 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|||||||
|
Individuals wishing to send letters of support for the four Ohio nominations for inclusion on the final list of U.S. nominations to the World Heritage List should send their comments on or before Nov. 30, 2007, to:
Jonathan Putnam, Office of International Affairs, NPS, 1201 Eye Street, NW, (0050), Washington, DC 20005; or by e-mail at jonathan_putnam@nps.gov; or by phone at 202/354-1809 or fax at 202/371-1446. All comments will become a matter of public record.
Printed below is a Press Release from the Ohio Historical Society:
For Immediate Release
Time is running out to put Ohio on the World Heritage List
Ohio Historical Society asks Ohioans to take action by Nov. 30
COLUMBUS , Ohio , Nov. 19, 2007– Ohio is poised to take its place on a new world stage. With the support of Ohio citizens, several state landmarks could be considered alongside Australia 's Great Barrier Reef , the Egyptian pyramids and the Statue of Liberty as natural and cultural sites with significance to all people of the world.
Individuals, groups and schools in the state have the opportunity to write to the National Park Service by Nov. 30 to help ensure the state's nominations to the World Heritage List, which is maintained by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Currently, only 851 World Heritage sites in 141 countries, including 20 in the United States , have this recognition.
For the first time in 25 years, the National Park Service has prepared a tentative list of 19 cultural and natural areas in the United States , including three of the nominations for Ohio sites. (The fourth Ohio nomination was recommended by the Park Service for future consideration.) Once finalized in January 2008, this list will serve as the source of nominations as the United States submits two sites every year for consideration by the World Heritage Commission during a 10-year period starting in 2009.
“This is a competitive process with other states as being recognized as a World Heritage Site increases awareness, tourism and economic development for local communities and states where sites are located.,” said William K. Laidlaw, Jr., executive director and CEO of the Ohio Historical Society. “Public support for Ohio 's nominations to make the final list will be critical.”
The three Ohio nominations currently on the tentative list, the most for any state, represent 12 historic and prehistoric sites, including four that are managed by the Ohio Historical Society:
The Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks , a multi-site nomination consisting of Hopewell Culture National Historical Park 's five ancient earthworks in Ross County , including the Ohio Historical Society's Seip Mound, as well as the Society's Newark Earthworks in Licking County and Fort Ancient in Warren County .
Serpent Mound in Adams County , a state memorial administered by the Ohio Historical Society
Dayton Aviation Sites , another multi-site nomination comprising Huffman Prairie Flying Field at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the Wright Cycle Company, the nearby Wright and Wright Printing office, the Wright Flier III at Carillon Historical Park, and the Wright family home, Hawthorne Hill, in Dayton.
Ohio 's fourth nomination, the Underground Railroad sites of the Rankin and Parker houses in Ripley, was not included on the tentative list. The Ohio Historical Society and the Underground Freedom Center in Cincinnati believe this nomination deserves reconsideration by the National Park Service to be included on the final list because the sites played an important role in the nation's anti-slavery movement.
Individuals wishing to send letters of support for the four Ohio nominations for inclusion on the final list of U.S. nominations to the World Heritage List should send their comments on or before Nov. 30, 2007, to: Jonathan Putnam, Office of International Affairs, NPS, 1201 Eye Street, NW, (0050), Washington, DC 20005; or by e-mail at jonathan_putnam@nps.gov; or by phone at 202/354-1809 or fax at 202/371-1446. All comments will become a matter of public record.
More information about the World Heritage List and the nominated Ohio sites as well as a sample letter of support can be found at www.ohiohistory.org.
|
_________________________________________________________________ Growing
interest in the Octagon;
Consider these groups: The Friends of the Mounds, a group of largely local citizens that have been pushing for greater public access to the Octagon since the summer of 1999. Their goal is that all portions of the Newark Earthworks should constitute a public site. The Native American Alliance, which includes "Grandmother" Barbara Crandell, who was arrested in 2002 for sitting on observatory mound, praying, on a beautiful Saturday morning in June. NAA hosted a "warming of the earth" ceremony at dawn on April 16 and is planning a sunrise ceremony marking the summer solstice on June 21. The Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio, led by Mark and Carol Welsh. NAICCO has provided speakers, drummers, singers, dancers and a Native Feast at numerous events celebrating the Newark Earthworks. The Ohio Archaeological Council which includes professional archaeologists across the state. The OAC hosted a "Public Symposium on Ohio's Ancient Earthworks" on the Newark campus in 2005 and will offer a full day of similar programming on the Newark Campus November 3. The Ohio Historical Society which employs Dr. Bradley Lepper, the archaeologist who has taught thousands of us about this site. OHS hosted two one-week seminars for a total of 50 community college teachers from across the nation and brought all of those teachers to the Newark Earthworks and the Newark campus just last summer. Since then OHS joined with the National Park Service to nominate the site for World Heritage Status. The American Indian Studies program on the Columbus campus of OSU. Director Jay Miller, has brought dozens of important guests to Newark from across the country. Among the guests: Chief Glenna J. Wallace of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma and Alfred Berryhill, the second Chief of the Creek Nation - as well as cultural preservation officers from Oklahoma tribes and college professors from England and many universities in the United States. The Newark Earrthworks Center on the OSU Newark campus, which has hosted two Newark Earthworks Days, a national academic conference and countless tours and classes and events. Just last fall the university's board of trustees officially approved its status as an interdisciplinary academic program within the university - the first "center' they have approved for any regional campus. And Newark's children. Last year's fourth graders at Miller Elementary School proposed a bill to the Ohio legislature, testified before both the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate and then hosted Govenor Taft for the signing. Their law designates the Newark Earthworks as Ohio's official "prehistoric monument." The fourth graders are inviting us all to a community picnic at the Great Circle on June 7 to celebrate the anniversary of their law and draw further attention to our site. It is not surprising that interest in our earthworks is exploding. Interest will continue to grow. In 1999 the site was listed as one of the "Seventy Wonders of the Ancient World" in an international publication and it is currently under consideration for World Heritage Status. Nothing else in central Ohio has comparable potential for drawing scholars, students, families, tourists and visitors of many descriptions. And now consider this: The Octagon has been owned by the Ohio Historical Society since 1933 but has been leased to the Moundbuilders Country Club since 1910. The original lease declared that it would be "open to the public at all times" but more recent leases say it shall be open to the public "subject to reasonable rules." For years it was virtually closed to the public entirely. Even now large numbers of central Ohioans have never been there. For five days in each of the past two years OHS has invited the public to visit the site. This winter OHS officials met with club representatives to propose that these "golf free days" be increased. A press release from the OHS states that MCC has reduced public access to four days and apparently intends to hold to that number.
Please consider sending letters of support to
Dr. Richard Shiels Interim Director, Newark Earthworks Center The Ohio State University, Newark
|
||
|
For immediate answers for questions about the
Newark Earthworks and events, Dr. Richard Shiels, Ph.D. The Ohio State University at Newark |
Who are we and why are we
promoting the earthworks?
_______________________________________________
|
|
.* * *