Webmaster's Note: This first update from the new superintendent was originally published in the Friends of the Little Bighorn Battlefield Newsletter, April 2009.

Hello! And thanks to all you friends of Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument who have welcomed me so warmly in my first 2½ months on the job. I am thrilled to be here, and am excited about the many opportunities and challenges at this iconic national monument. I look forward to meeting many of you in person in June, and others of you over the course of the year over the phone, email or at other meetings. It’s an honor and a pleasure to work with all of our battlefield support groups, historically affiliated tribes, and nearby communities.

Spring has officially arrived; however we continue to have a periodic mixture of severe winter weather, along with the expected normal warming trends here in Montana. I thought I’d pass on a few updates about what we’ve been up to at the battlefield.

133rd Anniversary Observance

As you know, June 25 & 26, 2009 mark the official 133rd Anniversary observance of the Battle of the Little Bighorn and this is the date that the national monument honors each year. We are here primarily in a support role as host to the public, and all the various support groups including Friends of the Little Bighorn (Friends), Custer Battlefield Historical & Museum Association (CBHMA), and Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Crow/Arikara Scout organizations. The schedule of activities is still in the planning stage and additional information will be made available as we firm up activities. I plan to authorize that entrance fees be waived again on June 25, 2009 in honor of the 133rd Anniversary Observance, and I hope to see many of you at the national monument during the anniversary week.

Visitation

Chief Ranger Michael Stops reports visitation is down 2.9% for February 2009 as compared to February 2008. With the down turn of the national economy and a fairly snowy February we did fine to remain about par for the month. Year-to-date visitation is down 6.20% with 5,153 visitors in 2009 as compared to 5,494 visitors in 2008. (Webmaster's Note: For an update on the increase in visitation, please jump here.)

Interpretive Division

Ken Woody, Chief of Interpretation announced the implementation this year of a new Cell Phone Interpretive Tour for LIBI. Visitors will be able to utilize their cell phones at 30 interpretive stations throughout the battlefield by dialing a special telephone number that will provide a brief one-minute interpretive message to visitors. Our interpretive touch screen kiosk was just repaired and is now back in service in the visitor center. The kiosk provides important interpretive information on 7th Cavalry and Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho participants in the battle, 1876 Army Sioux War Roster, 1876 Outline of Army Forts Atlas, and Custer National Cemetery Register. The kiosk now features improved ventilation and back-up battery system to help prevent overheating, and operate during electrical power failures.

We are in the second year of the NPS wide program called “Teacher-Ranger-Teacher” (TRT) program. Francis Takes Enemy from nearby Fort Smith, Montana is returning this year, and a new TRT Aniha Perez from Brownsville, Texas. Perez worked as TRT last year at Black Canyon in Colorado. We are thankful to the Friends of Little Bighorn Battlefield for graciously funding one of these positions this year. The TRTs will function as seasonal ranger-interpreter to present not only interpretive programs, but assist other divisions throughout the day with a schedule that exposes the teacher to the interdisciplinary jobs available in the NPS. They will also assist other divisions including museum curation and the White Swan Library. In the fall, the teachers return to teaching and during NPS Week, are required to wear their NPS uniform at school and share their work experience with their students. The program is designed to get children interested in learning about our National Parks. Veteran Ranger Michael Donahue of Belton, Texas is also returning again this summer as a seasonal interpreter.

Safety Review

In response to NPS safety awareness at LIBI, we recently conducted a comprehensive on-site safety review of all of our buildings and work stations, and identified and corrected deficiencies. We also took a look at past practices and appointed a new Safety Committee to address safety at LIBI in order to take a more proactive approach to this important issue.
 

Friends of The Little Bighorn Battlefield

I met with the Board of Friends of Little Bighorn Battlefield during their meeting here in March, 2009. We discussed important future projects for Friends to assist us with at the battlefield including purchase of new batteries for the Chief Historian’s electric cart and the purchase of some construction materials to help us address some storage issues in our museum collections area.

Rehabilitate Battlefield Tour Road

Since 2004, the National Park Service and Federal Highways have been planning to rehabilitate the park tour road and expand parking lots at the visitor center and Reno Benteen unit to address traffic congestion and safety issues. The construction work is currently scheduled for 2011. However, the project meets the “shovel-ready” and job-creation criteria of the economic stimulus legislation that recently was enacted, so it’s possible this project could be funded sooner. We will keep everyone posted on this important project.

