In this file photograph from 2008, Kay Parish and Shelly Andrews speak to David Vela, National Parks Service regional director, during a visit to Point Park. Officials with the National Parks Conservation Association and the National Park Service visited Point Park on Lookout Mountain Wednesday to see improvements to the park and to speak about adjacent property that had been purchased at the base of the mountain.
In this file photograph from last summer, Lyndhurst Foundation President Bruz Clark, near right, looks at papers to the Old Federal Road archaeological site as Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park historian James H. Ogden approaches him on a dig site on Moccasin Bend.
Moccasin Bend development plan.For the first time since it became federally protected in 2002, Moccasin Bend Archaeological District may be able to map out a 20-year building strategy.
The bend, which became part of the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park 12 years ago, tops a 66-park list in the Southeast scheduled to receive federal money to amend its master plan through the Park Service. The last strategic plan for the military park was done decades before Moccasin Bend was added.
The plan could make the park into something more than a patchwork adopted sibling of the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park -- something generations of supporters have called for.
But last month's decision by Chattanooga and county officials to bail on previous agreements to move a jointly owned police firing range from the shoe-shaped peninsula is putting a 33-acre bump in the Park Service's road.
Those who helped achieve federal protection for Moccasin Bend and mapped its road to completion -- but are no longer in positions of authority -- say the firing range reversal has set the clock back 20 years.
But the Park Services' Moccasin Bend Cultural Landscape Report, which spells out what must take place in order for Moccasin Bend to realize its full contiguous dream, shows that the firing range isn't the only parcel the park service needs to acquire. The report was finished in April.
The landscape report suggests the service should also gain the city-county-owned Moccasin Bend Golf Course, a tract that houses WDEF Radio towers, the state-owned Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute and a private residence.
In addition, the report recommends adding a northwestern sliver of the wastewater treatment facility parcel that would allow the service to connect the remnants of the old Federal Road with the historic Brown's Ferry site.
More than 200 years ago, the Federal Road was a walking trail used by local Cherokee, and a half century later it was part of the "cracker line," a major supply line for Union forces. It was the path soldiers and American Indians alike used to connect Chattanooga to the west.
But there are no hard plans for any of those properties to join the park service property soon -- especially the mental health facility, which serves half the state.
State spokesman Mike Machak said Monday there's no current plan to move the mental health facility.
"The Moccasin Bend facility has served the needs of citizens in Southeast Tennessee since 1961. With the closure in 2012 of the state's Lakeshore Mental Health Institute in Knoxville, Moccasin Bend now serves a 52- county region," Machak said.
Under the law, the park service could get the parcels through donations or from willing sellers. But government-owned properties, such as the firing range, must be donated.
But still, given its riverside location, the firing range would still be the most valuable gain for the park service.
FIRING RANGE
Park Superintendent Brad Bennett said Thursday that plans to break the bend away from the military park and create a separate Moccasin Bend park are long gone. It is "part and parcel with the 9,000-acre national military park," he said.
And if the park can't get the firing range property, plans would still move forward. But the park would be out some prime real estate.
SWAT team members shoot at targets at the police firing range off of Moccasin Bend Road in this file photograph from 2001."This decision doesn't change our long-term goal to fully develop visitor activities and trails. But that certainly is a strategic piece of property," Bennett said. "And the overall vision includes connecting the Riverwalk and gateway planning to the future trail system in the national park."
That might be tough, since the firing range sits on the proposed nexus of those projects on the bend.
If the police don't move, any extension of the Tennessee Riverwalk from the North Shore to Moccasin Bend would have to steer clear of the bullets and noise.
The most likely route would take the trail west on Hamm Road, then south down Moccasin Bend Road. That means no view of the river, according to Kay Parish, interim executive director of Friends of Moccasin Bend.
But Parish is keeping an optimistic attitude, despite the park losing political support over the last decade.
"We understand why the city and county made the decision they did, but times change. ... I think they are leaving the door open for conversation about that property and other properties," she said. "We hope that in time when things are actually ready to be built and put in place, times will swing back."
Aside from the view, the shooting range property would be valuable to the park, Parish said, because it's already been disturbed. Much of Moccasin Bend is protected. Recreation space can't be built atop 12,000-year-old burial sites or historic roads. The firing range site could eventually be a visitor center, recreational space or other facilities, Parish said.
Past officials who advocated for the moving of the range and expanding of Moccasin Bend say the decision to renege on the deal dashes years of work from residents.
Former U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, who helped get Moccasin Bend incorporated into the military park as an archaeological district, said it was always understood that the shooting range would move.
"It is very much what the federal government called a non-conforming use. It's a very, very noisy place," Wamp said, adding that he was speaking as a resident, not an official.
"I don't think you can fully reach the full amenity of the Moccasin Bend Archaeological District with it operating," he said.
Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger said last month's decision wasn't an end of the discussion. But the two governments have had an increasingly difficult time finding a place for the police to go. And building the latest indoor range -- and paying an estimated $1.2 million for soil remediation on the old site -- became cost prohibitive.
"The Friends of Moccasin Bend have been interested in this property for more than a decade, and I would suspect that they are going to continue to be interested and we are going to work with them," he said.
But ultimately his first priority is the police.
"At the end of the day what's most important to me, and the residents of this county, is that we have well-trained law enforcement," he said.
MASTER PLAN
Bennett said starting the master plan -- or General Management Plan -- could be an opportunity for residents and governments to reconnect with the park and help guide its future.
During the process, the park service could explore ways to acquire the remaining parcels on the bend -- including new possible discussions about the firing range.
On Thursday, he said it was too early to say if or how the park service would acquire the remaining properties, many of which are still in regular use.
But he said local officials should not discount the economic impact the park has on the area.
More than 906,000 people visited the military park sites last year, generating an estimated $55 million in economic impact to surrounding communities, Bennett said. National Park Service reports show that supported 771 private-sector jobs, he said.
If Moccasin Bend is fully developed, with an interpretive center and connections to the Tennessee Riverwalk and other city, state and federal trails, Bennett said, park visitorship is expected to increase by 250,000 visitors a year.
"The value of that place to the economic health of the city can't be understated," Bennett said.
Contact staff writer Louie Brogdon at lbrogdon@timesfreepress.com, at @glbrogdoniv on Twitter or at 423-757-6481.