Attachment18_HOSP_Long_Range_Interpretive_Plan_2008.pdf

Hot Springs National Park Long-Range Interpretive Plan

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

Feher, Peter Thomas Attachment 18: HOSP Long Range Interpretive Plan 2008.pdf

Hot Springs National Park Long-Range Interpretive Plan

Prepared by:

U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service

Hot Springs National Park

Midwest Region

Harpers Ferry Center Interpretive Planning

December 2008

“… Many parks have miles of trails to be enjoyed by those who seek inspiration in the great outdoors, but this op portunity, through physical affliction, is denied to many. It would seem that our greatest responsibility at Hot Springs National Park is the privilege of helping the unfortunate so that they too may get their full measure of life.”

—superintendent thomas boles

1946 superintendent’s annual report

Front cover: The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) opened in the Ozark Bathhouse in 2009, as part of the historic leasing program (top).

Samuel W. Fordyce parks his car in front of his new bathhouse sometime between 1915 and 1919 (center, left). Visitors and local residents fill containers with the park’s spring water for later use (center). Attendants stand ready in the men’s bath hall of the Imperial Bathhouse, which survived until 1937 (center, right). Stained glass from Cincinnati graced the women’s bath hall and other rooms in the Maurice Bathhouse (bottom).

Inside front cover: The hot springs are the primary natural resource of the park, but they have not been preserved in their unaltered state as natural surface phenomena. They have instead been managed to conserve the production of uncontaminated hot water for public use.

Right: A park ranger conducts a living history program to demonstrate how bath patrons would have used health and fitness equipment in the Fordyce Bathhouse gymnasium.

Contents

Message from the Superintendent 1

Comprehensive Interpretive Planning 3

Part 1. Foundations 5

Park Legislation and Purpose 6

Park Significance 7

Park Mission and Priorities 8

Park Mission Goals and Accessibility 9

Park Interpretive Themes 10

Desired Visitor Experience 12

Park Audiences 13

Issues and Challenges Affecting Interpretation 14

Existing Conditions 15

Facilities 15

Non-Personal Services (Interpretive Media) 17

Personal Services 19

Curriculum-Based Education Programs 21

Partnerships 22

Cooperating Association 22

Volunteers 22

Part 2. Future Interpretive Program 25

The Planning Process 26

Goals for Interpretive Programming 27

Action Plan Over the Next Five to Seven Years 32

Research and Evaluation Needs 35

Staffing and Training Needs 36

Implementation Plan 37

Planning Team 40

Appendix A: Park Theme Matrix 43

Appendix B: Visitor Center Concept 44

Visitors to Hot Springs National Park can walk on trails through the natural recharge areas, stand beside a steaming hot water cascade at Arlington Lawn, or view a thermal water fountain at the entrance to the park administration building.

Message from the Superintendent

Hot Springs National Park has witnessed unprecedented progress in its efforts to renovate, improve, and reopen the historic buildings in the Bathhouse Row National Historical Landmark District. In the summer of 2008, the Quapaw Bathhouse reopened its doors as Quapaw Baths and Spa and a 55-year lease was signed with a nonprofit organization to reopen the Ozark Bathhouse as a Museum of Contemporary Art.

These developments bring a renewed vitality to Hot Springs National Park and an opportunity to reexamine how we interpret our history and what are the best ways to develop the programs and activities that visitors expect when they visit us on the web or arrive at this destination.

The Long-Range Interpretive Plan is the planning document that sharpens our focus and pulls together our education and interpretation efforts. The plan will incorporate the natural and cultural history components into new interpretive themes and provide us with special opportunities to tell the story of the first area set aside by the U.S. government to protect an American natural resource for public use: the hot springs.

The Friends of the Fordyce and Hot Springs National Park Inc., along with many other community organizations and individuals, have assisted and supported us in this effort. I hope you will take time to review this plan and join us as we continue to move forward in our efforts to preserve and protect the values and resources of Hot Springs National Park.

Josie Fernandez Superintendent

Hot Springs National Park Long-Range Interpretive Plan I 1

Visitors have been coming to Hot Springs for more than a century as seen in this photo of the historic Egg Spring.

The comprehensive interpretive planning process helps the park and its partners better serve its future visitor needs.

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Comprehensive Interpretive Planning

The National Park Service (NPS) has a unified planning approach for interpreta tion and education. This approach combines planning for interpretive media, personal services, and education programs. The Comprehensive Interpretive Planning (CIP) process is the basic planning document for interpretation and was incorporated into NPS guidelines in 1995. Responsibility for accomplishing the CIP process lies with each park’s superintendent.

WHAT IS A COMPREHENSIVE INTERPRETIVE PLAN?

The CIP process helps parks make choices, and this planning document is written to provide guidance to park staff. It helps them decide what their objectives are, who their audiences are, and what mix of media and personal services to use. Although the CIP as defined in Director’s Order 6 is composed of specific elements, good planning is customized to meet an individual park’s need and situations. The CIP is not a recipe;

rather it is a guide to effective, goal-driven planning. While it considers past interpretive programming, it is primarily a forward-looking document that concentrates on actions needed to create or sustain a vigorous and effective interpretive program for the future. All CIPs have these three components: the Long-Range Interpretive Plan (LRIP), a series of Annual Implementation Plans (AIP) and an Interpretive Database (ID).

