National Wildlife The Peninsula / conditions and refused to harvest. Refuge Castle Rock (Closed to Public Lava Beds National Access, 1296 acres) Monument Lava Beds Between 1944 and 1946 the camp National housed German and Italian prisoners N Monument Petroglyph of war who worked as farm laborers Lava Beds Point National in the Tule Lake Basin. 021 Monument Miles To Lava Beds Visitor Center

2 Historical Background descendants in 1974. Thirty-seven stigmatized as being “disloyal” by the acres of the Tule Lake Segregation general public and within Japanese After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, questionnaire were tempered by a Center were designated a California American communities long after President Franklin D. Roosevelt variety of personal and cultural values State Historical Landmark in 1972. World War II. Deep rifts continue issued Executive Order 9066 on and factors. Those who refused to In 1988, the Civil Liberties Act was today among individuals and organi- February 19, 1942, which allowed the answer the questionnaire or answered passed in which the U.S. government zations within the Japanese American government to forcibly remove more “no” to the loyalty questions were formally apologized to each community due to the loyalty than 110,000 Nikkei from their homes labeled “disloyal.” However, many of individual incarcerated during World questionnaire. There is strong and communities. They were rounded the so-called “disloyals” were War II. The Tule Lake Segregation consensus among scholars that Tule up, transported, and imprisoned in protesting the injustice of their forced Center was designated a National Lake’s history is the “untold story” of remote areas under primitive and confi nement and denial of civil liber- Historic Landmark in 2006. the incarceration during World War overcrowded conditions. ties. At Tule Lake over 40% of respon- Tule Lake survivors and their fam- II. dents were labeled “disloyal,” the ily members were ostracized and Tule Lake was one of the ten camps highest number of all the camps. As operated by the War Relocation a result, Tule Lake was converted to a Authority (WRA) from May 27, 1942 high-security “Segregation Center,” to March 20, 1946. It comprised beginning on July 15, 1943. Of the ten 7,400 acres and contained over 1,700 WRA camps, Tule Lake was also the structures. Tule Lake became the primary site where 6,000 Japanese largest of the ten WRA camps, with Americans renounced their U.S. a peak incarcerated population of citizenship. 18,789 people, and a total of 29,840 individuals who were incarcerated Tule Lake was the last WRA camp at Tule Lake over the lifetime of the to close, remaining in operation camp’s operation. seven months after World War II ended. The administration of the In 1943 the U.S. government center was returned to the Bureau developed a “loyalty” questionnaire of Reclamation on May 5, 1946. The that was administered to each dismantling of the segregation center incarcerated individual over the age of occurred quickly. 17, whether born in the United States Little formal preservation occured or Japan. Faced with diffi cult choices on the site until the fi rst organized with unknown consequences, each pilgrimage to Tule Lake by Japanese individual’s responses to the loyalty American survivors and their Uichi Imoto Family. 1943. Photographer: R.H. Ross, WRA.

Terminology

Relocated Residents or Prisoners? relocated and housed in protective To inform site visitors and promote to visit our website on the topic. What words accurately describe the custody, or forcibly removed from understanding of the way language http://www.nps.gov/tule/forteachers/ experience of persons of Japanese their homes and stripped of their has been used to represent, or suggestedreading.htm descent during World War II? Were freedom as prisoners in American- misrepresent, the wartime experience Japanese Americans evacuated and style gulags? of Japanese Americans, we invite you

