NORTHERN PLAINS HERITAGE AREA, AMENDMENT

Testimony before the sub-committee for National Parks of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Public Law 111–11

111th Congress

An Act

To designate certain land as components of the National Wilderness Preservation

System, to authorize certain programs and activities in the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Omnibus

Public Land Management Act of 2009’’

TITLE VIII—NATIONAL HERITAGE AREAS

Subtitle A—Designation of National Heritage Areas

Sec. 8001. Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area, Colorado.

Sec. 8002. Cache La Poudre River National Heritage Area, Colorado.

Sec. 8003. South Park National Heritage Area, Colorado.

Sec. 8004. Northern Plains National Heritage Area, North Dakota.

Sec. 8005. Baltimore National Heritage Area, Maryland.

Sec. 8006. Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Sec. 8007. Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area.

Sec. 8008. Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area.

Sec. 8009. Muscle Shoals National Heritage Area, Alabama.

Sec. 8010. Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area, Alaska.

Subtitle B—Studies

Sec. 8101. Chattahoochee Trace, Alabama and Georgia.

Sec. 8102. Northern Neck, Virginia.

Subtitle C—Amendments Relating to National Heritage Corridors

Sec. 8201. Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor.

Sec. 8202. Delaware And Lehigh National Heritage Corridor.

Sec. 8203. Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.

Sec. 8204. John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

SEC. 8004. NORTHERN PLAINS NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA, NORTH DAKOTA.

(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

PUBLIC LAW 111–11—MAR. 30, 2009 123 STAT. 1241

(1) HERITAGE AREA.—The term ‘‘Heritage Area’’ means the Northern Plains National Heritage Area established by subsection (b)(1).

(2) LOCAL COORDINATING ENTITY.—The term ‘‘local coordinating entity’’ means the Northern Plains Heritage Foundation, the local coordinating entity for the Heritage Area designated by subsection (c)(1).

(3) MANAGEMENT PLAN.—The term ‘‘management plan’’ means the management plan for the Heritage Area required under subsection (d).

(4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of the Interior.

(5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the State of North Dakota.

(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established the Northern Plains National Heritage Area in the State of North Dakota.

(2) BOUNDARIES.—The Heritage Area shall consist of—

(A) a core area of resources in Burleigh, McLean, Mercer, Morton, and Oliver Counties in the State; and

(B) any sites, buildings, and districts within the core area recommended by the management plan for inclusion in the Heritage Area.

(3) MAP.—A map of the Heritage Area shall be—

(A) included in the management plan; and

(B) on file and available for public inspection in the appropriate offices of the local coordinating entity and the National Park Service.

(c) LOCAL COORDINATING ENTITY.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—The local coordinating entity for the Heritage Area shall be the Northern Plains Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit corporation established under the laws of the State.

(2) DUTIES.—To further the purposes of the Heritage Area, the Northern Plains Heritage Foundation, as the local coordinating entity, shall—

(A) prepare a management plan for the Heritage Area, Management and submit the management plan to the Secretary, in plan. accordance with this section;

(B) submit an annual report to the Secretary for each fiscal year for which the local coordinating entity receives Federal funds under this section, specifying—

(i) the specific performance goals and accomplishments of the local coordinating entity;

(ii) the expenses and income of the local coordinating entity;

(iii) the amounts and sources of matching funds;

(iv) the amounts leveraged with Federal funds and sources of the leveraged funds; and

(v) grants made to any other entities during the fiscal year;

(C) make available for audit for each fiscal year for which the local coordinating entity receives Federal funds under this section, all information pertaining to the expenditure of the funds and any matching funds; and

(D) encourage economic viability and sustainability that is consistent with the purposes of the Heritage Area.

(3) AUTHORITIES.—For the purposes of preparing and implementing the approved management plan for the Heritage Area, the local coordinating entity may use Federal funds made available under this section to—

(A) make grants to political jurisdictions, nonprofit organizations, and other parties within the Heritage Area;

(B) enter into cooperative agreements with or provide technical assistance to political jurisdictions, nonprofit organizations, Federal agencies, and other interested parties;

(i) natural, historical, cultural, educational, scenic, and recreational resource conservation;

(ii) economic and community development; and

(iii) heritage planning;

(D) obtain funds or services from any source, including other Federal programs;

(E) contract for goods or services; and

(F) support activities of partners and any other activities that further the purposes of the Heritage Area and are consistent with the approved management plan.

(4) PROHIBITION ON ACQUISITION OF REAL PROPERTY.—The local coordinating entity may not use Federal funds authorized to be appropriated under this section to acquire any interest in real property.

(5) OTHER SOURCES.—Nothing in this section precludes the local coordinating entity from using Federal funds from other sources for authorized purposes.