WHAT IS A LONG-RANGE INTERPRETIVE PLAN?

The heart of the CIP is the Long-Range Interpretive Plan. The LRIP defines the overall vision and long-term (five to seven years) interpretive goals of the park. The process that develops the LRIP defines realistic strategies and actions that work toward achievement of the interpretive goals.

THE ANNUAL IMPLEMENTATION PLAN AND INTERPRETIVE DATABASE

The completed LRIP is a critical part of the CIP, but it does not stand alone. Actions in the LRIP are divided into annual, achievable steps and reproduced in the Annual Implementa tion Plan, the second component of the CIP. Creating a series of these AIPs that implement the recommendations in the LRIP simplifies the park’s annual planning. The third compo nent of the CIP is the Interpretive Database (ID), an ongoing compilation of information, reports, bibliographies, plans, and inventories that document the LRIP’s ongoing progress.

Hot Springs National Park Long-Range Interpretive Plan I 3

Photo by Helene Fischman, Artist in Residence.

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Part 1: Foundations

“It is difficult to put down in cold type a description of a district so bathed in loveliness, and so rich in natural endowment, as Hot Springs, Arkansas really is.”

—elbert hubbard, founder of the roycrofters

“a little journey to the maurice baths,” 1913

Hot Springs National Park Long-Range Interpretive Plan I 5

Park Legislation and Purpose

Each unit of the National Park System is created by Congress and the President of the United States. The following pieces of legislation created Hot Springs National Park.

PARk LEGISLATION Hot Springs National Park was authorized by an Act of Congress on April 20, 1832 (chapter 70, 4 Stat. 505), as Hot Springs Reservation and is the oldest protected area within the National Park System. This act reserved four square miles of land (2,529 acres) and all of the thermal springs contained therein.

The bill President Andrew Jackson signed into law stipulated “… the Hot Springs in said Territory [of Arkansas] together with four sections of land including said springs, as near the centre thereof as may be, shall be reserved for the future disposal of the United States, and shall not be entered, located or appropriated for any other purpose whatever.” In 1876 Hot Springs Reservation was reduced to 265 acres. The reservation was dedicated to park use by an act of June 16, 1880 (21 Stat. 288).

Congress renamed the reservation Hot Springs National Park on March 4, 1921 (41 Stat.

1407), and the park has since increased in size to 5,500 acres including Bathhouse Row (designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1987), approximately 26 miles of trails, an observation tower, a campground, scenic mountain drives, natural thermal spring displays, and several thermal spring and non-thermal spring jug fountains.

A park purpose statement summarizes the reasons a park is included in the National Park System. It is derived from the legislation that created both the National Park Service and a specific park.

PARk PURPOSE The purposes of Hot Springs National Park are to:

n Preserve the hot springs and manage the collection and distribution of hot spring water, uncontaminated, for public use and to evaluate ways to secure current and identify new recharge areas (where rainfall enters the watershed) to ensure the future health of the springs.

n Protect, preserve, and interpret the park’s natural areas, the cultural landscape of Bath house Row, and other historic and prehistoric features of Hot Springs National Park.

n Tell the story of the American Spa, including the use of medical and restorative therapies in restoring and preserving public health, regardless of income, race or nationality, and how the park has adapted to meet recreational needs.

Preserving the park’s natural areas where the rainfall enters the watershed is vital to the health of the hot springs.

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Park Significance

Statements of significance describe a park’s distinctive natural, cultural, and recreational resources and values that are the factual rationale for national recognition of the site.

Hot Springs National Park is nationally significant because:

n Hot Springs Reservation was the first federally controlled hot springs in the United States.

n The 1832 establishment of the Hot Springs Reservation was an early expression of the conservation movement which was the precursor to the National Park System mission to protect nationally significant resources “… for the public good.”

n Hot Springs National Park was established to protect and preserve the hot springs flow ing from Hot Springs Mountain for public use as a health resort.

n Bathhouse Row and the Grand Promenade were designated as the Bathhouse Row Na tional Historic Landmark District in 1987 because of their significance as the nation’s first and only federally owned thermal springs spa. They are the largest collection of ar chitecturally distinctive bathhouses listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Bathhouse Row is the largest col lection of architecturally distinctive bathhouses listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

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Park Mission and Priorities

A mission statement is a vision for the future and articulates, in broad terms, the ideas that the National Park Service strives to achieve.

NATIONAL PARk SERVICE MISSION STATEMENT The National Park Service preserves unimpaired natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of this and future generations. The NPS cooperates with partners to extend the benefits of natural and cultural resource conservation and outdoor recreation throughout this country and the world.

HOT SPRINGS NATIONAL PARk MISSION STATEMENT The mission of Hot Springs National Park is to protect the natural thermal springs so that they can be used by the public in perpetuity for bathing and drinking, and to conserve all other natural and historic resources within the park, for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of this and future generations.

