From the Tule Lake Committee:
Dear Friends of Tule Lake,
The Tule Lake Committee needs your help. We need letters sent to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) objecting to the construction of a proposed fence in the center of the former Tule Lake Segregation Center that would close off to visitors more than half of the area where barracks once stood.
The FAA is considering Modoc County’s application to construct an 8-foot high, 16,000-foot long fence to surround the Tule Lake airport to ostensibly prevent deer and other wildlife from wandering onto the runway, despite scant evidence of incidents with wildlife or people interfering with the crop duster planes that use the airport. Because the airport is located in the center of the former Tule Lake Segregation Site, a fence would destroy not only the physical and historic integrity of the site where 18,000 people were imprisoned, but also the psychological and emotional collective memory of a place that is held within the boundaries of this vast prison camp.
Site tours would no longer be possible and many former prisoners and their descendants would no longer be able to explore the areas where their families were once imprisoned. Visitors would no longer be able to traverse the Site to experience the dimension and magnitude of the Site, to gain a sense of the distances family members walked in their daily routine to eat meals, attend school, do laundry and use the latrines. A fence would essentially prevent a serious appreciation of what life was like during the incarceration.
The FAA is close to completing its evaluation of the impact this proposed fence would have on the historic integrity of the Site. We are urged to solicit letters from as many people as possible to object to the proposed fence because it would destroy the setting, feeling, and association of the Tule Lake Segregation Center site. A fence of that magnitude would cause such a physical alteration to the historic setting of the Site that it would prevent visitors from interacting with the actual physical landscape and from seeing what remains of former structures. A fence would significantly interfere with the personal reflection of former prisoners, their descendants and other visitors who seek an understanding of the conditions under which more than 18,000 people were incarcerated.
Let’s not allow Tule Lake, a place that represents the destruction of thousands of Japanese American hopes and dreams, to be destroyed with an unneeded fence. The FAA needs Nikkei community responses about the detrimental effects of the proposed fence. We ask that you write a short letter or email to the FAA describing how a fence surrounding the runway would be a detriment to experiencing the setting, feeling, and association of the site.
Your letter or email should be addressed to:
Mr. Douglas R. Pomeroy, Environmental Protection Specialist
FAA San Francisco Airports District
1000 Marine Boulevard, Suite 220
Brisbane, CA 94005
Email: Douglas.Pomeroy@faa.gov
Please send a copy to our legal counsel:
Mr. Bryan L. Hawkins, esq.
Stoel Rives LLP
500 Capitol Mall, Suite 1600
Sacramento, CA 95814
Email: BLHAWKINS@stoel.com
And also to:
Tule Lake Committee
P.O Box 170141
San Francisco, CA 94117
Email: rhi2511@comcast.net
Updates on the status of the FAA review will be posted on our website: http://www.tulelake.org/
Thank you for your support!
Roy Ikeda for the Tule Lake Committee
