§120103 National Heritage Area studies and designation

Summary

The Secretary may study whether a place should become a National Heritage Area, if money is available. The Secretary can do the study and talk with state and local preservation, history, and tourism groups and other agencies. People or groups outside the government can also do the study if the Secretary certifies it meets the rules. The Secretary must decide within 1 year whether an outside study meets the rules. A study must show that the place has natural, historic, or cultural resources that represent U.S. heritage, are worth saving and interpreting, and are best handled by public–private partnerships that link different or separate sites and living communities. The study must also show local traditions matter, that the area offers strong chances for conservation, recreation, and education, that the resources fit the area’s themes and still can be interpreted, that many local stakeholders helped plan it and made a basic financial plan (including the Federal role) and support the idea, that a management group could run it while helping the local economy, and that the public supports the proposed boundary map. The Secretary must send a report to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the House Committee on Natural Resources describing public comments, the study’s findings, and the Secretary’s conclusions and recommendations. If the Secretary does the study, the report is due within 3 years after funds are first provided. If an outside group did the study, the report is due within 180 days after the Secretary certifies the study meets the rules. An area can become a National Heritage Area only by an Act of Congress.