PARk PRIORITIES/CORE MANAGEMENT OBjECTIVES From the Core Operations Evaluation (CORE OPS) Report (September 17, 2007):

n Inventory, monitor, preserve, and maintain the geothermal springs including their recharge zone.

n Protect and maintain the park’s thermal water collection and distribution system to provide the water for drinking and bathing.

n Monitor and protect the park’s mountain lands and their related natural and cultural resources and prevent unacceptable impacts.

n Monitor and conserve the park’s cultural resources associated with the bathing industry to prevent unacceptable impacts.

n Provide basic visitor facilities, protect visitors, provide for their enjoyment of the park, and manage their activities to prevent degradation of the park’s natural and cultural resources.

n Perform the critical legal, administrative, and employee support functions.

People have used the hot springs for more than 200 years to treat illnesses and to relax. Both rich and poor came for the baths, and a town built up around the Hot Springs Reservation to accommodate them.

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Park Mission Goals

Park mission goals articulate in broad terms the ideal conditions the park and its partners will strive to attain. The following mission goals were prepared in 2000 as part of the planning process required by the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). In addition to goals related to resource and visitor protection, there are some goals specifically related to interpretation and visitor services.

PARk MISSION GOALS

Mission Goal IIa1:

By September 30, 2012, 95 percent of visitors to Hot Springs National Park are satisfied with

“Hale with Awning” illustration by joAnne Doshier. Named for early appropriate park facilities, services, and recreational opportunities.

bathhouse owner john Hale, the present Hale Bathhouse is at least the fourth building to use this Mission Goal IIb1:

name. Hale Bathhouse is the oldest By September 30, 2012, 79 percent of Hot Springs National Park visitors understand the visible structure on Bathhouse Row.

significance of the park.

Accessibility

Every attempt will be made to provide full access to interpretive media and programs to ensure people with physical and mental disabilities have access to the same information necessary for safe and meaningful visits to national parks. This is in compliance with the National Park Service policy:

“ … To provide the highest level of accessibility possible and feasible for persons with visual, hearing, mobility, and mental impairments, consistent with the obligation to conserve park resources and preserve the qualities of the park experience for everyone.”

—NPS Special Directive 83-3, Accessibility for Disabled Persons

All interpretation will follow general standards for accessibility as described in the Harpers Ferry Center Programmatic Accessibility Guidelines for Interpretive Media.

Accessibility is a key component of the park visitor center operations.

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Park Interpretive Themes

Primary interpretive themes are those ideas or concepts about Hot Springs National Park that are key to helping visitors gain an understanding of the park’s significance and resources. The themes, which are based on the park’s purpose and significance, provide the foundation for interpretive programs and media in the park. The themes do not include everything that may be interpreted, but they do address the ideas that are critical to a visitor’s understanding and appreciation of the park’s significance. Effective interpretation is achieved when visitors are able to associate resources and their values and consequently derive something meaningful from their experiences.

The following interpretive themes were developed for Hot Springs National Park during a series of workshops held in 2005, 2007, and 2008 involving a cross-section of park staff, constituents, and partners:

THEME 1 – THE HOT SPRINGS

These hot springs emerge naturally from rocky hillside in a 4400-year cycle, and their waters are protected in perpetuity for public use.

This theme showcases water that fell as rain when Egyptian pyramids were being built, that was non-volcanically heated at depth, and that continues to flow out of Hot Springs Mountain. Complex faulting enables the process, fascinating both scientists wanting to understand and managers seeking to preserve the geological system.

Unique organisms thrive in the water, which is nonetheless safe for drinking and bathing.

The resource is collected and distributed for that purpose.

THEME 2 – THE AMERICAN SPA

The Hot Springs area came to be called the “American Spa” because it revolved around the federally operated Hot Springs Reservation/National Park. Government policy sought to ensure that thermal water was available to all, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity or financial standing.

This theme examines the “nation’s sanatorium” in its heyday. Millions of afflicted persons arrived carrying doctors’ orders for strict bathing and exercise regimens and relaxation. Conditions improved in all facilities and services, as pre-statehood frontier yielded to post-Gilded

Age sophistication. Bathhouse architecture flourished, resulting in an eclectic National Historic Landmark District. The park had a role in public health, serving all classes democratically with a dedicated medical director. One group, however (African Americans), constituted most of the bathing industry’s labor force. In modern times the continuum of the “American Spa” manifests in opportunities for hiking, jogging, organized exercise, wellness presentations, spa experiences and related activities.

THEME 3 – OUACHITA RANGE ECOSYSTEMS

The ancient, east-west trending Ouachita Mountains not only offer the gift of high-quality thermal water, they also nurture a remarkable diversity of flora and fauna that survives within the borders of an “island of preservation” called Hot Springs National Park.

This theme delves into the area’s biological characteristics and primeval factors that made the 5550-acre park what it is: plate tectonics and uplift, seas that deposited sediment fated to become rock such as novaculite (long exploited by humans in tool-making), erosion, old growth forest and the organisms that depend on it, fire in nature, and the incidental creation of subterranean pathways that would someday link the hot springs’ recharge and discharge zones.

THEME 4 – PARk AND CITY The creation of Hot Springs Reservation/ National Park as a health resort led to the birth of a city that catered to health seekers.

Thus began a symbiotic relationship that continues to evolve.