(d) MANAGEMENT PLAN.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the local coordinating entity shall submit to the Secretary for approval a proposed management plan for the Heritage Area.

(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The management plan for the Heritage Area shall—

(A) describe comprehensive policies, goals, strategies, and recommendations for telling the story of the heritage of the area covered by the Heritage Area and encouraging long-term resource protection, enhancement, interpretation, funding, management, and development of the Heritage Area;

(B) include a description of actions and commitments that Federal, State, tribal, and local governments, private organizations, and citizens will take to protect, enhance, interpret, fund, manage, and develop the natural, historical, cultural, educational, scenic, and recreational resources of the Heritage Area;

(C) specify existing and potential sources of funding or economic development strategies to protect, enhance, interpret, fund, manage, and develop the Heritage Area;

(D) include an inventory of the natural, historical, cultural, educational, scenic, and recreational resources of the Heritage Area relating to the national importance and themes of the Heritage Area that should be protected, enhanced, interpreted, managed, funded, and developed;

(E) recommend policies and strategies for resource management, including the development of intergovernmental and interagency agreements to protect, enhance, interpret, fund, manage, and develop the natural, historical, cultural, educational, scenic, and recreational resources of the Heritage Area;

(F) describe a program for implementation for the management plan, including—

(i) performance goals;

(ii) plans for resource protection, enhancement, interpretation, funding, management, and development; and

(iii) specific commitments for implementation that have been made by the local coordinating entity or any Federal, State, tribal, or local government agency, organization, business, or individual;

(G) include an analysis of, and recommendations for, means by which Federal, State, tribal, and local programs may best be coordinated (including the role of the National Park Service and other Federal agencies associated with the Heritage Area) to further the purposes of this section; and

(H) include a business plan that—

(i) describes the role, operation, financing, and functions of the local coordinating entity and of each of the major activities described in the management plan; and

(ii) provides adequate assurances that the local coordinating entity has the partnerships and financial and other resources necessary to implement the management plan for the Heritage Area.

(3) DEADLINE.—

(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after the date on which funds are first made available to develop the management plan after designation of the Heritage Area, the local coordinating entity shall submit the management plan to the Secretary for approval.

(B) TERMINATION OF FUNDING.—If the management plan is not submitted to the Secretary in accordance with subparagraph (A), the local coordinating entity shall not qualify for any additional financial assistance under this section until such time as the management plan is submitted to and approved by the Secretary.

(4) APPROVAL OF MANAGEMENT PLAN.—

(A) REVIEW.—Not later than 180 days after receiving Deadline. the plan, the Secretary shall review and approve or disapprove the management plan for the Heritage Area on

the basis of the criteria established under subparagraph

(B) CRITERIA FOR APPROVAL.—In determining whether to approve a management plan for the Heritage Area, the Secretary shall consider whether—

(i) the local coordinating entity represents the diverse interests of the Heritage Area, including Federal, State, tribal, and local governments, natural, and historic resource protection organizations, educational institutions, businesses, recreational organizations,

community residents, and private property owners;

(ii) the local coordinating entity—

(I) has afforded adequate opportunity for public and Federal, State, tribal, and local governmental involvement (including through workshops and hearings) in the preparation of the management plan; and

(II) provides for at least semiannual public meetings to ensure adequate implementation of the management plan;

(iii) the resource protection, enhancement, interpretation, funding, management, and development strategies described in the management plan, if implemented, would adequately protect, enhance, interpret, fund, manage, and develop the natural, historic, cultural, educational, scenic, and recreational resources of the Heritage Area;

(iv) the management plan would not adversely affect any activities authorized on Federal land under public land laws or land use plans;

(v) the local coordinating entity has demonstrated the financial capability, in partnership with others, to carry out the plan;

(vi) the Secretary has received adequate assurances from the appropriate State, tribal, and local officials whose support is needed to ensure the effective implementation of the State, tribal, and local elements of the management plan; and

(vii) the management plan demonstrates partnerships among the local coordinating entity, Federal, State, tribal, and local governments, regional planning organizations, nonprofit organizations, or private sector parties for implementation of the management plan.

(i) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary disapproves the management plan, the Secretary—

(I) shall advise the local coordinating entity in writing of the reasons for the disapproval; and

(II) may make recommendations to the local coordinating entity for revisions to the management plan.

(ii) DEADLINE.—Not later than 180 days after receiving a revised management plan, the Secretary shall approve or disapprove the revised management plan.

(D) AMENDMENTS.—

(i) IN GENERAL.—An amendment to the management plan that substantially alters the purposes of the Heritage Area shall be reviewed by the Secretary and approved or disapproved in the same manner as the original management plan.

(ii) IMPLEMENTATION.—The local coordinating entity shall not use Federal funds authorized to be appropriated by this section to implement an amendment to the management plan until the Secretary approves the amendment.