Cultural Landscape Inventory (CLI)

Our Chief Historian John Doerner reports that we are nearing completion of our Cultural Landscape Inventory and are now at 80% draft. The LIBI CLI is a joint partnership with NPS and Utah State University and provides an important up-to-date baseline on our powerful cultural landscape. We will have a revised draft for review by all of our historically affiliated tribes by early summer, and hope to complete the project by the end of 2009.

Curation

The Sitting Bull exhibit was completed last summer, and recently a new “Cavalry Horse Exhibit’ has been completed. The Cavalry Horse exhibit displays an illustrated chart of the colors of horses assigned to each company here at the battle, photos of Comanche dispelling the myth that Comanche was the only survivor of the battle, and a letter and an application to General George Armstrong Custer from the Hartford Insurance Company dated March 28, 1868 to provide insurance for his horses. It is unknown if he actually followed through with an insurance policy.

The Regional Archivist and assistant from the Western Archival Conservation Center (WACC) visited the Museum Collections this past week. It was a very productive meeting. The national monument’s first natural history collection was recently cataloged. The herbarium collection was gathered in 1996 by Little Bighorn College students, and is a significant addition to our museum collection.

Law Enforcement/EMS/FEE Operation

Chief Ranger Michael Stops reports that Skeeter He Does It, will be working again this summer as our Protection (LE) Ranger. Skeeter will be assisting with law enforcement and entrance fee operations through September.

Natural Resources

Invasive Plant Management: Melana Stichman, Biological Technician, who is funded through our fee demonstration project “Restore Historic View-shed For Visitor Enhancement and Photography” treated 30 acres of noxious weeds throughout the monument. Target invasive plants included: field bindweed, St. Johnswort, houndstongue, Russian thistle, whitetop, yellow sweetclover, curly dock, Russian olive, prickly lettuce, and several thistles and knapweeds. The Exotic Plant Management Teams (EPMTs) from Glacier National Park (NP) and Yellowstone NP helped national monument staff treat Russian olive and salt cedar along the Little Bighorn River at the Custer unit boundary.

Efforts continue on developing an Invasive Plant Management Plan involving ten parks located in the northern Rocky Mountains, including Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. This plan will be used to direct the management of invasive plants/noxious weeds and will include the use of a suite of tools that allow the park to effectively manage area natural and cultural resources with minimal effects from non-native invasive plants.

Restoration

Monitoring revegetation and noxious weeds throughout the park continues under the fee demonstration project “Restore Historic View-shed For Visitor Enhancement and Photography”. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Plant Materials Center in Bismarck, North Dakota continues to cultivate and harvest native grass seed for the battlefield. Native plant species include green needlegrass, bluebunch wheatgrass, sideoats grama, and blue grama. Seeds were originally collected in the park in 2005 as part of a revegetation plan for the Battlefield Tour Road Rehabilitation Project. The NRCS has met the target seed amounts for the project and 2009 will be the last growing season of the seed fields cultivated for the battlefield.

New Project

Our Fee Demonstration Program has funded a project to “Interpret and Preserve Resources for Park Visitors' Enjoyment and Education” that will begin in 2009. The project will provide updated interpretation material for the understanding of park resources to park visitors and other public institutions. Primarily the park species checklist and an upgraded park map are the two by-products of the project that will be used to enhance the visitor understanding of the park resources.

Visitor Center Electrical Line Failure/Maintenance Operations

Lonnie Hergenrider, Facility Manager reports that they just completed replacement of the new electrical line to the visitor center which failed last September 22, and again in December of 2008, requiring use of a temporary backup generator to provide power to the building. The electrical line was old and did not meet current safety codes. This important project was funded through emergency fee demonstration funding. Several other Fee Demonstration Projects are planned this year including: 1) Repair grass turf in Custer National Cemetery; 2) Expand cemetery irrigation system; 3) Finish rehabilitation of flagpole and cemetery monuments, and replacement of cemetery tree’s; 4) Completion of Entrenchment Trail and Deep Ravine Trail rehabilitation. Maintenance Mechanic Jimmie Brothers was selected for a 120 day detail to Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico to serve as their Maintenance Supervisor. Lonnie also submitted eight new Fee Demonstration Projects to improve LIBI infrastructure, including rehabilitation of the historic stone house (re-pointing sandstone and replacement of windows for energy efficiency and protect against insect infestation.