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The hot springs in Hot Springs National Park emerge along a fault on the western side of Hot Springs Mountain, which borders the downtown area of the city of Hot Springs, Arkansas.

This theme addresses Reservation/Park and City ties: the 1877 Hot Springs Commission, subsequent boundary changes and land ac quisitions; cooperative projects (e.g., creek arch and combined sewerage); “drumming” in Hot Springs and the federal struggle to outlaw it; promotional efforts; the Board of Registered Physicians; hospitals; pharma cies; destruction of natural spring outlets by bathhouse builders leading to federal regu lation of blasting; crime in the city and its spread into the park (e.g., the 1927 murder of James Cary, first National Park Service ranger murdered while on duty); the variety of entertainment opportunities available in the city for park visitors; the 1875 local precedent for rail access to national parks;

and bathhouse entrepreneurs, their political connections, and their roles in the develop ment of town and Reservation.

THEME 5 – EARLY PEOPLES

American Indians were first and longest on the scene. European explorers and hunters also helped set the stage for the American Spa.

This theme summarizes what we know of those who came prior to the 19th century.

Native history goes back at least 10,000 years in the region; the Caddo and Quapaw are the park’s affiliated tribes. Hernando de Soto’s expedition entered Arkansas in the

16th century, leaving a legacy of disease, then French hunters and trappers arrived in the 17th and 18th centuries. Reliable documentation for pre-1800s culture in the park vicinity is scarce to non-existent, however, except for novaculite quarries thought to have been used mostly during what archeologists call the Archaic Period.

THEME 6 – RESOURCE PROTECTION

PIONEER

In 1832 the Congress and President unknowingly helped shape the national park ideal by reserving, for public use in an age of “taking the waters” for one’s ailments, four square miles of Arkansas Territory containing the largest group of hot springs then under U.S. control.

This theme examines reasoning behind the considerable body of early legislation at Hot Springs, and the relation of these laws to later ones in National Park Service history (e.g., an 1820 memorial requesting that these springs be set aside and saying why), efforts to ensure fair access to water considered a boon to disease sufferers (including an 1878 provision for indigents), rulings that balanced resource conservation and appropriate public use, and even the Historic Leasing Program guiding current revitalization of Bathhouse Row.

Hot Springs National Park Long-Range Interpretive Plan I 11

Desired Visitor Experience

Desired visitor experiences describe what physical, intellectual, and emotional experiences should be available for visitors to Hot Springs National Park. These experiences will be available to visitors of all abilities, including those with visual, auditory, mobility, or cognitive impairments.

Visitors to Hot Springs National Park will have opportunities to:

n Feel the hot spring water as well as drink it and take some home.

n Experience a bird’s eye view of Hot Springs National Park from the Tower.

n Walk along the Grand Promenade and the park trails for exercise and fitness.

n Stay overnight at the Gulpha Gorge Campground.

n Enjoy a picnic.

n Learn the distinction between the city of Hot Springs and Hot Springs National Park and understand that the park is a unit of the National Park System.

n Feel a sense of the past.

n Feel welcome and safe.

n Have access to clean restrooms and drinking water.

n Be oriented to the area and to the recreational opportunities within the park.

n Take either a self-guided or guided tour at the park visitor center in the Fordyce Bathhouse.

n Experience a thermal water spa at either a traditional bathhouse or a modern facility.

n Obtain theme-related merchandise, publications, maps, and educational materials.

n Interact with park staff and participate in park programs and activities including Junior Rangers.

n Understand, to varying degrees, all park themes and significance.

n Make tangible connections through original artifacts, historic buildings and landscapes to the people and events represented in Hot Springs National Park stories.

Hot Springs National Park with its hot springs, natural areas, and historic use of the springs for medicine and recreation can provide extensions for teachers’ classroom materials.

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Park Audiences

This is a broad description of park audiences and their needs—including current and potential audiences. “Audience” describes anyone who uses a site’s interpre tation and educational services whether in person or “virtually” through digital technologies.

Approximately 1.4 million visitors come to Hot Springs National Park annually.

This figure is based on a five year average of monthly public use data taken during calendar years 2003-2007. There has been an 18 percent decrease in visitation from 2003 (1,561,311) to 2006 (1,273,456). There was a slight increase in visitation in 2007.

Statistics indicate that one third of park visitors go to some combination of the following: the Hot Springs National Park Visitor Center, Buckstaff Bathhouse, Gulpha Gorge Campground, or the Hot Springs Mountain Tower.

Peak visitation is during the summer months of June, July and August. The shoulder seasons are March-May and September- October. Visitation during the winter months is almost 50 percent less than the summer, with the exception of heavy visita tion during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Visitation data from the 2004 State of Arkansas “Overnight Leisure Visitor Profile” suggests most visitors drive to the park and are coming from within the state as well as from Texas, Missouri, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. The majority of the visitors are individuals and small family groups.

Anecdotal evidence from park staff suggests that most local visitors are using the Gulpha Gorge Picnic Area and park trails and do not necessarily come to the Hot Springs National Park Visitor Center located in the Fordyce Bathhouse.

