Tule Lake Segregation Center Becomes National Monument

President Bush designates the former Japanese American internment camp site as part of the new World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument

December 5, 2008

Contact:
Vanessa Vaughan, 703.908.5809

Arlington, VA – The Conservation Fund today praised President George W. Bush’s action to designate the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, which includes a number of key historic sites in the Pacific region and continental United States, including the former Tule Lake Segregation Center, located in northern California.

As part of a nationwide initiative to conserve Japanese American internment camp sites, The Conservation Fund has worked closely with the National Park Service (NPS), Japanese American Citizens League, Tule Lake Committee and other local partners to conserve land at the site of three former camps – Minidoka National Historic Site in Idaho, Topaz in Utah and now the Tule Lake site in Northern California. To date, the Fund has protected over 230 acres of historic lands at Minidoka and Topaz.

Today’s action by the president will conserve historic lands at the Tule Lake Segregation Center, which was the largest and longest-running of the 10 internment camps operated by the War Relocation Authority during World War II. Tule Lake served as a segregation center, housing those Japanese Americans who answered “no” to the government’s controversial questions of loyalty.

“By conserving these important sites, President Bush recognized the valor of American military personnel throughout the Pacific theater and the quiet courage of Japanese Americans incarcerated at Tule Lake,” remarked Dan Sakura, project leader for the Fund’s Japanese American Internment Camp Protection Initiative. “Today’s action also demonstrated a commitment to tell one of the many important stories associated with World War II. These camp sites stand today as an important reminder of a difficult time in American history, and preserving them and other storied places will leave a lasting legacy and ensure that future generations have a chance to understand, appreciate and learn from our nation’s rich and diverse history.”

In addition, the designation of the monument will promote heritage tourism in Modoc County and provide economic benefits to an area that has important natural and cultural resources associated with Lava Beds National Monument and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge.

The president’s action builds on several recent initiatives to conserve the site. In 2006, Interior Secretary Gale Norton designated Tule Lake as a National Historic Landmark. In the 110th Congress, the California congressional delegation introduced bipartisan legislation to authorize NPS to conduct a special resource study as a step towards designating Tule via legislation as a National Historic Site (NHS), modeled after Manzanar NHS in California and Minidoka NHS in Idaho.

The new monument will conserve federal lands that feature objects of historic interest, most notably the camp prison, as well as other camp buildings, structures and objects.

A number of groups worked together to advance this important initiative including the Japanese American Citizens League, Tule Lake Committee, Japanese American National Museum and the Densho, a Seattle-based oral history organization.

About The Conservation Fund

At The Conservation Fund, we combine a passion for conservation with an entrepreneurial spirit to protect your favorite places before they become just a memory. A hallmark of our work is our deep, unwavering understanding that for conservation solutions to last, they need to make economic sense. Top-ranked, we have protected nearly 7 million acres across America.