Use and Re-Use

Under the direction of Spencer Fullerton Baird, the U.S. Fish Commission raised trout in Washington, D.C. area ponds. Fish commission employees trapped the fish in streams, and transported them by rail, then by horse-drawn carts from rural locations to the D.C. metropolitan area in milk canisters. The land that once housed fish ponds is now visited by some 25 million people annually, and its future use is currently being reconsidered by the National Park Service. Read the Draft National Mall Plan and Environmental Impact Statement here.

Image above: United States Fish Commission Ponds, undated. National Archives and Records Administration. As viewed 13 May 2010 at http://andershalverson.com/content/usfc-interior