Sam Weddle

PDF: Nation Park Service

Leaders with the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park are planning for the newest section of the country’s oldest park, and they want public input.

Officials have developed a concept plan and environmental assessment for the park’s Moccasin Bend unit where a new interpretive center is planned.

“It is a really big deal,” park spokesman Sam Weddle said. “This is a signature piece, and we really want public comment.”

The 100-page plan outlines four possible locations for the interpretive center. It says the best site is one that borders the Tennessee River near the northeast corner of the national archeological district.

Part of the park development process requires officials to create and study a range of options, said Shelly B. Andrews, executive director of the Friends of Moccasin Bend National Park.

The plan assesses possible environmental impacts of each possible location for the interpretive center. The friends group is in the process of contracting with the park to begin raising money for the new project, Mrs. Andrews said.

As the public is asked to give opinions about Moccasin Bend, officials also are working on a 20-year management plant for all units of the park — Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain and Moccasin Bend.

Mr. Weddle said the Moccasin Bend plan “really focuses on the facility itself. It doesn’t focus much beyond the visitor center.”

The National Park Service has received $500,000 to start the initial design of the interpretive center, which likely will have an interactive museum, theater lectures, audiovisual presentations and classroom space.

This fall, crews will begin working to stabilize the riverbank. After that, area residents and visitors will begin to see more work, officials said.

“In the next year for sure, maybe in the next six months, you are going to start seeing some concrete evidence that something is going on,” Mrs. Andrews said.