The Gettysburg Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts on the Importance of Preserving Our National Parks
December 11, 2018
Fix Our Parks: Pew Charitable Trust talks with Gettysburg
Foundation president Matthew C. Moen, Ph.D.
In 2019 the Friends of Gettysburg celebrates its 30th anniversary of the partnership with Gettysburg National Military Park and Eisenhower National Historic Site. The Gettysburg Foundation seeks to preserve these critical historic sites and educate the public about their significance.
Completed projects include the 139,000 square foot, state of the art, Gettysburg National Military Park Museum & Visitor Center, the preservation of more than 700 acres of historic land, the acquisition of more than 400 additional acres of battlefield land for preservation and interpretation, and the recruitment and retention of more than 700 volunteers and 20,000 Friends from all 50 states and eight foreign countries. Current projects include raising funds to transform the farmhouse at the George Spangler Farm Civil War Field Hospital Site into a state-of-the-art education center and to bring Gettysburg Revisited, programming that takes Lincoln’s message of civility, humility and inclusion across the country.
For the Gettysburg National Military Park, the maintenance and funding remain challenging and complex. To better understand some of the challenges, the Pew Charitable Trusts visited Gettysburg National Military Park and walked some of the most iconic sites in the Park with Gettysburg Foundation president Matthew C. Moen, Ph.D. This video and its accompanying blog post highlight some of the deferred maintenance needs, the importance of the Gettysburg Foundation’s partnership with the National Park Service and why preserving Gettysburg is so important.
We are thankful to our friends at the Pew Charitable Trust for the great strides they are making to preserve our national parks.