Congressmen John Rutherford and Michael Waltz stopped by the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum on Monday to tout a bill that could help St. Johns County preserve its history and natural resources.
Both men support the creation of the Nation’s Oldest Port National Heritage Area, which would include “natural watersheds in Nassau, Duval, St. Johns and Flagler counties,” according to the bill, H.R. 4542. The legislation would open the door for federal funding for a wide-range of projects in the region.
Congress has designated around 50 National Heritage Areas, according to a document provided at Monday’s event. The areas are designated for their “distinctive landscape” related to history, natural resources and culture.
Reading a portion of the bill, Rutherford said, “The Nation’s Oldest Port region of Northeast Florida holds a mosaic of cultures and maritime heritage that includes Native Americans, whose heritage reaches back some 9,000 years, and the descendants of European and American explorers and settlers.”
Within the first 15 years of designation, the National Heritage Area can receive up to $10 million in federal matching grants, according to information provided Monday. The bill says federal funds can’t exceed more than 50% of any project.
The funding also can’t be used to buy property, Rutherford said. But it can be used for many types of projects.
“Anything to tell the story about the cultural and maritime history of Northeast Florida,” he said.
According to information provided at the event, National Heritage Areas have supported small business development, murals, festivals, performances, radio and TV programs, the creation and maintenance of recreational trails; brochures, maps and other educational materials; cleanup and restoration of natural resources, website development, books about regional history; renovation or stabilization of historic sites; public exhibits, workshops, student history projects and architectural studies.
The National Heritage Area designation doesn’t change any land ownership or private property rights, Rutherford said.
The Nation’s Oldest Port National Heritage Area project is one way to promote preservation of the region’s historical resources in the face of population growth in Florida, Waltz said.
“I think our mission and our job is to assure we continue that growth — that’s a great thing, but we do it in a way that preserves our environment ... and preserves our history in a way that future generations can enjoy what we remember growing up with,” Waltz said.
The designation would broaden educational opportunities, lighthouse Executive Director Kathy Fleming said.
“When you have an area like this that’s growing and a bunch of people are moving in from outside the area, it’s really great for teaching them about what’s special about the region and why they should be interested in preserving ... so it doesn’t become this conglomerate that loses touch with who it is,” she said.
The National Park Service provides technical assistance and advice for National Heritage Areas, but they are mostly controlled through local nonprofits.
In addition to creating the area, the bill designates the Nation’s Oldest Port Heritage Area Alliance as the nonprofit in charge of the heritage area. It allows a few years for the nonprofit to create a management plan for the heritage area.
The St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum would be the fiscal agent for the heritage area and would get 10% of the funding for the area in the first five years of its existence “to partially offset costs incurred by the St Augustine Lighthouse and Museum during the formation of the heritage area,” according to the bill.
The museum provided about $600,000 in cash and in-kind support for a feasibility study about the designation, according to a document provided Monday.
The lighthouse is ready to provide financial and staff support to get the nonprofit rolling, Fleming said. But the idea is that the nonprofit, which will be a separate entity from the lighthouse, will be sustainable on its own in five years.
The effort to create a National Heritage Area here evolved from a meeting of St. Augustine Lighthouse officials and U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez in 2007, according to an excerpt from the feasibility study.
“What was originally going to be centered in the St. Augustine area expanded down into Flagler County and upward to Jacksonville and Amelia Island when everyone realized, one cannot tell the story of America’s oldest maritime region without talking about Jacksonville or Fernandina Beach or Flagler County,” according to the study.
The study says that the region contains “literally thousands of cultural resource sites, historic homes, arts organizations, natural species, recreational opportunities and scenic vistas.”