3 What is a General Management Plan? Who Will Plan for Tule Lake’s Future?

A general management plan (GMP) aff ected and interested local and Planning for the Tule Lake Unit will be conducted by a multidisciplinary team, identifi es the overall direction for the national communities, and adjacent including staff and planners from the National Park Service and subject matter future management of a specifi c unit public land managers and private experts. The team will consult with other knowledgeable people inside and of the National Park System. GMPs landowners to ensure that the outside the NPS and with the general public. are long-range, broad, conceptual decisions made through this process plans, which answer the question, are widely supported and sustained Public involvement throughout the planning process will play an essential role in “What kind of place do we want over time. the development of this general management plan. Concerns, expectations, and this park unit to be?” A GMP guides values of all interested individuals and entities will be seriously considered and managers in making decisions and All concepts, strategies, and actions reviewed for inclusion in the plan. It is likely that most of the ideas that compose represents an agreement with the in a GMP must be consistent with the the fi nal plan will come directly from public comments. American public about how the unit unit’s purpose and signifi cance and will be managed in the future. the National Park Service’s Organic Act of 1916, providing for protection We want your ideas! The GMP for the Tule Lake Unit of the unit’s natural and cultural will describe the general path that resources while inviting appropriate the National Park Service (NPS) visitor use and enjoyment of the unit. intends to follow in managing Tule Lake over the next 20 years. The To comply with the National plan will identify desired resource Environmental Policy Act and conditions and visitor experiences NPS policy, the GMP will incude that would be appropriate for each an environmental analysis area of the unit and strategies for document, which will either be achieving those conditions. It also an environmental assessment may identify general locations for or an environmental impact certain types of development, as well statement. The GMP will include as areas where development would a reasonable range of management not be appropriate. The GMP will not alternatives. An environmental resolve all the issues facing the unit, review of the alternatives will nor will it provide detailed facility analyze the consequences of each designs or management actions, or of the alternatives identifi ed in the guarantee funding. GMP. The environmental review will aid in the identifi cation of the The GMP considers the Tule Lake preferred alternative.The public will Unit as a part of larger cultural, have the opportunity to review the ecological, and socioeconomic draft GMP, which will include the prefered alternative. At the end of the systems. This comprehensive Pilgrimage participants honor the people who were incarcerated at Tule Lake during approach includes coordination planning process, the NPS will issue World War II at the location of the historic cemetery. 2012. NPS Photo. with Tule Lake’s living survivors, a fi nal decision document and begin implementation. How Can I Be Involved in Planning for Tule Lake’s Future?

Your involvement in the planning process is critical for the successful completion of the GMP. There GMP Schedule are two time periods when you can provide formal Estimated Public Involvement comments to the National Park Service; the fi rst public Planning Activity comment period will end in October of 2013. Here are Time Frame Opportunities several ways for you to participate through this planning Public Scoping—Identify concerns, expectations, eff ort: values, and ideas related to Tule Lake • Meet the planning team • Attend a public meeting in 2013 (Scoping) and • Review the newsletter in 2015 (Draft GMP) * We are currently on this step. See times and • Participate in public meetings 2013 dates of meetings on the back page of this • Send us your ideas and comments • Access information about the GMP and newsletter. Submit comments by • Read the summary of scoping comments which provide your comments directly online at October 11, 2013 will be included in the next newsletter http://parkplanning.nps.gov/tule

• Sign up for the mailing list to receive Preliminary Alternatives—Based on public scoping, develop different possible alternatives for the unit. publications about the GMP ( www.nps.gov/ 2014 Analyze impacts of the alternatives. Select a preferred tule/parkmgmt). You can choose whether you’d alternative like to receive paper newsletters sent to your mailing address or e-newsletters sent to your Draft General Management plans detail different • Review draft GMP and summary newsletter e-mail address. 2015 alternatives, the preferred alternative, and impacts • Participate in public meetings • Complete and mail the response form included that could result from implementing the alternatives • Send us your comments on the draft GMP in this newsletter

• Send a letter to Mike Reynolds, Implement the Approved Plan—Prepare and issue a Superintendent or e-mail your comments to 2016 decision of No Signifi cant Impact and implement the • Work with the NPS to implement the plan [email protected] plan as funding allows • Telephone the Superintendent at (530) 667-8101 4 Foundfdation for the General Management Plan

The general management plan will be based on a foundation for planning and management, called a foundation document. Development of the foundation is the fi rst step in the planning process, which then guides the creation of the GMP. The foundation document comprises the following components and will be a chapter in the GMP:

• Park purpose (why the President established the park unit) • Park signifi cance statements (why the unit is important within a global, national, regional, and system-wide context) • Primary interpretive themes (statements that best summarize and describe the key stories of the park unit) • Fundamental resources and values (the tangible resources and intangible qualities that are critical to achieving the purpose and maintaining signifi cance)

The following purpose, signifi cance, and interpretive themes are in draft form. They were developed by NPS staff , scholars, and several Tule Lake subject matter experts. Please review these statements and provide any suggested revisions, changes, or additions. The full draft foundation document can be accessed at: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/tule.