(E) AUTHORITIES.—The Secretary may—

(i) provide technical assistance under this section for the development and implementation of the management plan; and

(ii) enter into cooperative agreements with interested parties to carry out this section.

(e) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—Nothing in this section affects the authority of a Federal agency to provide technical or financial assistance under any other law.

(2) TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—

(A) IN GENERAL.—On the request of the local coordinating entity, the Secretary may provide financial assistance and, on a reimbursable or nonreimbursable basis, technical assistance to the local coordinating entity to develop and implement the management plan.

(B) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.—The Secretary may enter into cooperative agreements with the local coordinating entity and other public or private entities to provide technical or financial assistance under subparagraph (A).

(i) conserving the significant natural, historic, cultural, and scenic resources of the Heritage Area; and

(ii) providing educational, interpretive, and recreational opportunities consistent with the purposes of the Heritage Area.

(3) CONSULTATION AND COORDINATION.—To the maximum extent practicable, the head of any Federal agency planning to conduct activities that may have an impact on the Heritage Area is encouraged to consult and coordinate the activities with the Secretary and the local coordinating entity.

(4) OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES.—Nothing in this section—

(A) modifies or alters any laws (including regulations) authorizing a Federal agency to manage Federal land under the jurisdiction of the Federal agency;

(B) limits the discretion of a Federal land manager to implement an approved land use plan within the boundaries of the Heritage Area; or

(f) PRIVATE PROPERTY AND REGULATORY PROTECTIONS.—

Nothing in this section—

(1) abridges the rights of any owner of public or private property, including the right to refrain from participating in any plan, project, program, or activity conducted within the

Heritage Area;

(2) requires any property owner to—

(A) permit public access (including access by Federal, State, or local agencies) to the property of the property owner; or

(B) modify public access to, or use of, the property of the property owner under any other Federal, State, or local law;

(3) alters any duly adopted land use regulation, approved land use plan, or other regulatory authority of any Federal, State, tribal, or local agency;

(4) conveys any land use or other regulatory authority to the local coordinating entity;

(5) authorizes or implies the reservation or appropriation of water or water rights;

(6) diminishes the authority of the State to manage fish and wildlife, including the regulation of fishing and hunting within the Heritage Area; or

(7) creates any liability, or affects any liability under any other law, of any private property owner with respect to any person injured on the private property.

(g) EVALUATION; REPORT.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years before the date on which authority for Federal funding terminates for the Heritage Area under subsection (i), the Secretary shall—

(A) conduct an evaluation of the accomplishments of the Heritage Area; and

(B) prepare a report in accordance with paragraph (3).

(2) EVALUATION.—An evaluation conducted under paragraph (1)(A) shall—

(A) assess the progress of the local coordinating entity with respect to—

(i) accomplishing the purposes of this section for the Heritage Area; and

(ii) achieving the goals and objectives of the approved management plan for the Heritage Area;

(B) analyze the Federal, State, local, and private investments in the Heritage Area to determine the leverage and impact of the investments; and

(C) review the management structure, partnership relationships, and funding of the Heritage Area for purposes of identifying the critical components for sustain-

ability of the Heritage Area.

(3) REPORT.—

(A) IN GENERAL.—Based on the evaluation conducted under paragraph (1)(A), the Secretary shall prepare a report that includes recommendations for the future role

of the National Park Service, if any, with respect to the Heritage Area.

(B) REQUIRED ANALYSIS.—If the report prepared under subparagraph (A) recommends that Federal funding for the Heritage Area be reauthorized, the report shall include an analysis of—

(i) ways in which Federal funding for the Heritage Area may be reduced or eliminated; and

(ii) the appropriate time period necessary to achieve the recommended reduction or elimination.

(i) the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate; and

(ii) the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives.

(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $10,000,000, of which not more than $1,000,000 may be made available for any fiscal year.

(2) COST-SHARING REQUIREMENT.—

(A) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share of the total cost of any activity under this section shall be not more than 50 percent.

(B) FORM.—The non-Federal contribution may be in the form of in-kind contributions of goods or services fairly valued.

(i) TERMINATION OF AUTHORITY.—The authority of the Secretary to provide assistance under this section terminates on the date that is 15 years after the date of enactment of this Act.

NORTHERN PLAINS HERITAGE AREA, AMENDMENT

SEC. 120. Section 8004 of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009
(Public Law 111–11; 123 Stat. 1240) is amended—

‘‘(g) REQUIREMENTS FOR INCLUSION AND REMOVAL OF PROPERTY IN HERITAGE
AREA.—

‘‘(1) PRIVATE PROPERTY INCLUSION.—No privately owned property shall be
included in the Heritage Area unless the owner of the private property
provides to the management entity a written request for the inclusion.