Home school students and public/paro chial school groups most often come in the spring on end-of-year field trips. During the 2004-2005 school year 700 students vis ited with 42 percent from the Hot Springs/ Garland County area, 34 percent from other Arkansas schools, and 14 percent from out of state. The park recorded 9 percent as col lege student tours. During the 2006-2007 school year approximately 500 students visited with 18 percent local schools, 60 per cent other Arkansas schools, and 22 percent college groups, including Arkansas and out of state. Non-formal education groups in clude Scouts, 4-H, and Elderhostel.

Staff members attend teacher conferences to encourage teachers to incorporate Hot Springs National Park into their classroom studies. These may include the Arkansas Curriculum Conference, the Arkansas Gifted and Talented Educators Conference, and the Arkansas Math and Science Teacher’s Conference.

The park has developed a relationship with area high school - EAST (Environmental and Spatial Technology) Labs, to create new virtual technology programs.

The park has 26 miles of trails for visitors to explore. People can see wildflowers, rock formations, and beautiful scenery. Here, a park ranger leads a spring nature walk along the Grand Promenade.

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Issues and Challenges Affecting Interpretation

Hot Springs National Park has many assets upon which to build an effective interpretive program, including evocative and compelling stories, outstanding cultural resources, ongoing research, a professional staff, and dedicated supporters. It also faces a number of challenges. Well-designed programs can build on interpretive strengths to help overcome the challenges.

IDENTITY:

n Literal community and park boundary lines are blurred to the public to the point of confusion. It is difficult to discern where the park ends and community begins.

Interpretation can be a powerful resource in mitigating the confusion between the park and the City of Hot Springs by interpreting the history of the park’s development.

n Confusion between NPS-conducted and private sector-conducted activities.

ACCESS:

n Large recreational vehicle parking in town is difficult. There are few options available so that visitors can stop and visit.

CORE OPS:

n Education has been added as a component of the interpretive program. A park education plan has been written and approved; an Education Specialist position has been approved but not yet funded.

n Marketing and leasing of six bathhouses to be used as bathhouses, museums, or other appropriate business opportunities has begun. Rehabilitation and construction activities continue on the bathhouses.

The city of Hot Springs, Arkansas, with about 39,000 people, is located immediately outside the park’s boundaries. PHoTo CouRTESy oF HoT SPRINGS AdVER-

TISING ANd PRoMoTIoN CoMMISSIoN.

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Existing Conditions

FACILITIES

Visitor Center The visitor center is located in the Fordyce Bathhouse which is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

daily. There is an Eastern National book store and a small theater which shows the park film “Valley of Vapors.” Touchable exhibits are located outside of the theater.

An information desk, message board and publications are located in the lobby. The chairs and plants in the lobby replicate the historic setting of the Fordyce. Visitors may either go on a guided tour or take a self-guiding tour of the Fordyce. Visitor flow is directed either to the right for those wanting to take the tour of the museum or left for those who want to go to the bookstore and/ or the theater.

Within Hot Springs, Arkansas, there are multiple visitor centers serving different functions:

n Hot Springs National Park Visitor Center is located in the Fordyce Bathhouse. This facility provides information, orientation, and interpretation focused on the national park.

n The city of Hot Springs Visitor Center provides information about lodging and local tourist attractions.

n Hot Springs Mountain Tower has a sales desk that provides limited information about the park and local tourist attractions.

n The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in the Federal Building is open Monday through Friday. This office sells USFS merchandise and provides information about the local National Forests.

Bathhouse Row Bathhouse Row is the focal point for visitor activities within the park. The visitor center is located within the Fordyce Bathhouse.

The Buckstaff Bathhouse is a concession that offers traditional baths. The Quapaw is a leased business operating as a modern spa with pools, and the Ozark Bathhouse has been leased as a museum of contemporary art. The other bathhouses are currently closed to the public. There are multiple locations along Bathhouse Row where visitors can see the hot springs as well as feel and drink the water.

Hot Springs National Park interpretive rangers present daily guided walks during the summer months. Topics include bathhouse construction and restoration, architecture, and geology as well as history related to the hot springs. Programs are offered free of charge, and group size varies.

Tour size average is six visitors. Junior Ranger programs are also offered free of charge here in the summer, on a variety of topics. There are wayside panels in front of each bathhouse and at both entrances to Bathhouse Row. Free park-produced publications about thermal water and historical topics are available at the visitor center. Special events are held throughout the year along with evening activities including receptions and art shows.

Buckstaff Bathhouse opened in 1912 and continues to provide an opportunity for the public to experience a historic, traditional bath. All new seasonal staff experience a thermal bath as part of their orientation training. There is currently good communication and a good relationship between the Buckstaff and park staff members.

Quapaw Baths and Spa opened in the summer of 2008 and offers modern spa services with pools. The Museum of Contemporary Art of Hot Springs opened in the Ozark Bathhouse in April of 2009.

Grand Promenade Historically visitors walked the Grand Promenade as part of their health and wellness visit to Hot Springs.

Directional waysides are located along the main trail. Free trail maps are available

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Above:A park ranger presents a “Leave No Trace” program at the Gulpha Gorge Amphitheater.

Right: The Grand Promenade started as part of a Public Works Adminis tration project in the 1930s and was completed in 1957. Several park trails begin and end from the Grand Promenade. Bottom: Goat Rock Trail is one of the day-use hiking trails that visitors can explore.

