BILL NUMBER: ACR 143	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	ADOPTED IN SENATE  JULY 3, 2014
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 12, 2014

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Bigelow
   (Coauthor: Senator Berryhill)

                        MAY 5, 2014

   Relative to the Buffalo Soldiers.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   ACR 143, Bigelow. Buffalo Soldiers: Yosemite National Park.
   This measure would recognize the legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers
and would honor the important role they played in the history of our
national parks.



   WHEREAS, In 1866, Congress created six segregated regiments that
were ultimately consolidated into four Black regiments: the 9th and
10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry; and
   WHEREAS, African American army regiments that had been dispatched
westward fought in the Indian Wars and these soldiers were eventually
given the name Buffalo Soldiers by the Cheyenne and other Plains
Indians; and
   WHEREAS, Although historians have recorded the service of these
Buffalo Soldiers on the western frontier, their service in some
national parks has been nearly forgotten; and
   WHEREAS, The United States Army served as the official
administrator of Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks between 1891 and
1913. In that capacity, it helped create a model for park management
as we know it today; and
   WHEREAS, Buffalo Soldiers were among the first park rangers and
backcountry rangers patrolling parts of the west; and
   WHEREAS, Approximately 500 Buffalo Soldiers, mainly from the 24th
Infantry and 9th Cavalry, served in Yosemite National Park and
Sequoia National Park. Their duties ranged from evicting poachers and
timber thieves to extinguishing forest fires. They also oversaw the
construction of roads, trails, and other infrastructure; and
   WHEREAS, Commanding officers of the United States Army became
acting military superintendents for these national parks with two
troops of cavalry assigned to each park. Each troop would be made up
of approximately 60 men; and
   WHEREAS, The presence of these troops invigorated the local
economy and the soldiers acting as official stewards of park lands
brought a sense of law and order to the mountain wilderness; and
   WHEREAS, Among their many accomplishments, the troops assigned to
Yosemite National Park oversaw the building of an arboretum near the
south fork of the Merced River in 1904. One scholar considered the
area to contain the first marked nature trail in the United States'
national park system; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature recognizes the legacy of the
Buffalo Soldiers and honors the important role they played in the
history of our national parks; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.