‘‘(2) PROPERTY REMOVAL.—

‘‘(A) PRIVATE PROPERTY.—At the request of an owner of private property
included in the Heritage Area pursuant to paragraph (1), the private
property shall be immediately withdrawn from the Heritage Area if the
owner
of the property provides to the management entity a written notice
requesting removal.

‘‘(B) PUBLIC PROPERTY.—On written notice from the appropriate State or
local government entity, public property included in the Heritage Area
shall be immediately withdrawn from the Heritage Area.’’.

NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA, OPT OUT PROVISION

SEC. 127. Any owner of private property within an existing or new National
Heritage Area may opt out of participating in any plan, project, program,
or activity conducted within the National Heritage Area if the property
owner provides written notice to the local coordinating entity.

Testimony before the subcommittee for National Parks

Chairman Akaka and Members of the Subcommittee: thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of the act to create a new National Heritage Area along the last free-flowing stretch of the Missouri River in central North Dakota. After working on this project for three years, I am convinced that this region is worthy of National Heritage Area designation. I hope now to convince you, as well.

My name is Tracy Potter. I am a historian and for twenty years, a heritage tourism professional. I am Executive Director of the Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation with a mission to preserve, develop and promote the historic properties of Fort Lincoln State Park. I previously served with North Dakota Tourism including a term directing the state office.

I come before you today as President of the volunteer Board of Directors of the Northern Plains Heritage Foundation.

A National Heritage Area is a place designated by Congress where natural, cultural, historic, and scenic resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally distinctive landscape arising from patterns of human activity shaped by geography.

The proposed Northern Plains Heritage Area certainly fits that definition. The natural scenic beauty of the Missouri River Valley is legendary. There are places along the river that take your breath away. The landscape apart from Bismarck-Mandan often appears unchanged since the glacier receded 15,000 years ago.

The cultural and historic resources are even more stunning. Some of the most famous people of the 19^th Century made history within the proposed Heritage Area. Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark met and hired Sacagawea and her husband at Fort Mandan. George Armstrong Custer and the 7^th Cavalry were stationed at Fort Abraham Lincoln. Custer was there was to chase the Lakota leader Sitting Bull, another legendary figure who rode and hunted and fought all through the region.

The cultural resources of the proposed area stretch back more than ten thousand years, to the people who first mined the nearby Knife River Flint quarries to make spear points for hunting mammoths. The first focus of the proposed Heritage Area, however, will be on the earthlodge people, the Mandan and Hidatsa,, who pioneered agriculture on the Northern Plains a thousand years ago. They settled the area, grew crops and hunted, built cities and developed trade relations stretching to both coasts. Villages became permanent cities, lasting hundred of years with populations of two and three thousand. They achieved a balance with nature and with other nations and those cities might still be here today if not for devastating smallpox epidemics in 1781 and 1837.

The ancient cities are still there, of course. They are just empty. There are approximately 150 village sites within the proposed Heritage Area. This is where the plan to create a Northern Plains Heritage Area dovetails with your committee’s responsibility for preservation of prehistoric ruins. Many of the sites have been impacted by cultivation or urban growth. Of the others, a handful are protected as state and federal Historic Sites. But there are still others, important but unprotected. Working not in a regulatory way, but strictly with incentives and encouragement, the Northern Plains Heritage Foundation could help preserve this heritage.

This is, to me, the most attractive element of the National Heritage Areas, that they are not in any way regulatory, but that they pursue preservation and honor our national heritage strictly with incentives and encouragement. They are all carrot and no stick.

Over the last two decades, a combination of private donations and state and federal funding has resulted in substantial investment in building a critical mass of heritage tourism attractions within the proposed Heritage Area.

Designation as a National Heritage Area will produce tremendous return on those investments. The stamp of credibility, the marketing resources, and particularly, the linking of the various sites under one comprehensive theme will have an important economic effect on each of the sites. It will stimulate further private sector investment in lodges and bed and breakfasts, canoe rentals, and tour operations. Designation is the last critical component which will bring the investments together and make them pay off for the residents of the proposed area.

North Dakota doesn’t have a Mount Rushmore. No Yellowstone, or Chaco Canyon. In North Dakota tourism circles we have long recognized the need to cluster our several remarkable historical sites to create a critical mass, a destination attraction. Recognition of the national significance of the stories told in the Northern Plains Heritage Area will bolster local efforts and by the stroke of a pen provide a prosperous future for the heritage of our past, a prosperity both in economic activity and the richness of the cultural and historic resource.

Again, Mr. Chairman, I thank you for this opportunity to appear before this Subcommittee. I welcome any questions that you and your colleagues may have.