By David West
07/30/2015

NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State University and the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service have entered into a five-year agreement covering historic preservation, interpretation, education, research and cultural resource management for the Cane River Creole National Historical Park.

The objective of this agreement is to fulfill the legislative intent of the enabling legislation for Cane River Creole National Historical Park, which allows the Secretary of the Interior to enter into cooperative agreements for the purpose of facilitating the preservation of important historic sites and structures identified in the historical park’s general management plan or other heritage elements related to the heritage of the Cane River region.

This is the second cooperative agreement signed by the university and the park. The first agreement spanned 10 years and funded: research and archival projects at NSU’s Creole Heritage Center; ethnographic projects with African American, Creole and American Indian groups connected to or still residing within this region; and conferences about Hispanic roots of Creole culture, the state of the Delta, in-depth analyses of split-cane basketry and French colonial ceramics.

“The National Park Service has been proud to partner with Northwestern State University in our shared endeavors,” said National Park Superintendent Laura Soullière Gates. “This new agreement lays the foundation for the future, so that the melding of the scholarly pursuits of the university faculty and the research needs of the National Park Service can continue to intertwine in a manner that promotes the highest scholarship and the use of that information in the best possible management of national park resources.”

Tasks and activities contemplated under this agreement may include but are not limited to cultural resource studies; research and educational activities; historic preservation activities; genealogical studies and activities; visitor use studies; interpretive studies and activities; materials conservation research and associated preservation and conservation activities; linguistic research and activities and other tasks and activities that promote and are related to the park’s enabling legislation.

“The cooperative agreement allows the National Park Service to contract directly with Northwestern for specific tasks it needs to have done as regards the culture and history of the Cane River and Delta regions of NPS,” said NSU Professor of Anthropology Dr. Hiram F. “Pete” Gregory. “This can include projects that involve faculty, staff or students. In the past, these contracts have funded faculty time and travel, led to publications and made NSU a partner in the activities of the park.”

Under the agreement, the National Park Service and Northwestern State will develop cooperative projects in partnership in cultural and natural resource management, ethnography, historic preservation, regional genealogy, history, materials conservation and related fields in furtherance of the legislation.