CaseStudy:Nike Site Summit Historic District Programmatic Agreement

The Army proposes to implement a management plan to include the management, treatment, and demolition of certain buildings and structures within the Nike Site Summit Historic District. This undertaking would provide for the selective retention and securing of certain structures and buildings, and demolition of other structures and buildings.

The Nike Site Summit Historic District is a former Nike Hercules Missile Battery located on Mount Gordon Lyon above Anchorage, Alaska. According to the National Register of Historic Places nomination form, Site Summit was completed in 1959 and represents an example of a Cold War-era Nike-Hercules missile installation. Also according to the National Register nomination form, Site Summit was one of the very few active Nike sites in the United States to actually test fire the missiles. The site was listed on the National Register in 1996 as a historic district of national-level significance and under National Register Criterion A in the area of military history.

The question of how to manage the historic properties at Nike Site Summit is one the Army has been working to address for some time. This nationally significant site is of great interest and concern to a number of organizations and groups, as well as members of the general public.

While the Programmatic Agreement (PA) is in final draft form, the Army is proposing to develop a Retained Buildings and Structures Treatment Plan to stabilize certain buildings and structures with minimal maintenance and limited interior access. Specific measures for certain buildings are articulated in the PA to be included in the subsequent Retention Plan. The PA provides for additional review and comment by the consulting parties of the draft Retention Plan, and for an Abatement Plan should the Army determine the need to abate hazardous materials from the retained buildings and structures. The PA also includes proposed mitigation such as written documentation, photographic recordation, and drawings for those buildings to be demolished. The PA establishes a process whereby the Army would delay demolishing certain buildings and structures to allow the consulting parties a reasonable amount of time to plan and seek outside funds for the stabilization and/or rehabilitation of the buildings. Finally, the PA provides for the development, through consultation, of other general mitigation measures such as interpretive materials, a completed Historic American Landscape Survey, additional information sharing, and limited public access to the site.

Among the consulting parties are the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), National Park Service (NPS), Bureau of Land Management, Alaska State Historic Preservation Office, Municipality of Anchorage, National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Friends of Nike Site Summit, the Nike Historical Society, the Cold War Historical Museum, the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Anchorage Ski Club, Inc., the Cook Inlet Historical Society, and the Alaska Association for Historic Preservation. The Army also invited the Native Village of Eklutna to participate in this consultation.

The ACHP became involved in the case in November 2007. This has been a challenging consultation process due in large part to the concern expressed by the consulting parties in response to the Army’s initial proposal for management and demolition on the site and the attempt to find the balance between historic preservation and military mission restrictions and responsibilities.

The Army has hosted numerous consultation meetings over the past years at various intervals. The NPS developed an “Evaluation of the Impact of the U.S. Army’s Proposed Management Strategy on Nike Site Summit Historic District and Recommendations for the Avoidance, Minimization, and Mitigation of Adverse Effects” in July 2008.