Trees Lose on Manassas Battlefield

This is the first time Prince William has identified views of military significance at the battlefield, home of the first major land battle of the Civil War. It is undertaking the task after a period of unprecedented growth, which has made the land beyond the battlefield more valuable.

So far, park officials and county planners, along with the county's archaeologist, have identified 15 historically based view sheds, representing the first and second battles of Manassas. The park also has 10 public vantage points, among them Henry Hill, where the visitor's center sits. By the end of the year, the county will prepare a preservation plan and recommend ways to enhance views.

Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey A. Stewart said Prince William has a generational obligation to protect the park.

"The battlefield is the county's most important historical resource," said Stewart (R-At Large). "We have to make sure whatever development happens along the I-66 corridor is not seen in order to protect the integrity of the battlefield."

The Park Service has never tried to "run roughshod" over the county's interest or plans, Stewart said, so the county should allow the study to proceed without "political interference."

Even as new development in the fast-growing county encroaches on the battlefield, the Park Service has sought to preserve and replicate the landscape from the Civil War era.

A costly and bitter fight took place in 1988 over a plan to build a mall next to the battlefield. It resulted in the federal government taking the land. Five years later, the Walt Disney Co. came knocking. It wanted to build a $650 million historical theme park just outside the battlefield. After fierce opposition, Disney retreated and abandoned its plans.

Within the past few years, said Brown, the Park Service official, the park staff started surveying historical landmarks to figure out which ones were "most vulnerable to impacts from obstructive development."

At Portici, a public vantage point that used to be a Confederate headquarters, buildings and power lines rise above the horizon. Standing at the historical site, it is easy to see Interstate 66 in the forefront and a Mattress Warehouse in the distance.

"This is the sort of fate we want to ward out in other parts of the park," Brown said. "The study is not a way of stopping or controlling development but dealing with issues before they arise. We don't have the authority to require anyone to do anything outside our boundary."

One of the options to screen development on the southeast edge of the park is planting trees.

Brown said it's unfortunate that the study and the tree cutting that took place last year have been tied together.