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Supporters say a proposal to redesignate Lava Beds National Monument as a national park would significantly increase tourism and provide an economic boost to the Tulelake Basin. Elizabeth Norton, one of the leader’s of last year’s failed effort to attain national park status for Lava Beds, said people and representatives of groups supporting the change are gearing up for another run. “There was strong support for the redesignation and there still is. It’s a long-term project and it’s worth pursuing. It’s good for the park, it’s good for the community,” Norton said. “It’s a persistent group ... We just can’t let it (the proposal) die.” The redesignation idea, however, faces many hurdles. The effort appeared dead in May 2017 after representatives from Indian tribes, including the Klamath Tribes and the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma, opposed redesignation, claiming increased tourism could adversely impact tribal sites. At that meeting, an aide for Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-California, whose congressional district includes Siskiyou and Modoc counties, questioned the value of changing Lava Beds’ designation. The change would require an act of Congress and is extremely unlikely without support from LaMalfa and California’s two senators. In an interview after the May 2017 meeting, the aide said LaMalfa was concerned the Tule Lake Committee might try to use the redesignation issue to extend the of the boundaries of the former Tule Lake Segregation Center, which is part of the larger Tule Lake Unit of the WW II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. A long-term general management plan for the Tule Lake Unit released last month said there are no plans to extend boundaries of the former camp. “I’m hopeful we can change his position,” Norton said of LaMalfa. “I’m hoping the general management plan can help.” Norton said efforts for the national park designation stem from ongoing discussions by the Volcanic Legacy Community Partnership. The Volcanic Legacy Scenic Road is a 500-mile long All American Road that extends from Crater Lake National Park to Lassen National Park and includes the Lava Beds. She said the partnership is finalizing a corridor management plan. Supporters of the resignation proposal will meet at 1 p.m. Friday, June 29, at the Natural Resource Conservation Service office in Tulelake, California. Norton said the group — it has no name — wants to find ways to gain support from the Klamath Tribes, Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma and other tribes. She emphasized last year’s meetings were organized by the committee, not by Lava Beds staff or National Park Service officials, and said tribal representatives were contacted after the April 2017 meeting. “We tried to make things right,” Norton said of contacting tribes and other interest groups. “We need to revisit how we can be responsive to what their (the tribes’) concerns are.” Don Gentry, Klamath Tribes chairman, said it has not taken a formal position on supporting redesignation and said a decision would need be made by the tribal council. At the May 2017 gathering, Perry Chooktoot, the tribes' heritage director, voiced comments opposing redesignation. Blake Follis, attorney general for the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma, strongly opposed redesignation, both in a letter sent to Siskiyou County supervisors in April 2017 and at the May 2017 meeting. Several of Follis’ claims have been challenged by Cheewa James, a tribal member who worked as a seasonal ranger at Lava Beds and has written books about the Modoc War and its aftermath. Following the war, Modocs were sent to Oklahoma, where the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma was later created. James believes a national park designation would help preserve Modoc heritage and cultural sites while also boosting the regional economy. She said she plans to attend the upcoming meeting, not as a representative of the Modoc Tribe but as a concerned individual. Norton said there is no timetable for when the group may seek congressional support, noting, “I want to at least keep it (redesignation) alive. It’s a long-term goal and it’s worth pursuing.” Reach freelance reporter Lee Juillerat at [email protected] or 541-880-4139.