Tulescoping Newsletter1 PEPC 5-31-13.Indd
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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, Executive Order 9066, Series 7: Recess Time A Message from the Superintendent You’re Invited to a Workshop! 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 Camp Tulelake 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.