Park Purpose Loyal or Disloyal Stories and Perspectives Historic Setting The Tule Lake Unit explores the The Tule Lake Unit preserves a and Resources issues of loyalty and disloyalty in mosaic of stories related to Tule The Tule Lake Basin, including the The purpose of the Tule Lake Unit, the context of a chaotic and unjust Lake War Relocation Center, Tule Tule Lake Segregation Center a part of World War II Valor in the incarceration. The government Lake Segregation Center, and National Historic Landmark and Pacifi c National Monument, is to segregated persons it deemed Camp Tulelake told from multiple Camp Tulelake, contains the largest preserve, study, and interpret the “disloyal” and subjected them to perspectives. and most diverse collection of history and setting of the special hardships that defi ne the buildings and features associated with incarceration and later segregation Tule Lake experience. Being labeled Individuals and Communities the incarceration of Nikkei during of Nikkei at Tule Lake during World “disloyal,” stigmatized individuals, The Tule Lake Unit recognizes and World War II. The Tule Lake Unit War II. families, and their descendants and interprets the diverse experiences of promotes the preservation of the had long lasting impacts in the Nikkei individuals and communities historic fabric and landscape, which Nikkei : U.S. citizens of Japanese community. aff ected by Tule Lake, including provide a greater understanding for descent and resident immigrants Nikkei incarcerated at Tule Lake, present and future generations. of Japanese ancestry ineligible for Renunciation civilian and military personnel who American citizenship. The Tule Lake Unit preserves the worked at Tule Lake, area residents, Tule Lake Landscape Park Signifi cance primary site where almost 6,000 and many more people throughout The Tule Lake Segregation Center Japanese Americans renounced the U.S. and abroad. was set within a remote and their U.S. citizenship and examines unfamiliar setting, and surrounded Injustice the context and reasons for Segregation Center by distinct land forms and vistas. The Tule Lake experience represents their renunciation. The mass The Tule Lake Unit preserves the site These environmental conditions the injustice of uprooting and renunciation at Tule Lake was the of the only contributed to an atmosphere of imprisoning 110,000 Nikkei by largestrenunciation of citizenship in center that was converted to a high isolation and harsh living conditions presidential order during World War U.S. history. security segregation center. After for Nikkei at Tule Lake. II. The Tule Lake Unit illustrates segregation, it became the most the violation of human, civil, and Relevancy populated and militarized of the World War II constitutional rights and hardships The Tule Lake Unit provides oppor- 10 WRA camps. Tule Lake may be The Tule Lake Unit represents a suff ered from forced removal and tunities for our nation to examine the the best example of what President controversial and signifi cant part incarceration. The unit off ers a history of incarceration during World Roosevelt called concentration camps of the events that took place on the compelling venue for engaging in War II and its lessons for upholding in the United States during World American home front during World a dialogue concerning racism and constitutional and human rights. War II. War II. discrimination, war hysteria, failure of political leadership, and the fragility of democracy in times of crisis.

Prisoners resting in the crowded jail. Series of photos stamped with “departure of Border guards and WRA wardens remove prisoners from the jail. 1944–1946. 200 for Santa Fe.” June 24, 1945. Photographer: R.H. Ross, WRA. Photographer: R.H. Ross, WRA.

5 Primary Interpretive Themes

Injustice Tule Lake War Relocation Center to Stories and Perspectives, Segregation Center Individuals and Communities

