WASHINGTON -- Sen. George Allen is coming under a surprising attack over his bill to preserve a historic corridor stretching from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia to Gettysburg, Pa.

The Virginia Republican's bill to create a national heritage area, a relatively new designation created by the National Park Service, has drawn strong criticism from a conservative group concerned about guarding property rights.

Allen often describes himself as a "Jeffersonian conservative" opposed to federal "meddling," said Peyton Knight of the Washington-based National Center for Public Policy Research in a written broadside this month.

"However, if you fail to support your rhetoric with substance, you're all hat and no cattle," cautioned Knight, the group's director of environmental and regulatory affairs.

Knight contended in an interview that Allen's bill would threaten property rights and has nothing "that limited-government, pro-property rights conservatives would like."

Allen's top spokesman replied that if the group thinks his bill jeopardizes property rights, "I don't think they have read the legislation."

"Senator Allen walks the walk and talks the talk, and this bill is directly consistent with the principle of protecting personal, private property rights," said John Reid. He said it also preserves a national legacy.

The critics' claims are baseless, echoed Cate Magennis Wyatt, head of Waterford-based The Journey Through Hallowed Ground partnership, a nonprofit group supporting the national heritage area of the same name.

To buttress her views, Wyatt pointed to a U.S. General Accounting Office study in 2004 that stated, "Heritage areas do not appear to have affected property owners' rights."

The legislation was introduced in April by Allen in the Senate and Rep. Frank R. Wolf, R-10th, in the House. A Senate panel has held one hearing; when a House panel holds a hearing, perhaps late next month, it may be urged to look at the property-rights issue.

"I am confident that this legislation protects the constitutional rights of property owners while allowing responsible stewardship of this region," Allen said in a statement upon introducing his bill.

Parts of the corridor are threatened by sprawl, mostly from the Washington area. The corridor follows U.S. 15 and state Route 20.

Knight, of the National Center, lives in Warrenton, which would be part of the heritage area.

He disagreed with Allen's assurances, saying the bill sets up a management entity to oversee land-use policy in the region. It would be made up of groups hostile to property rights and could use federal dollars toward land acquisition and restricting land use, he said.

As for heritage areas in general, Knight said Congress is weighing changes to boundaries for an existing heritage area in Arizona after local residents raised issues about its size and the potential for more federal oversight.

Allen spokesman Reid countered that property owners don't have to worry about Allen's bill. Key provisions specifically bar the management entity from infringing on private property rights, he maintained.

No land may be acquired for the heritage area by condemnation, Reid emphasized. The issue of a local government's taking land grew especially contentious after a Supreme Court decision last year permitting a city's condemnation of property for economic-development purposes.

Parts of four states would be affected by Allen's bill. Numerous local jurisdictions have voiced support for the historic corridor, according to Wyatt of The Journey Through Hallowed Ground.

Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, endorsed Allen's legislation in a letter dated Aug. 1.

Ehrlich wrote that he, Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat, and District of Columbia Mayor Anthony A. Williams "agree that this legislation is important to the continued success of our region as an international destination for tourism."

On Friday, a reporter was unable to reach key aides for the governors of Pennsylvania and West Virginia to learn their positions on the bill.

Wolf, meanwhile, defended the legislation last week.

"It's not accurate that there are any threats with regard to property," Wolf said.

The legislation is modeled after a similar Shenandoah Valley plan that he and allies pushed in Congress, Wolf said. Some property-rights concerns were raised at first, he said, then people learned more about the bill.

"Since it's passed," Wolf said, "everyone in the Shenandoah Valley . . . thinks it's a very good thing."

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