OPINION

Louisiana has stake in parks budget

In one ironic sense, the notion that Louisiana historic sites appear wilted and tired seems appropriate.

Louisiana weather can be humid, sultry and the idea that our aging plantations might pout and peel under the onslaught of our semitropical weather may be in character for what the old buildings face, decade after decade.

Crumbling brick? Softening wood? Strained bousillage? Welcome to paradise.

But when tired turns to tortured, when maintenance is too meager, when we patch and cover and not repair the treasures that dot Louisiana’s national parks, we risk losing part of what makes us unique.

Louisiana’s history is like no other in the U.S. References to our cultural gumbo may seem overcooked, but, truth be known, we are a marvelous place. It took centuries — millennia, really — and many peoples — French, Spanish, Americans, Haitians, Africans, Germans and more — to make us this special. From the ancient Indian culture at Poverty Point National Monument in Epps to the Chalmette Battlefield, where an army of Tennesseans, free blacks, pirates and French stared down Britain’s finest troops, Louisiana can relish its past.

We should not risk watching Louisiana’s historic treasures wear and waste away. It would be bad for business — the tourism business, which feeds us. It would be bad for our own self-esteem, which sustains us. It would be bad for the country, which needs exposure to our national parks.

National parks in Louisiana face a $13.7 million backlog of maintenance work that has put off until tomorrow — maybe longer — things that should have been addressed many yesterdays ago. Laura Gates, superintendent at Cane River Creole National Historic Park in Natchitoches, which includes some 65 buildings and structures at Oakland and Magnolia plantations, knows well the risks.

Some of the eight cabins built of soft brick are deteriorating at that park, victims of eroding brick and neglect. Those cabins housed slaves before the Civil War, sharecroppers later. Some cabins need repair on the bousillage at Oakland. There is considerable masonry work needed.

Here’s what is at stake in and around Natchitoches: “The most intact French Creole plantations anywhere in the United States.” Here’s what’s at stake elsewhere in Louisiana, including at Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve, which includes six sites from New Orleans to Eunice: the Chalmette battlefield; three Acadian cultural centers, including those in Lafayette and Eunice; the French Quarter Visitor Center, where you can start your stroll around Jackson Square; the New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park.

The Obama administration’s fiscal year 2016 budget calls for a $433 million increase for national parks. Will it help Louisiana sites? We need to know. If it does, we need to support it.

The editorials in this column represent the opinions of The News-Star’s editorial board, composed of General Manager and Executive Editor Kathy Spurlock, Business and Politics Reporter Greg Hilburn and Education Reporter Barbara Leader.