The mass incarceration of Nikkei during World Tule Lake was the only War Relocation Authority The Tule Lake Unit preserves the mosaic of stories War II resulted from a complex mix of economic, camp that was converted to a high security about life at Tule Lake War Relocation Center, political, and social factors, fueled by racial segregation center. After segregation, it became Tule Lake Segregation Center, and Camp Tulelake prejudice, wartime hysteria and a failure of political the most populated and militarized of the 10 WRA told from multiple perspectives. The operation of leadership. camps. these camps subjected individuals, families, and communities to short– and long–term impacts. Potential topics to be explored within this theme: Potential topics to be explored within this theme: Potential topics to be explored within this theme: • Racism and prejudice in the pre-war era, • Selection and construction of the Tule Lake War including laws, policies, sociopolitical and Relocation Center in the Tule Lake Basin • The profound emotional, psychological, economic conditions, and their impacts on physical, economic, fi nancial, and social • Design and layout of the camp, including Nikkei and Asian American communities on the hardships that were infl icted upon Japanese barracks, blocks, schools, administration areas, West Coast Americans and their lasting impacts farm areas, military police areas, the stockade, • The immediate days and aftermath of Pearl guard towers, and fences • Nikkei families torn apart, physically, spiritually, Harbor, including the roundup of Issei culturally, and emotionally • Conditions and operation of Tule Lake as one of (immigrant generation), and a series of ten WRA centers in the fi rst half of Tule Lake’s government curfews and mandates directed at • Cultural values and practices, both Japanese and history Nikkei American, were employed to deal with trying experiences • The location, environmental conditions, and • Nationwide confusion and fear and the role geologic and landscape features surrounding the of mass media and government actions in • The generational divide and the diff erences in camp that created a sense of imprisonment and fomenting wartime hysteria generational responses isolation • Ethnicity and citizenship and the lack of • The experiences of people, called “Old Tuleans” • Daily life in camp, including cramped conditions distinctions made by most Americans between who answered “yes, yes” but chose to stay at and communal living, and its eff ects on Japanese nationals and Japanese Americans Tule Lake individuals, families, and communities • The few courageous individuals who supported • WRA staff experiences of living in and operating • Government and Nikkei roles and jobs in camp, the Japanese American community with acts of the camp including farming, teaching, administration, and good conscience security • Conditions of and relations among Nikkei, • Executive Order 9066 and the hasty uprooting WRA staff , military police, army personnel, and • Circumstances leading to Tule Lake having the of Nikkei from their communities into assembly local residents and each group’s perception of highest number of “no, no’s” or “disloyals” centers the other of the ten WRA centers, and reasons for Tule • Exploitation of Japanese Americans for Lake’s conversion to a segregation center • Military Police and Army personnel’s personal, political, or economic gain experiences guarding the camp and trying to • The movement of thousands of people to and maintain order • Sudden and dramatic loss of freedoms, from Tule Lake to other centers and Tule Lake’s economic livelihoods, and personal dignity linkages to all of the camps • Local residents’ experiences and perceptions of experienced by Nikkei the construction, operation, and dismantling of • The dramatic changes in social climate and the camp • The temporary detention centers including the security build-up after conversion mass uprooting of Nikkei, operation of these • The social, cultural, and economic divisions • Tule Lake inmates’ mistreatment of each other centers, and move to the WRA camps between people living on either side of the fence within the camp, including threats, intimidation, • The failure of government offi cials at all levels to and physical force • How Camp Tulelake represents national protect the civil rights of Japanese Americans movements, wartime policies, and international • The strikes, demonstrations, shootings, agreements on a local scale during the Great beatings, and riots Depression and World War II • The use of the stockade and jail to hold • How Nikkei strikebreakers from other WRA prisoners in administrative detention without centers were housed at Camp Tulelake to hearings provide farm labor in 1943 • The imposition of martial law and its eff ects on • How Camp Tulelake was upgraded by Italian all individuals within the camp prisoners-of-war, and eventually housed 800 German prisoners-of-war who provided farm • The layers and roles of government agencies and labor from 1944 to 1946 control, including the War Relocation Authority, Army, Immigration and Naturalization Service, • The diff erences in government and local Federal Bureau of Investigations, and Justice residents’ treatment of the European prisoners- Department of-war at Camp Tulelake and Nikkei at the Tule • The aftermath of the Tule Lake Segregation Lake Segregation Center Center and the social and economic development of a homesteading community in the Tule Lake Basin

National Historic Landmark plaque. 2012. NPS Photo.

