NPS to hold sessions about management plan, environmental assessment for former Japanese American WWII prison site

TULELAKE, California –The National Park Service has released the Tule Lake Unit General Management Plan and Environmental Assessment for public review and comment. The plan provides long-term guidance for how the National Park Service will develop and manage the unit, and how the stories of the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II will be told at Tule Lake.

The National Park Service will hold 13 public workshops from November 2016 to January 2017 (see below) to present the management plan and receive comments on it. These workshops will further a public dialogue, which began in 2013, about how to effectively protect the site and educate the public about this chapter in American history.

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The Tule Lake Unit preserves the site of the Tule Lake Segregation Center, which was one of 10 camps where 120,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II. Designated in 2008 by President George W. Bush, the purpose of the Tule Lake Unit is to preserve, study, and interpret the history and setting of the incarceration of Japanese Americans at Tule Lake. Between 1942 and 1946, more than 29,000 people of Japanese ancestry were incarcerated there, and two thirds of those incarcerated were US citizens.

The public workshops will be held in California, Oregon, Washington, New York, and online. This is an opportunity to talk with National Park Service staff working on the Tule Lake Unit and discuss the plan. These meetings represent the “public review” stage for the plan. Anyone interested in attending is welcome.

Current information relevant to the plan and the Tule Lake Unit is available at parkplanning.nps.gov/TuleLakeGMP. Comments may be submitted online or may be sent to tule_superintendent@nps.gov. The public comment period closes on February 10, 2017.

SCHEDULE OF PUBLIC MEETINGS

Monday, November 28
6 – 8 pm
TULELAKE, CA
Tulelake/Newell Family Resource Center
(The Honker)
810 Main Street

Tuesday, November 29
6 – 8 pm
KLAMATH FALLS, OR
Klamath County Library
126 S. 3rd Street

Thursday, December 1
6 – 8 pm
LOS ANGELES, CA
Japanese American Cultural and Community Center
244 S. San Pedro Street

Friday, December 2
10 am – noon
CARSON, CA
CSU Dominguez Hills
University Library
1000 E. Victoria Street

Tuesday, December 6
6 – 8 pm
SACRAMENTO, CA
Buddhist Church of Sacramento
2401 Riverside Boulevard

Wednesday, December 7
1 – 3 pm
SACRAMENTO, CA
Sierra 2 Center
2791 24th Street

Thursday, December 8
10 am – noon
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California
1840 Sutter Street

Thursday, December 8
6 – 8 pm
SAN JOSE, CA
Japanese American Museum
535 N. 5th Street

Tuesday, December 13
5 – 7 pm
SEATTLE, WA
Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Washington
1414 S. Weller Street

Wednesday, December 14
6 – 8 pm
PORTLAND, OR
Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center
121 NW 2nd Avenue

Thursday, December 15
1:30 – 3:30 pm
HOOD RIVER, OR
Hood River Library
502 State Street

Virtual Meeting*
Tuesday, January 10
10 am – noon (PST)

Virtual Meeting*
Wednesday, January 18
6 – 8 pm (EST) / 3 – 5 pm (PST)

NEW YORK, NY
Japanese American Association of New York
49 W. 45th Street, 11th Floor

*Virtual meeting web access information will be posted on the Tule Lake Unit website at nps.gov/tule, Facebook page at facebook.com/TuleLakeNPS, and widely announced.