National Heritage Areas Catching On
By BEN EVANS – 1 day ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Every region of the country has its own piece of
Americana that locals brag about to visitors. Increasingly, they are
asking Congress to help spread the word through a little-known federal
program that designates National Heritage Areas.
After approving
just two dozen such areas since the early 1980s, Congress adopted 10
last year. The House signed off on six more last month, and the wait
list is growing.
Illinois wants recognition for Abraham Lincoln's
early stomping grounds; New York is bidding for the area around Niagara
Falls. Alabama is pushing a region along the Tennessee River where the
Tennessee Valley Authority was born and where "Father of the Blues"
W.C. Handy first picked a guitar.
Yet for the first time, the
program is facing resistance on Capitol Hill from budget hawks and
property-rights advocates. The National Park Service has called for a
freeze on new designations until lawmakers approve more formal
guidelines for the program.
"This is a relatively new model for
conservation," said John Cosgrove, executive director of the Alliance
of National Heritage Areas. "More and more community leaders want to
apply it to their own regional stories."
Modeled after European
practices, heritage areas are billed as a cost-effective, locally
driven alternative to government-managed historic sites. The government
does not buy property, impose land restrictions or provide staff. In
fact, the heritage program is expanding in part because little money is
available for new publicly owned park facilities.
Instead,
grass-roots groups are encouraged to preserve geography and history
within livable communities. A heritage designation comes with a federal
grant of up to $1 million a year, to be matched with local money.
The
local groups have flexibility in managing the areas, and the 37
existing sites have taken various approaches since the first was named
in 1984, designating a historic canal linking the Great Lakes and the
Illinois River.
While tourism is not necessarily the goal,
drawing visitors is a major incentive, and the heritage tag has helped
turn around many local economies. A 2004 Michigan State University
study found that visitors to a heritage area celebrating southeast
Michigan's auto industry spent $123 million and helped create some
2,100 jobs.
"The reason for the increased demand is that they're
successful," said Marge Darby, who has helped lead a bid for a
"Freedom's Way" heritage area highlighting early American history in
Massachusetts and New Hampshire. "They're not just good at helping
communities develop their heritage. They also happen to be economically
beneficial."
With the popularity of the program growing, critics have emerged.
"This
is backdoor federal land-use planning," said Ann Corcoran, who is
fighting a "Hallowed Ground" Civil War heritage designation around her
western Maryland farm. "Once this is in place, there will be pressure
on the local governments to plan their land use around the theme of
heritage preservation."
More than 120 lawmakers voted against the
recent House bill approving the "Hallowed Ground" and "Freedom's Way"
areas, as well as others in Illinois, New York, Alabama and Arizona.
The designations, which await Senate approval, drew opposition from
groups such as the American Conservative Union and the Property Rights
Alliance.
Along with concerns about land restrictions, critics say the federal government has no business funding local conservation.
"I
believe in preservation. I just believe in doing it privately," said
Corcoran, who once erected plastic pink flamingos on her farm to make
the point that landowners are entitled to bad taste. "Why should some
poor schmuck who's never going to visit an area pay taxes so that some
elitist can go on a historic tour?"
But with a budget of about
$13 million, heritage areas cost a fraction of what publicly owned
facilities cost. Although many heritage area campaigns have cited
threats from development, supporters argue that the program does not
lead to land-use restrictions. A 2004 report from independent auditors
at what is now the Government Accountability Office backed their claim,
saying researchers found no evidence that heritage designations had
directly affected private property.
Darby likened the program to drawing an imaginary line around an area and marking it as important.
"The
community is the classroom," she said. "You say to children: `Here's
where it happened, right here. Here's a bullet hole in this house, and
it was a British bullet, and the man who lived in this house was shot
right here.'"
The Park Service so far has failed to persuade
Congress to establish formal criteria for heritage areas. As a result,
the agency has withheld its support for new designations. But officials
say the service strongly supports the overall program, particularly
with strained budgets for public facilities.
"Getting a park unit
is pretty difficult," said Alma Ripps, a legislative affairs specialist
for the agency. "Heritage areas are less expensive and are maybe a
little easier, although it's still a very high standard. ... There has
to be very strong local interest."