The National Park Service has released its draft report recommending that a Harriet Tubman National Historical Park be established in Auburn.

The plan would bring the NPS into the day-to-day operation of the Tubman sites. The agency would work in cooperation with the AME Zion Church, which owns the Tubman Home site. It would bring five to seven NPS interpretive staff to Auburn, with an annual budget $500,000 to $650,000. It also anticipates leveraging up to $7.5 million in federal matching dollars for capital improvements.

The draft report is the latest step in a process that started at the federal level in 2000 when Congress authorized the study of Tubman sites in Auburn and Maryland.

The report also recommends creating a state historical park in Maryland, Tubman's birthplace. She lived the final years of her life in Auburn.

The report is now subject to a 30-day public comment period. After that, it will be forwarded to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, who will make final recommendations to Congress.

The study is available online at parkplanning.nps.gov or www.harriettubmanstudy.org. Copies will also be available at the Seymour Public Library in Auburn.

A public hearing is planned for 7 p.m. Dec. 3 at the Tubman Home site on South Street, with a snow date of Dec. 4.

Comments can be sent to National Park Service, Harriet Tubman Special Resource Study, 10th Floor,

15 State Street, Boston MA 02109 or through the harriettubmanstudy.org Web site.