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WHEN HURRICANE Isabel smashed through the George Washington Birthplace National Monument as it pounded the region in September, the devastation was considerable.
Hundreds of trees down. Roofs of buildings smashed. Fifty feet of shoreline washed away.
When the National Park Service's emergency system kicked into gear, park rangers and employees of other federal agencies across the country got emergency assignments to help in hard-hit Virginia parks.
"The need was so bad elsewhere, we weren't initially a priority," said Vidal Martinez, superintendent of the Westmoreland County national park. "But we did put out a call for help to people we'd made connections with through the years."
Before several weeks of intensive cleanup concluded, help in the form of workers or equipment came from Adams National Historical Park and the Olmstead Center in Massachusetts, Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas, Martin Van Buren National Historic Site and Saratoga National Historical Park in New York, Roger Williams National Monument in Rhode Island and Steamtown National Historic Site in Pennsylvania.
Not to mention Virginia park crews from Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Booker T. Washington National Monument and Thomas Stone National Historic Site.
"When it was all over with, we got letters and postcards from some of those people, remarking on the hospitality here," said park facilities management specialist John Storke.
The letters noted the many meals and goodies Westmoreland staffers brought in to feed the workers, and many other extra steps taken to make them feel welcome.
"Several said they've never seen hospitality like that before," said Storke. "But it's the way things usually are here for this staff, many born and raised here."
In stories all this week, I'm looking at Isabel's continuing aftermath.
Today's column looks at the George Washington National Monument and the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park.
Birthplace bashed
Martinez said that although his park's maintenance staff did yeoman's work the first day or two after the storm, the manpower and equipment that rolled in made it possible to get the park reopened in about two weeks.
"While we had some with critical skills as sawyers, we also had arborists able to help where trees and grounds unearthed had historical significance."
That was especially true in a spot along Pope's Creek where there was damage to many of the cedars planted in the late 1800s to honor Washington. One tree that went down near the original Washington home brought up some artifacts in its root ball.
"In the midst of worrying about getting the roads open and the roofs patched, we had to consider the historical implications there," said Martinez, noting that archaeologists worked in that spot before cleanup was finished.
He said the park will be years fully accomplishing all the repairs to grounds and facilities.
Costs are expected to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe more, depending on plans and archaeological studies needed.
Battlefield park pounded
While Dominion Virginia Power and VDOT crews had trouble knowing exactly where to start after Isabel hit, the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park staff had a jump on the next day's cleanup.
Knowing damage would be in different spots on the 35 miles of roads and 25 miles of trails in the 8,000-acre park, heavy equipment was put in critical spots.
With that equipment and a crew of 17 to throw at the day-after damage, usable paths were cleared for the public who access their homes through park roads by the evening after Isabel hit.
But it took a dozen federal workers called in by the emergency system, including a group of Georgia foresters, to cut away the most critical of nearly 1,500 trees down in the park, including a war zone of downed tall hardwoods and pines on Lee Drive.
Add to that roof damage and other repairs at buildings throughout the park, and the cost of repairs and cleanup is expected to top $1 million.
Two contracts with logging crews have already been awarded, for $200,000 each. Roof repairs could be more than $100,000.
"And that doesn't even address the problem we have with 300 to 400 trees down on earthworks throughout the parks," said park superintendent Russ Smith.
Gregg Kneipp, natural resources manager for the park, said the 11 men and one woman who formed their own cleanup crew were critical in cleaning up much of the park's system of trails.
"I'd worked with some of them before, mostly at fires where we'd been called to help out as well," he said. "Like our staff, they put in lots of 12-hour days."
Smith, Brian Dendis and other park officials praised the entire park staff, saying office workers and interpreters also pitched in to remove debris and more.
One particularly difficult tree to remove was an old oak that as filled with concrete years ago as a repair.
Another tree note: A section of an old walnut tree that fell on park property will be turned into a piece of furniture to be used in a park office.
To reach ROB HEDELT: 540/374-5415 rhedelt@freelancestar.com