Coachella Part of National Park Service Quest to Honor Cesar Chavez
Several locations in the Coachella Valley may soon be protected landmarks as the National Park Service reviews their connection to farm labor activist Cesar Chavez.
A special resource study is reviewing sites that are significant to the life of Cesar Chavez and the farm labor movement in the western United States and several local locations are among the sites being considered.
Four Coachella sites, and one in Thermal, have been deemed "Tier III” sites, ones that were the locations of important events, but do not rise to the level of national significance, according to Martha Crusius, project manager of NPS.
Those sites include Cesar Chavez Elementary School, the David Freedman Ranch, the UFWOC Field Office and Veterans Park in Coachella and Coachella Valley High School in Thermal.
The National Park Service is being directed by Congress to conduct this study.
"The study will examine whether there are ways to use these sites to help tell important aspects of the history of the farm worker movement, and determine whether there is an appropriate role for the NPS in preserving these sites and stories," Crusius said.
Here is where you can help: The National Park Service is holding public meetings throughout the month of May to explain the study process, answer questions, and get the public’s insight on additional ways to commemorate and tell the farm labor movement story.
Here are the locations of the meetings.
- Mayfair Community Center, San Jose, May 2nd
- Steinbeck Institute of Art and Culture, Salinas, May 3rd
- Los Angeles River Center and Gardens, May 9
- Cafe on A- The Rudy F. Acuna Gallery and Cultural Arts Center, Oxnard, May 10
- The Forty Acres, Delano, May 12
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Neighborhood Center, Yuma, AZ, May 24
- Cesar Chavez Elementary school, Coachella, May 11
Some of the options that may be considered by the NPS as part of the study include:
- ongoing management by the current public or private owners technical assistance to property owners who wish to recognize the work of Cesar Chavez and the farmworker movement on land they own
- listing of historic sites on the National Register of Historic Places
- NPS management of one or more sites, for example as a national historical park
- NPS coordination of a historic trail or tour route
The Coachella public meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m., May 11 at Cesar Chavez Elementary School, 49601 Avenida de Oro.
The draft study report is expected to be published for public review and comment in the fall of 2011. A final report will be transmitted to Congress by the end of 2011.
If you would like more information on this study visit http://www.nps.gov/pwro/chavez/.