The Louisiana in the Civil War Message Board

Re: Port Hudson Monument
In Response To: Re: Port Hudson Monument ()

If I may add to what Steve is saying about the monuments. I started my career with the Louisiana State Parks (along with Art Bergeron and Larry Hewitt) and sometimes got frustrated at the LSP's "slows" in trying to get programs started at Fort St. Jean Baptiste in Natchitoches. It was not until I left the park service and became wiser with old age that I began to appreciate their point of view. LSP has to look at the long term effect of anything that is done, including putting up monuments, establishing interpretive programs, cutting down trees, etc. The impatient public (and rookie park managers)tends to think in terms of the here and now, not a hundred years in the future. When you're responsible for what the park will look like generations from now, you tend to get conservative in how you operate. Emotionally, I also think the monument should go up at Port Hudson, but I'm sure everyone involved in putting up the hundreds of monuments at Gettysburg thought the same thing. Now there are so many there, they (in my opinion) distract from the battlefield. I believe the guiding principle in a lot of LSP and NSP decisions is that we can always put up the monument (or whatever else is being considered) in the future if it proves to be really needed, but once it's done, it's permanent. It's easier and safer not to act until a lot of time has passed to consider all the implications. Pardon the lengthy post, but I have fond memories working with the LSP. They have a very difficult job and I think do a fine job overall.

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