Heritage Areas: Background, Proposals, and Current Issues

Publication Date: March 2005

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Environment

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Abstract:

Over the past 20 years, Congress has established 27 National Heritage Areas (NHAs) to commemorate, conserve, and promote important areas that include natural, scenic, historic, cultural, and recreational resources. NHAs are partnerships between the National Park Service (NPS), states, and local communities, where the NPS supports state and local conservation through federal recognition, seed money, and technical assistance. NHAs are not part of the National Park System, where lands are federally owned and managed. Rather, lands within heritage areas typically remain in state, local, or private ownership. In addition, other heritage areas have been designated by states and local governments and announcements. This issue brief focuses on heritage areas designated by Congress, and related issues and legislation.

There is no comprehensive statute that establishes criteria for designating NHAs or provides standards for their funding and management. Rather, particulars for each area are provided in its enabling legislation. Congress designates a management entity, usually nonfederal, to coordinate the work of the partners. This entity typically develops and implements a plan for managing the NHA, in collaboration with other parties. Once approved by the Secretary of the Interior, the management plan becomes the blueprint for managing the area.

NHAs might receive funding from a wide variety of sources, and Congress and the NPS do not ordinarily expect to provide NHAs with permanent federal funding. Congress determines the total level of federal funding for NHAs under annual appropriations bills and typically specifies in appropriations documents the funds for each area. NHAs can use federal funds for many purposes, including staffing, planning, and projects.

Heritage areas have been supported as protecting lands and traditions and promoting tourism and community revitalization, but opposed as potentially costly and possibly leading to federal control over nonfederal lands.

Measures to designate NHAs and study the suitability and feasibility of areas for heritage status have been introduced in the 109th Congress. Some of these have passed the House or been reported from committee. The 108th Congress considered about 60 such measures, some of which passed the House and/or Senate. Debate on private property rights provisions was contentious during consideration of some of these bills. The 108th Congress also created four new NHAs, and provided appropriations for NHA assistance for both FY2004 and FY2005.

The sizeable number of existing NHAs, together with the number of measures proposed in recent Congresses to study and designate new ones, has intensified interest by the Administration and some Members in enacting a law providing criteria for designating NHAs, standards for their management, and limits on federal funding support. Two such measures have been introduced in the 109th Congress, one of which has been reported by committee. They are essentially identical to a bill that passed the Senate in the 108th Congress, but no further action was taken.