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Partnering to Promote Heritage Tourism in Local Communities: Guidance for Federal Agencies Links to Innovative Initiatives and Success Stories Federal Land Management Agencies Federal Assistance AgenciesFederal Land Management Agencies The Forest Service, Corps of Engineers, and Interior
Department agencies are signatories to Memoranda of Understanding with
the Western States Tourism Policy Council and the Southeast Tourism
Policy Council. Federal land managing agencies are also among the participants
in the California Cultural and Heritage Tourism Council and the Montana
Tourism and Recreation Initiative. www.cprs.org/whatsnew/CCHTC.htm Bureau of Land Management Through its Undaunted Stewardship Program, BLM is working with
Montana ranchers to improve the environmental quality and economic
productivity of their land, while also preserving and interpreting
historic sites and landscapes, particularly those associated with the
Lewis and Clark Expedition. Ranchers receive financial and technical
assistance to develop and implement grazing management plans. Ranches
with historic sites can enter into Historical Site Preservation
Agreements, where they agree to protect the sites and provide
opportunities for the public to visit them. Large-scale interpretive
displays are being placed at ranches with agreements. Ranches can also
receive assistance in developing tourist-oriented alternate
enterprises, such as bed-and-breakfasts, campgrounds, and other
recreation enterprises. In implementing the program, BLM partners with
Montana State University, and the Montana Stockgrowers Association, and
is assisted by a guidance council of conservation groups, agricultural
organizations and governmental agencies. DoD has developed a guidebook and series of maps that
highlight former and active military sites with heritage resources open
to the public. In addition to informing the public about historic
properties they can visit on active military reservations, this
material links these properties thematically to non-DoD-owned
properties. Forest Service The Forest Service’s Rural Community Assistance programs
help rural communities build skills, networks, and strategies to
address social, environmental, and economic changes. The grants and
other assistance available through these programs have been used to
foster heritage tourism and historic preservation. For example, a Rural
Community Assistance Grant from the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests
helped the communities of Eagar and Springerville, Arizona, develop the
“Pistols, Plows, and Petticoats” driving tours to historic
sites. Grant funds also helped to rehabilitate the Newberry Opera House
(1882) in Newberry, South Carolina, which has been a major catalyst for
heritage tourism in the community. The Partnership Resource Center, developed by the National
Forest Foundation and the Forest Service, provides guidance and case
studies on forging partnerships to help improve both forest ecosystems
and communities. One example of the Forest Service co-locating in a local
visitor center is the Williams Visitor Center, which is jointly
operated by the Williams-Grand Canyon Chamber of Commerce and the
Kaibab National Forest. The building, located in downtown Williams, was
originally built in 1901 as a Santa Fe Railway depot. In another
example, staff from the Santa Fe National Forest man an information
booth at Jemez Pueblo’s Walatowa Visitor Center, since many of
the Pueblo's ancestral lands are located within the national forest. General Services Administration As a result of Section 106 review of the development of the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center, GSA agreed to develop an exhibit on the history of Rich’s Department Store, which would be adversely affected by the project. The exhibit, which has been installed in the old department store windows, was produced as a joint effort between GSA, the Heritage Preservation Masters program at Georgia State University, and the Atlanta History Center. The exhibit received the National Council on Public History's Student Project of the Year Award. As a result of Section 106 review of construction of the Ted
Weiss Federal Building in New York City, extensive mitigation was
developed to respond to adverse effects to the 17th- and 18th-century
African Burial Ground. Included in the mitigation was development of a
memorial and interpretive center. While these resources are designed
principally to honor those individuals buried at the site, they will
also be an important heritage tourism destination for interpreting
African-American culture. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA's Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater
Preserve is creating the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center, a
20,000-square-foot facility in Alpena, Michigan, that will preserve and
highlight the maritime heritage of the Great Lakes and the shipwrecks
of Michigan's Thunder Bay. Not only will the facility be a heritage
tourism draw, NOAA worked closely with the local community to maximize
the effectiveness of its citing. The Maritime Center will be a
cornerstone of a larger public-private redevelopment of an historic
paper mill complex, which will also include a conference center and
paper-making museum. The Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve also assisted the City of Alpena, Michigan, in preparing its application for designation as a Preserve America Community. Designation provides national recognition for communities that are promoting heritage tourism and economic development through historic preservation. NOAA has partnered with the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Virginia, to create the USS Monitor Center. The new wing of the museum will house and interpret artifacts from the USS Monitor,
the famous ironclad warship from the Civil War. It is anticipated to be
one of the premier Civil War tourism sites in the country. In 1998, NOAA, working with federal, state, local and tribal
partners, began restoration of the St. George Sealing Plant building on
St. George Island, Alaska, the last one of its kind still in existence.
