Issue Alert from Winningreen                      A040104

National Heritage Areas equal national silliness
 
By Gretchen Randall
 
Date: April 1, 2004
 
Issue:  Established in the 1980s as experiments in involving local communities in protecting local traditions, history and resources, 24 National Heritage Areas (NHAs) have been "designated" by Congress. However, a recent report by the Government Accounting Office (GAO) for the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee found there is no "systematic process" for identifying potential sites.  The National Park Service (NPS) overseas the NHAs but the report said that their financial reports are often not audited, results-oriented goals are not in place and management plans often are not reviewed.
 
Funding, however, does not seem to be a problem.  Between 1997 and 2002, heritage areas received $156 million from the federal government - $94 million through the NPS and its programs and $61 million from other federal programs. Another $154 million came from state and local governments and private funds.
 
A map in the GAO report shows the entire state of Tennessee has been designated with two areas identified as "Tennessee Civil War" and "Blue Ridge".   One-fourth of Iowa is a heritage area known as "Silos and Smokestacks."
 
Both the NPS and GAO are recommending that before any future sites are designated a complete study be done and existing areas should be audited and have consistent standards that are reviewed.
 
Private property rights advocates worry about how these areas will affect local land use planning, zoning and other land use preservation measures.  Currently, public bicycle trails that cross private property are a continuing problem for property owners so many property groups oppose another new government program that will impact private property. The GAO study, however, said it found no examples of any effect on private property use.
 
Comment 1: Why are the entire state of Tennessee and one-fourth of Iowa designated as "historical?"  Silos in Iowa now need national funding? Why must we designate an entire quadrant of a state to acknowledge their beauty?
 
Comment 2: Many worthwhile historic buildings and areas are already being preserved with private funds.  Congress should be spending its time saving American jobs rather than saving Iowa silos.
 
Background and links: To read the testimony from the U.S. Senate hearing on NHAs go to: http://energy.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1128
 
To read the GAO study entitled " A More Systematic Process for Establishing National Heritage Areas and Actions to Improve their Accountability are Needed" see report GAO-04-593T at http://www.gao.gov <http://www.gao.gov/>   See page 7 for a map of the 24 designated NHAs.
 
Contact: Gretchen Randall
Winningreen LLC
3712 N. Broadway - PMB 279
Chicago, IL 60613
Phone: 773-857-5086
e-mail: grandall@winningreen.com