CDSG Site Representatives Tasks & Duties
Coast Defense Study Group
Email: Outreach@cdsg.org
- Collect and maintain static information about the site. Please see the static information guidelines below.
- Visit the site and/or contact the owner and/or manager occasionally. For a park that includes a preserved fortification, please visit or contact at least once a year.
- Ensure that the site owner and/or manager know that you are the conduit for information about the site to and from the CDSG, and that CDSG will support preservation and interpretation of the site, both with advice and possible funding from the CDSG Fund. Instructions for submitting grant requests are at (CDSG Fund website page)
- Request permission to post a CDSG poster at the site, and/or leave some CDSG member brochures at the site. Posters and brochures are available at (CDSG downloads).
- Be alert for the opportunity to assist the site with the preparation of meaningful interpretive signs.
- After a visit, write a site visit report. Please see the report guidelines below.
Site Static Information Guidelines
Site static information can include:
- Name of site, both the former US Army name and current name.
- Type of site or structure, e.g., fort, fire control site, etc.
- Era, e.g., Endicott, WW2, etc.
- Condition, e.g., restored, abandoned, destroyed, repurposed, etc.
- A site may have an owner, a manager, and a friends group. For each of these, collect names and contact information, and website URL. Determine if any information is confidential and not to be made public.
- Access arrangements. Determine if this information is confidential and not to be made public.
Do not repeat information that is readily available on a website. For example, for a state park, when it is open, directions, fees, and calendar of future events normally are readily available on the park’s website.
Send the public static information to the regional coordinator and to Outreach@CDSG.org Retain confidential or private information for your own use.
Site Visit Report Guidelines
Site Visit Report Guidelines
Site visit reports will be published in the CDSG Newsletter and linked to an index on the CDSG website, unless you request that your report not be published. A simple narrative is sufficient. Do not include information that should not be published, such as personal telephone numbers or email addresses. Please use format and media in accordance with the CDSG Article Submission Instructions. Send reports to the regional coordinator and to Outreach@CDSG.org.
Suggested format and information that might be included:
- Brief explanation of the geography and why fortifications were built at that location. CDSG Newsletters have approximately 400 readers, not all of whom have been to the site. Some of our readers are not in the US and may not be familiar with US geography.
Example: “Fort Adams was built to protect Newport, Rhode Island, an important commercial harbor in the early 19th century, and later a major US naval base.”
- What was built there? Include the style or system of fortification, summary of batteries, and types of ordnance.
Example: “Fort Adams is a large granite Third System work built starting in 1824, with two tiers of casemates and a barbette tier facing the shipping channel. It includes an extensive system of outworks inspired by the Vauban system. Between 1898 and 1907 six Endicott system batteries were built outside the masonry fort. Fort Adams continued in use through WW2 although the active batteries were then farther seaward.”
- Current status of the site and report of your visit.
Example: “Fort Adams is a state park, and the Fort Adams Trust manages it for the state. I joined one of the daily guided tours by a knowledgeable docent and was able to tour the entire Third System work and outworks. A tour of the counter-mining tunnels under the outworks is available on certain days. See the Fort Adams Trust website (http://fortadams.org) for more information.
Providing information on Preservation and Restoration to Sites
Over the past several years owners of former seacoast fortification sites have reached out to the Coast Defense Study Group www.cdsg.org, especially our CDSG Representatives, seeking advice on actions they can take to stabilize and preserve the former fortification structures which they own or control. The CDSG has guide books (produced by NPS and Washington State Parks) that provide detailed instructions on how best to preserve and restore fortification structures from the masonry era to the reinforced concrete period. To help site owners with limited resources focus on a few key actions to undertake on a regular basis we have summarized guidelines for them below. Please share this advice with your site owners in your local area or when you are visiting these former fortifications. If these actions are not undertaken on a regular basis these structures will become ruins and eventually disappear.
CDSG Fortification Preservation Summary Guidelines (PDF, 2 pages, 118 kb)