6 “Loyal” or “Disloyal” Renunciation Relevancy

The loyalty questionnaire subjected individuals The decision of nearly 6,000 Japanese Americans The Tule Lake Unit acts as a forum for discussing and families to diffi cult and unfair decisions to renounce their U.S. citizenship resulted from a the meaning of citizenship and justice in the United about citizenship and national and storm of government policies, community pressures, States. The Tule Lake Unit illustrates the need to instigated many acts of sacrifi ce and patriotism. and personal fears that brewed in the Tule Lake be ever diligent in the protection of human and Peoples’ rationales for their responses to the loyalty Segregation Center and continue to challenge our constitutional rights for all Americans. questionnaire varied widely, and the results of their understanding of what it means to be a U.S. citizen decisions had lasting personal and social impacts. today. Potential topics to be explored within this theme: During and after the incarceration, many people questioned the meaning and value of constitutional Potential topics to be explored within this theme: • How wartime events were a defi ning experience rights, loyalty, cultural pride, honor, and disgrace. for Japanese Americans and continue to impact • The passage and purposes of Public Law 405, succeeding generations Potential topics to be explored within this theme: signed by President Roosevelt in 1944, allowing for the renunciation of citizenship during • The redress movement and its signifi cance for • How the government segregated persons it wartime the recognition of an injustice, and the ongoing deemed “disloyal” and subjected them to special need to protect civil rights and liberties for all • The reasons for and rise of pro-Japan cultural hardships that defi ne the Tule Lake experience and political organizations in Tule Lake and • Tule Lake’s history since the 1970s, which has • The purpose and administration of the deeply their eff ect on the social climate and conditions been characterized by the grassroots struggle of fl awed loyalty questionnaire and its many at Tule Lake Segregation Center Japanese Americans and others to preserve the unforeseen consequences place, its stories, and its lessons • The mass renunciation events, called “purges” • How people were forced to choose allegiance • The preservation and interpretation of • The government role in administering between countries Tule Lake in the context of other American renunciation and mistreatment of renunciants incarceration sites • The complexities and cultural dynamics of within the center and stockade answering the questionnaire depending on • Ethnic and racial profi ling today • The wide range of motivations and rationales for citizenship status, family allegiance, religious renunciation made under duress • The role of euphemistic language and affi liation, and social pressures from pro- propaganda in the context of the incarceration America and pro-Japan organizations • Renunciants’ departure from Tule Lake of Nikkei during World War II Segregation Center to the Department of Justice • The segregation of over 100 Nikkei men who camps • The recognition of parallels between the refused to answer the loyalty questionnaire and treatment of Nikkei during WWII and the were segregated to Camp Tulelake for several • Individuals, including renunciants and Japanese experiences of Arab and Muslim Americans in months in 1943 legal resident aliens, who requested repatriation the aftermath of September 11, 2001 to Japan • The rise of pro-Japan cultural and political • Questions about the possibility of whether a organizations at Tule Lake, including the Hoshi • The story of Wayne Collins and his decades- long similar event could occur again in the United Dan battle to restore citizenship to the renunciants States • The patriotism and heroism of those serving in the armed forces while families endured incarceration at home • Japanese Americans served in the Army’s 100th and 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Military Intelligence Service, and Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps • After World War II, many Nikkei attempted to “Americanize” and distance themselves from their Japanese heritage because of the shame they felt from their incarceration experiences • Perception and misconceptions about those who were labeled “disloyal”

Tule Lake Pilgrimage memorial ceremony model. 2012. NPS Photo.

