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Heritage Area Study Gains Input from Residents

July 26, 2008 — Two dozen or so St. Croix residents joined Delegate Donna Christensen and folks from the National Park Service Friday at Pier 69 restaurant in Frederiksted, offering feedback for a park service study on a National Heritage area on St. Croix.
The study will look into how a heritage area may promote the historic, natural and cultural resources of St. Croix; the study will play a major role in determining if St. Croix is eligible.
A national heritage area is a conservation strategy devised by Congress to support local residents in the preservation of their own natural and cultural heritage, according to the NPS. The designation would be permanent but has no restrictions or rules or authority over residents. A local organization would coordinate various stakeholders to work collaboratively on projects that promote the heritage of the area.
It is not a park and people's property rights are not affected. But it would make various historical and cultural preservation projects eligible for federal grants.
A longtime advocate of the creation of a St. Croix National Heritage Area, Christensen first began prodding Congress to pass funding for a feasibility study some years ago.
"It took three congresses and six years," Christensen said. "Probably close to eight years now. But the Senate logjam finally broke and we've begun."
Congress approved the St. Croix National Heritage Area Study Act in October of 2006 and finally authorized funding for the study this June.
NPS representatives B.J. Johnson and Cynthia Nelson outlined what heritage area status means and said the meeting was itself part of the study, gathering information on public concerns about and priorities for a heritage area.
Only about 20 percent of funds for heritage area programs would come from the federal government, Nelson said. The rest must come from private organizations and non-profits. It is a national designation with locally run programs. There are about 40 national heritage areas.
"They are rarely turned down," she said. "Funding varies, however."
One audience member asked if marine or underwater resources could be included.
"If you as a community say that a reef is important to you, for various reasons, you could get a grant to study or help protect it," Johnson said. But there are no legal protections or mandates attached.
"National Historic Area designation does not supersede or change local laws," she said.
Nelson and Johnson had the audience divide into groups, each taking a table side map and applying stickers marking natural, historic and culturally significant locations. At the same time, the two group leaders went from table to table with a giant pad, soliciting ideas and concerns to add to a growing list.
"Maroon Ridge is the only place Africans were known to live free long before Emancipation," St. Croix historian Gerard Emanuel said, placing a small sticker on the map.
"I'd like to see something done to preserve all these Danish windmills we have on St. Croix," said engineer Danny Coughlin of Frederiksted.
Christensen sat at a table with her husband Chris, Constitutional Convention Delegate Claire Roker, Emanuel and some aides.
"The whole study process is to get input from everybody," Christensen said. "The people from Puerto Rico, from the other Caribbean islands, from Europe, everybody has pieces of this history and we need to put it all together."
Friday's public meeting was the second of three the NPS is holding to hear people's ideas, concerns, suggestions and visions for such a heritage area. The third meeting will be in the Great Hall of the University of the Virgin Islands' St. Croix campus, at 6:30 p.m. Monday.
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