In 2005, NOAA awarded a Preserve America Initiative Grant to fund
development of interpretive displays and videos that will help to
develop the sealing plant’s heritage tourism potential. National Park Service Stearns, Kentucky, is one of America's last remaining company
built coal & lumber towns, and the McCreary County Heritage
Foundation, Inc. is working towards the restoration and preservation of
the entire town. Historically associated structures, such as the Blue
Heron Mining Camp, are located in the Big South Fork National River and
Recreation Area, and NPS is partnering with the Heritage Foundation to
preserve, interpret, and promote the area’s resources. Stearns
and the Blue Heron Mining Camp are linked by the Big South Fork Scenic
Railway, and NPS recently initiated repairs at Blue Heron to improve
the visitor experience. NPS has also relocated its visitor center to
the Big South Fork Scenic Railway depot in Stearns. To commemorate the Bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition, NPS created the Corps of Discovery II traveling exhibit.
The exhibit visits communities across 18 states and the District of
Columbia, places integral to preparation for as well as the trail
traveled by the historic Corps of Volunteers for Northwestern
Discovery. The exhibit provides a heritage tourism focal point that
supplements local observances of the Bicentennial. Mammoth Cave National Park has worked closely with surrounding
communities on developing a heritage corridor along Kentucky State
Routes 31W and 31E. The heritage corridor promotes heritage tourism to
local communities along the corridor, Mammoth Cave National Park, and
other nearby Federal lands. NPS provided partial funding for the research, writing and publication of Routes to Roots,
a 228-page travel guide of industrial and cultural heritage sites
within the seven counties of the Rivers of Steel National Heritage
Area. In 1986, as part of the Section 106 review process, TVA sought
ways to mitigate the adverse effects of Tellico Reservoir inundating
the Overhill Cherokee Indian towns along the lower Little Tennessee
River. As part of mitigation package, TVA gave adjacent reservoir land
to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and funded construction of the
Sequoyah Birthplace Museum on the tract. While this provided a vehicle
for interpreting and celebrating the historic resources being impacted
by the reservoir, it also has had important heritage tourism benefits.
Although in a rather remote location, 15,000 tourists visited the
Museum in calendar year 2004. Federal Assistance Agencies Multi-Agency The Federal Highway Administration and the Environmental
Protection Agency are among the signatories to Memoranda of
Understanding with the Western States Tourism Policy Council and the
Southeast Tourism Policy Council. Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD has published a booklet, Preserving America, Historic Preservation and Heritage Tourism in Housing and Community Development. Subtitled A Guide to Using Community Development Block Grant Funds for Historic Preservation and Heritage Tourism in Your Communities,
the publication explains how eligible CDBG activities can support
heritage tourism. It includes case studies from Pharr, Texas;
Kissimmee, Florida; and Galion, Ohio. Department of Transportation Economic Development Administration Federal Highway Administration Both the Transportation Enhancements Program and the National
Scenic Byways Program have funded many projects supporting heritage
tourism. To help ensure that this trend continues and expands, then
Division Administrator Mary Peters issued a memorandum in 2004
encouraging field staff to take advantage of opportunities to use both
of those programs to support heritage tourism and historic
preservation. She also urged that special consideration be given to
projects that advance the heritage tourism and preservation goals of Preserve America Communities. Natural Resources Conservation Service Through the Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D)
Program, USDA is assisting local RC&D Councils to plan and execute
projects for resource conservation and community development. Recently,
the Old Dominion RC&D Council assisted in the development of the
Civil Rights in Education Heritage Trail, the first historic trail
dedicated to commemorating the civil rights. The trail is
Virginia’s newest historic tourism destination and will drive
economic development in Virginia. USDA Rural Development In its Community Facilities Loan and Grant Program, the USDA
Rural Development gave priority consideration in 2005 to applications
from Preserve America Communities. The program’s
flexibility allows funding for projects that revitalize rural
economies, such interpretative centers, museums or restored historical
buildings. An example of such a project is rehabilitation of the
Franklin Museum in New Athens, Ohio, a building associated with the
Underground Railroad.
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