7 What Issues Should Be Addressed in a Plan for Tule Lake’s Future?

The Tule Lake Unit faces imminent Partnerships and Interagency Interpretation and Education Operations and Staffi ng and signifi cant challenges. The Coordination The Tule Lake Unit is often Operation of the Tule Lake Unit is management guidance provided in Because the Tule Lake Unit is offi cially described as the untold story of the hindered by limited funding and the GMP will address some of the managed by two federal agencies incarceration of Japanese Americans staffi ng. In addition, confusion exists issues listed below. Because the (National Park Service and Fish and during WWII. It is widely accepted surrounding the unit’s inclusion general management plan is a long- Wildlife Service) and many of its that there is a dearth of scholarly within the larger World War II Valor range vision for the unit, the issues are fundamental resources and values work on Tule Lake because of its in the Pacifi c National Monument broad and conceptual. It is important are held by multiple stakeholders, the highly complex and contested history. and management by Lava Beds that you provide your thoughts and GMP will defi ne the coordination The NPS will work to sensitively and National Monument. concerns about issues that should be and partnerships that are especially accurately tell the stories related to addressed in the plan. critical to the proper management of Tule Lake. Boundaries, Adjacent Lands and the unit. Local Community Resources Site Planning, Access, Facilities, and Important historic resources within The GMP will address the Tule Visitor Experience and Use Development the Tule Lake Unit can only be Lake Unit’s lack of direction for Currently, NPS staff provide limited The three areas of the Tule Lake Unit accessed by crossing private property, the management of its resources, interpretation about Tule Lake are geographically dispersed and creating a myriad of boundary, rights- including oral histories, historic history at the Tulelake Fairgrounds, discontinuous. Currently, most of the of-way, and access issues. Other structures, and historic features, some and only on a seasonal basis. Visitors unit is inaccessible to the public. The signifi cant resources are located of which are highly vulnerable to loss. can only learn about Tule Lake when NPS needs to determine appropriate outside of the unit boundaries, NPS staff are available. A long-term levels and general locations for visitor including residential and operational Public Interest about Tule Lake vision is needed to identify where and operational facilities. areas with intact historic resources. Opening of a national dialogue about interpretation and interpretive staff Some of the historic resources have Tule Lake is needed. The NPS will will be located as it relates to the Tule been off ered to the NPS, and GMP engage the public in a discussion Lake visitor experience. planning can address the types about Tule Lake’s signifi cance, of resources and lands that are what sets it apart from the other appropriate for NPS management or incarceration sites, and how it can be partnership opportunities. interpreted to the public.

Walking toward the stockade and historic jail. 2011. NPS Photo.

8 How Do I Learn More about Tule Lake? How Do I Visit Tule Lake?

The National Park Service maintains the following websites on Tule Lake: Guided tours of the Tule Lake Segregation Center area and Camp Tulelake are Tule Lake Unit: www.nps.gov/tule off ered by National Park Service during the summer and by request during the Planning: www.parkplanning.nps.gov/tule remainder of the year. These areas are closed to public access during all other Facebook: www.facebook.com/TuleLakeNPS times. The Peninsula is closed to public access, except by pre-arrangement with Twitter: Tule Lake NPS@tulelakenps the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Several organizations off er educational and historical information about A temporary visitor center is located at the Tulelake Fairgrounds at 800 Main St. Tule Lake: in Tulelake, CA. The temporary visitor center is staff ed Memorial Day–Labor Tule Lake Committee: www.tulelake.org Day from 8:30am -5:00pm. Tours are off ered on Saturdays from Memorial Day Densho Project: www.densho.org weekend through Labor Day weekend. The 1:00pm tour is of the Tule Lake National Japanese American Historical Society: www.njahs.org Segregation Center and Camp Tule Lake. All tours begin at the visitor center. Japanese American National Museum: www.janm.org For more information about tours, including tours off ered during the winter, contact the park at (530) 667-8113. What’s Happening at Tule Lake?

Since the designation of the Tule Lake Unit on December 5, 2008, the National Park Service staff based at Lava Beds National Monument and in the Pacifi c West Region has been working to establish the unit. This includes off ering interpretive programs, providing emergency stabilization of historic buildings, and preparing for this large–scale planning eff ort.

In 2012 the Tule Lake Unit received funding to begin operations for the unit. While there is not enough funding to meet all of the needs of the unit, the funding has enabled the National Park Service to hire seasonal employees and conduct baseline information gathering.

In 2012 the National Park Service held a series of meetings with people who have close connections to Tule Lake. These people included Tule Lake survivors, their descendants, representatives of Japanese American organizations, historic preservation organizations, and local stakeholders. The purpose of these meetings was to begin the process of communicating with the public about Tule Lake and informing them of the larger planning process that would be occurring in 2013.

The results of these meetings and internal planning work resulted in the Tule Lake Unit Five Year Strategic Plan. This plan provides immediate direction Newsreel cameramen and newspaper cameramen. May 26,1943. WRA Photo. for establishing a foundation for operations and management while a general management plan is developed through extensive public involvement. It is available on the web at www.parkplanning.nps.gov/tule.