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“Wild Sunflowers at the Pagoda” by jamie Carter, Artist in Residence.

at the Hot Springs National Park Visitor Center, and a trail guide is being developed as a future sales item at the Eastern National bookstore.

Access to the Grand Promenade is challenging. Two of three major entrances include walking steps, and ramps are steep.

Hot Springs Mountain Tower The tower is a park concession. Visitors pay a fee to go to the top of the tower; elevator access is available. There are two separate observation decks offering views of the park and the community. A gift shop, restrooms, and sales desk are located at the base of the tower. Park-produced free publications and non-park sales items are available. Exhibits are located on the enclosed observation deck.

Whittington Park The park is a popular place for the com munity to walk and provides a restful place within the city. It is located adjacent to the entrance to West Mountain Drive. Band concerts are held biweekly in the summer.

Trails There are approximately 26 miles of day-use hiking trails in the park including most of a circa 1914 Oertel system of graduated exercise trails designed especially for health-seekers. Walking and hiking the trails is a year-round activity for health, fitness, and recreation. Free park-produced trail guides are available at the visitor center. Waysides are located at the trailheads along the Grand Promenade but not at the backcountry trailheads.

Interpretive staff offer guided hikes about spring wildflowers and natural history. In 2008 the 8 hikes offered attracted a total of 70 visitors. There is also a litter/graffiti prevention campaign and a “Leave No Trace” program that is presented to scouts upon request.

Gulpha Gorge Gulpha Gorge has a picnic area with more than 20 tables with pedestal grills, and the fee-based campground has 40 sites and an amphitheater. There are historical features including a cabin that is now used to house the “Artist-In-Residence.” Visitors can access trails and, with a state fishing license, go fishing.

There is an orientation and information bulletin board adjacent to where the visitor pays the campground fee.

Drives/Roads There are overlooks and vistas along the park’s designated scenic drives, and these provide a view of the Zigzag Range. Many visitors driving on Hot Springs Mountain Drive are going to the Hot Springs Moun tain Tower and the Pagoda. No vehicles over 30 feet in length can travel on Hot Springs Mountain Drive. Longer vehicles, including tour buses, can only go up West Mountain Road. There is limited orientation and information signage on the tour roads, and no waysides.

Interpretive opportunities to understand the park’s complex geologic story are provided by the Hot Springs National Park Geologic Excursion Tour Guide, which is a sales item sold at the park bookstore. Interpretive staff present talks on Arlington Lawn and at scenic overlooks as special events.

NON-PERSONAL SERVICES

(INTERPRETIVE MEDIA)

There is a variety of interpretive media throughout the park, including:

Website The website is updated regularly.

Exhibits An exhibit hall is located on the second floor of the Fordyce Bathhouse. These ex hibits were produced by Harpers Ferry Cen ter (HFC) in 1989 and provide orientation to the park’s cultural and natural resources.

“African Americans and the Hot Springs Baths” is a touch-screen exhibit that includes oral history and photographs of the contributions of African Americans.

Historically Furnished Areas Historic furnishings are on display in 24 rooms within the Fordyce Bathhouse.

Hot Springs National Park Long-Range Interpretive Plan I 17

Above: The park’s wayside exhibit panels do not reflect the current NPS standards.

Below: A needle shower is located in the men’s bath hall at the Fordyce Bathhouse.

Harpers Ferry Center produced a Historic Furnishings Report in 1987, and the exhibits opened in 1989.

Audiovisual programs “Valley of Vapors” is a 15-minute video that was produced by HFC in 1989. The video is started automatically and is shown every 30 minutes. It provides an overall orientation to the entire park. It is shown in the 45-seat theater located in the Fordyce Bathhouse.

The program does have open captioning.

Assisted-listening devices are available upon request. The program is being audio-described in 2008-09.

“Taking the Baths” is a nine-minute video that was produced by HFC in 1988. The video explains the process of a traditional bath. It is shown on a kiosk in the second floor Fordyce Bathhouse exhibit area.

Visitors push a button to begin the program.

The program is captioned and will be audio-described in 2009.

Wayside Exhibits All park wayside panels are fiberglass-embedded. Six panels are upright and fifteen are traditional horizontal. The Peak Trail and Open Springs panels were installed in 1993. The Open Springs and Quapaw Bathhouse panel information was updated in 2001. All other panels were installed in 1996. Harpers Ferry Center last sent replacement panels in March 2004.

Panels were created before the NPS graphic identity program was established.

The park’s wayside exhibit panels do not reflect the current National Park Service standards.

Signs Old signs are being replaced using cyclic maintenance funding.

Publications The park’s primary publication is the NPS Official Map and Guide, last revised in 2008.

Numerous free publications on special topics are available at the visitor center.

junior Rangers Hot Springs National Park Junior Ranger Activity Books and badges are available free of charge at the visitor center. For scheduled Junior Ranger programs, a special embroidered patch is given out free of charge.

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Above: The park guide and museum specialist inventory items from the park collections that have been used in a temporary exhibit.

Below: A park ranger presents a junior Ranger program on junior Ranger Day.

Staff members are currently developing Junior Ranger Archeologist and Geologist programs.

