Last week in keeping with an effort under way at national parks nationwide, the 114-year-old Vicksburg National Military Park announced it will hear comments from the public to prepare a “foundation document” to guide all future planning and management. The VNMP most important aspects for the purposes of planning and historical interpretations will be featured at an open house Jan. 27, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. All 401 park units in the national park system will have a foundation document by 2016, the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.

The document will be based on a combination of sources, including legislative purpose, policy requirements and administrative commitments, among others, superintendent Mike Madell said. Currently, ensuring each park fulfills its respective significance to a given region is typically achieved through a broad general management plan, Madell said. Budget constraints have prevented the plans from being updated. “The current plan for Vicksburg National Military Park was completed in 1980, and is now substantially outdated,” Madell said. “Completing a foundation document at this time will provide a “foundation” on which a general management plan or other future park planning can be built.”

In 2012, the park had more than half a million visitors from across the globe that spent more than $212 million locally. The park has offered many guided candlelight tours over the past several years and numerous historical interpretations. The park has undergone a restoration to return it to the way it looked during the Siege of Vicksburg and the impact on visitors has been enormous. A visitor can easily envision how close the two opposing sides were to each other and the difficult terrain.

In September at the 25th annual Mississippi Governor’s Conference on Tourism — the River City took home seven Mississippi Tourism Association Awards including naming VNMP as Travel Attraction of the Year. VNMP was also recognized as a top winner in the Large Festival of the Year category for its National Military Park Civil War Sesquicentennial Signature Event.

That recognition would not have been possible without the hard work, dedication and attention to detail that our park rangers exhibit day in and day out. VNMP is to be commended for continuing to be the jewel of our community. To have a document in place to guide the park’s staff in planning events for future visitors would only further embed the park as THE reason to visit Vicksburg. The park is welcoming input from the public before the open house at http://parkplanning.nps.gov. Comments are acceptable by phone to Virginia DuBowy, the park’s natural resources program manager, at 601-619-2911, or via email, Virginia_DuBowy@nps.gov.