At present, the National Park Service has initiated several projects that focus on Preserving the History of Japanese saving resources, inventorying existing data, and providing limited visitor access to and interpretation of the Tule Lake Unit sites. The projects include oral history Americans during World War II gathering and organization, limited curation of historic artifacts, stabilization of Camp Tulelake structures, restoration of the jail, site tours, historic research, Three of the ten War Relocation Authority centers are units of the National waysides, emergency structural safety projects, assistance to partners involved in Park System. National Historic Site is located in the Owen’s Valley in historic preservation, and public education projects about Tule Lake. California and Minidoka National Historic Site is located in south central Idaho. In addition, the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial called In April 2013, the National Park Service announced three grants totaling $390,000 Nidoto Nai Yoni, is a unit of Minidoka National Historic Site. to preserve and interpret the history of Tule Lake. The Tule Lake Committee received $192,000 for preparation to restore the Tule Lake Segregation Center The National Park Service administers the Japanese American Confi nement jail. The National Japanese American Historical Society received $74,000 for Sites Grant Program that provides matching funding for the preservation educating teachers about Tule Lake. The ORE-CAL Resource Conservation and and interpretation of U.S. confi nement sites where Japanese Americans were Development Area Council received $124,000 for an art-based travelling exhibit incarcerated during World War II. Since 2009, the program has awarded 93 focusing on Tule Lake. grants totaling over $11 million to private nonprofi t organizations, educational institutions, state, local, and tribal governments, and other public entities.

The National Park Service was directed by Congress to conduct a special resource study of internment sites in Hawai‘i. The ongoing study is focused on the Honouliuli Camp on the island of O‘ahu and other associated sites throughout the state. The study will evaluate whether the sites are eligible and suitable to be designated as national park units.

In addition, the National Park Service has been engaged in documenting the incarceration sites and providing technical assistance to support preservation and interpretation eff orts. This includes archeological documentation in the award- winning National Park Service study Confi nement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites and the Japanese Americans in World War II National Historic Landmarks Theme Study. Historic entrance gate in winter. 2012. NPS Photo. 9 You’re Invited to a Workshop! Next Steps Come and meet the planning team, learn more about the general management plan and the After receiving public and partner comments and ideas, the planning process, and most importantly, discuss your ideas and concerns for the future of Tule next step will be to analyze the comments received, which will Lake. Please attend one or more of these workshops. We look forward to seeing and hearing be distributed in a newsletter. from you! Tulelake, CA Auburn, WA Sacramento and Bay Area, CA The comments will then provide valuable information for Tuesday, June 18, 6–8pm Tuesday, July 2, 6–8pm September 17–19, 2013 the development of possible visions for the future (called Tulelake High School White River Valley Museum alternatives). Evaluating a set of alternatives enables us to 850 Main Street 918 H Street Southeast Virtual Meetings compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages Thursday, September 5, of one course of action over another and provides a sound Klamath Falls, OR Seattle, WA 10am–12pm approach to decision making, as required by the National Wednesday, June 19, 6–8pm Wednesday, July 3, 4–6pm Tuesday, September 24, 3-5pm Environmental Policy Act. Ross Ragland Cultural Center Japanese Community 218 North 7th Street Cultural Center Dates, times, and locations Based on the analysis of impacts, a preferred alternative will 1414 South Weller Street of the California meetings be identifi ed. You will also have an opportunity to comment Portland, OR and virtural meetings web on the preferred alternative and the other alternatives in the Monday, July 1, 6–8pm Seattle, WA access will be posted on the draft general management plan in 2015. Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center Friday, July 5, 10am–12pm Tule Lake websites, Facebook 121 Northwest 2nd Avenue Speaking Up! Democracy, page, and widely announced Justice, Dignity Conference throughout the areas. Hood River, OR Sheraton Seattle Hotel Tuesday, July 2, 10:30–12:30pm 1400 Sixth Avenue Hood River Public Library 502 West State Street Los Angeles and San Diego, CA July 24–27, 2013

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