Park Library, Archives, and Collections There are more than 625,000 natural and cultural resource items in the museum collections. The collections started in 1936 and have grown dramatically in the past 30 years as the bathhouses closed and were rehabilitated. Objects include archival maps, documents, photographs, antique exercise therapy machines, Art Nouveau stained glass skylights, plant and insect collections, prehistoric archeological artifacts, geology specimens, and bathhouse fixtures and furnishings. Collections are used for temporary and permanent exhibits, research, program development, and park planning. The park library is a research facility for staff and for visiting scholars by appointment.

PERSONAL SERVICES

Hot Springs National Park’s Division of Interpretation and Cultural Resources offers a variety of interpretive programs, including guided tours, costumed interpretation, special topic programs and off-sites activities. Programs include geology/thermal springs tours, architectural walks, an “insider’s tour” of Bathhouse Row renovations, and “ranger’s choice” programs. Ranger’s choice programs include spring wildflower walks, night sky programs, Fordyce museum tours, and children’s Junior Ranger topics.

Costumed interpretation programs include a Fordyce patron exercising in the gymnasium in the Fordyce, a 1915 bath attendant presentation, and an early park ranger at Hot Springs National Park/Reservation talk.

Many areas of the park’s interpretive themes are not adequately addressed, including the forest ecosystem, the history of segregation and the bathhouses, and the historical American Indian influence on the area.

Little formal or informal interpretation is provided at Whittington Park.

The Division of Interpretation and Cultural Resources has a small staff size, which limits

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A park guide, dressed as an early park ranger at Hot Springs National Park, presents a costumed interpretive program.

offering off-site programs on a regular basis.

The Fordyce Bathhouse is designed to be self-guiding, but guided tours are offered for groups who call for reservations.

Volunteers give guided tours of the Fordyce Bathhouse several days each week. In Fiscal Year 2008 they delivered a total of 434 tours for 9,100 visitors. Park interpreters give bathhouse tours as time allows. The information desk is continuously staffed, and roving interpretation is performed as time allows.

Special Events Hot Springs National Park annually observes “Constitution Week.” The Akansa Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution distributes information about the Constitution and there is an opportunity for visitors to sign a copy of the document.

The park sponsors a “Volksmarch” each October, which is sanctioned by the American Volkssport Association.

The Dunbar-Hunter Expedition com memoration is held annually in December.

“History Helpers,” a local group of living history professionals, presents costumed interpretation about life and travel during the early 1800s, the time of the expedition.

Visitors come to see period cooking, fire starting, firearms, and clothing, and to learn about river poling. When a black powder supervisor is available, black powder firing demonstrations are offered.

Since 2005 the park has been celebrating an “Edwardian Christmas.” Costumed volunteer Marge Newburn explains Christmas during the Edwardian period in the United States. The Christmas tree in the

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Fordyce lobby is decorated with ornaments, many handmade, like the type used in 1915.

In response to the National Park Service’s new program Children and Nature Plan for Action a special Earth Day (April 22) work shop was held in 2008. Arkansas State Park representatives attended as well as U.S.

Forest Service and U.S. Army Corps of En gineers representatives. The park initiated a follow-up event, an “Outdoor Expo,” in the Lamar Bathhouse in the summer 2008.

County-wide outdoor recreation agencies came to set up booths and distribute infor mation. This will become an annual event.

March is “Arkansas Heritage Month,” and the park offers a temporary exhibit or special program related to the theme each year. In 2008 living historian Tom Yancey portrayed Arkansas Governor and bathhouse owner Henry Rector.

The park holds special events each year during National Park Week. These often include a talk by a recent author from the area followed by a book signing. In 2008 the park held its first Junior Ranger Day on the same day as the National Junior Ranger Day and intends to continue to offer this event.

Each June the park conducts guided hikes on National Trails Day.

Staffing Staff positions according to current park organizational chart include the following:

Chief of Interpretation and Cultural Resources GS-025-12

Interpretive Program Assistant GS-303-6 Park Ranger GS-025-9 Park Ranger GS-025-9 Park Ranger GS-025-9 Park Guide GS-090-5

Other Programmatic Responsibilities Managed by Interpretation and Cultural Resources Include:

• Section 106 Compliance Coordinator/

Paraprofessional Archaeologist – 20 percent of one GS-9’s time.

• Volunteer Coordinator – 20 percent of one GS-9’s time.

• Eastern National Bookstore Coordinator

– 30 percent of one GS-9’s time.

• Website and Library Duties – 20 percent of the Interpretive Program Assistant’s time.

Ranger Program Topics Include:

Bathhouse Row Insider’s, Discovering the Waters, Fordyce Bathhouse, and Architecture Tours; programs on Negro Leagues teams at Hot Springs, American Indians, career days, bath attendants, Spanish exploration, and the DeSoto legend.

Two interpreters are certified Leave No Trace trainers.

Information Desk Interpretive staff must spend approximately 25 percent of their time operating the information desk. Even if there is a volunteer working at the information desk, a permanent interpreter, who is a fee collector, must be available to issue America the Beautiful interagency passes.

CURRICULUM-BASED EDUCATION

PROGRAM

The park does not have a historian or an education specialist to implement and manage an educational program as desired by the National Park Service.

