A proposed plan for preserving the Tule Lake Detention Center will be released in the fall while a Japanese American group fights a plan to build an airport fence on the site, reports the Herald & News.
The fence is meant to keep animals out of the airport and to protect the public, but the Tule Lake Committee fears the fence which would run through the Center would ruin its historical integrity.
Only a few buildings remain on the site including a jail. It was the prison home of 19,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. Most were segregated because they refused to profess their loyalty to a country that denied them their constitutional rights.
Once a preservation plan is approved, the National Park Service hopes to seek funding from Congress to build a visitor’s center and other facilities.
“Trouble is, we have very little money to do much of anything yet,” said Mike Reynolds, superintendent of Lava Beds National Monument and the Tule Lake Unit.
You can read about hopes of opening up more of Tule Lake to the public in the Herald & News.