Five curriculum-based lesson plans are available online. The lesson plans address the Dunbar-Hunter Expedition, thermal water, Bathhouse Row, the African American story, and a Leave No Trace lesson plan about litter.

An 1804-05 Dunbar-Hunter Expedition traveling trunk was developed and is available for loan. Educational materials are distributed at annual conferences. Staff members attend teacher conferences to encourage teachers to incorporate Hot Springs National Park into their classroom studies. These may include the Arkansas Curriculum Conference, the Arkansas Gifted and Talented Educators Conference, and the Arkansas Math and Science Teacher’s Conference.

School groups can visit historic buildings, take water samples, and retrace the steps of

Hot Springs National Park Long-Range Interpretive Plan I 21

Above: “Flashy Fordyce” by joAnne Doshier.

Opposite page: From atop Hot Springs Mountain Tower, visitors can see the forested mountains of the park and the city of Hot Springs landscape.

an explorer. Law enforcement rangers visit schools to educate children about graffiti and bike safety. No structured educational program currently exists with pre-visit and post-visit activities or ranger visits to classes.

Occasionally, limited staffing prevents accommodating some school groups’ requests; however, reservations for tours are scheduled as much as possible.

PARTNERSHIPS

Friends of the Fordyce and Hot Springs National Park, Inc., provided funding in 2006 for restoration of historic stained glass and for the 175th anniversary celebration.

The Friends currently raise funds for the park, sponsor the annual “Wine, Food, and Arts Extravaganza” as their primary fundraising activity, and decorate Bathhouse Row for the holiday season.

COOPERATING ASSOCIATION

The park bookstore is operated by a part-time, 24 hours per week, Eastern National employee, park interpretive staff, and volunteers. The bookstore is located in the visitor center in a room just north of the lobby. Staffing the bookstore is difficult and sometimes comes at the expense of providing interpretive programs. On the other hand, it serves a fundamental interpretive purpose by encouraging visitors to investigate park themes more deeply.

Eastern National revenue increased 35 percent in 2006 and the park received $7,500 for its Interpretive Donation account.

Interpretive and educational activities using reproductions of items taken on expeditions such as the 1804-05 dun bar-Hunter Expedition, captivate area students and young visitors. The dunbar- Hunter Expedition was commissioned by President Jefferson as the first scientific expedition to the “hot springs on the Washita,” the area that became Hot Springs National Park. Park rangers bring to life the significant but frequently over looked expedition, while showing kids how Arkansas and the hot springs relate to the Louisiana Purchase.

The park spent $68,000 in Fiscal Year 2006 to manage and operate the bookstore.

Interpretive donation funds are utilized for a wide variety of interpretive projects. These include funding for living history programs, speakers for special events, refreshments for workshops and special events, and printing park publications.

VOLUNTEERS

In Fiscal Year 2006, 825 volunteers contributed 13,939 hours. Most volunteers serve in the visitor center and assist in the bookstore and at the information desk.

Some volunteers lead guided walks or hikes and assist with special events.

Artist In Residence Artists stay for up to one month and produce paintings, drawings, photography, music, video, sculpture, or writing inspired by the park’s history, culture, and natural surroundings. Each artist donates a work to the park to display and use in publications.

Gulpha Gorge Campground Volunteers-In-Parks (VIPs) clean and main tain restrooms, campsites, and picnic areas.

Students EAST Lab students created videos, virtual tours, and mapped trails.

Recognition The park volunteer coordinator and Super intendent work together to recognize volun teer achievements throughout the year.

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Hot Springs National Park Long-Range Interpretive Plan I 23

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Part 2: Future Interpretive Program

“A Hot Springs visit and sojourn comprise a lifelong memory of renewed health and vacation pleasures.

The boiling baths, the constant electrifying hot draughts at every steaming spring, fountain and faucet, the elixir ozone of the mountain pines, driving, riding or promenading, tennis, golf and ball grounds, the ostrich, alligator and kennel parks, the sky steel tower on Hot Springs peak, the fine orchestras, nightly hops, and state balls, social cards and always attractive panorama of the passing people combine to make a Hot Spring sojourn a distinct life experience.”

—persinger’s pictorial post book booklet, 1908

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The Planning Process

In developing this Long-Range Interpretive Plan (LRIP) as part of the Comprehen sive Interpretive Planning process, a series of workshops was conducted with park staff and partners.

A two-day workshop was held in October 2005 to review and revise the park’s interpretive themes. The foundations section of the plan was drafted in June 2007 during a three-day workshop. Then in April 2008 a three-day workshop was held to determine the current state of the interpretive program and to begin making recommendations for the next five to seven years. A one-day meeting was held at the park in June 2008 to complete the recommendations section. The implementation plan was completed via conference calls and e-mail.

Once the initial draft Long-Range Interpretive Plan was completed in October 2008, it was reviewed by the core interpretive team and park management. The revised draft was then reviewed by park divisional representatives, key park partners, and planning workshop participants. This collaborative interpretive planning effort has produced a more comprehensive document to guide the park’s interpretive program into the future.

Hot Springs National Park offers op portunities for families to enjoy the outdoors or…