Dakota Beacon

Although there is no specific provision in federal law that defines or authorizes the existence of National Heritage Areas, Congress has been authorizing their "designa­tion" on a “case-by-case” basis since 1984.

In June 2006 there were 27 NHAs. In October 2007, there were 37 NHAs. There are now 49 NHAs designated throughout the United States. At the current rate of increase, the number will increase to 100 and cumulative appropriations are likely to reach $1 Billion by year 2020.

Each National Heritage Area has its own authorizing legislation and a set of unique resources and goals. Areas considered for designation, have specific elements. First, the landscape must be a nationally unique natural, cultural, historic, or scenic resource. Second, when the related sites are linked, they must tell a unique story about the U.S.

The “Northern Plains Heritage Area” was born in the mind of Senator Byron Dorgan (as testified by Tracy Potter last evening in Stanton, ND). It was not invented in response to a constituent…the idea originated from the Senator from North Dakota. I will leave it to the Senator to explain his logic and the emotions that caused him to initiate the designation. I’m pretty sure it was not an attempt to lower the national debt…

The project has been appropriated $150,000 with the condition that it be matched 1:1 by other sources. So far, the only matching funds realized are “in kind” donations. Not a single heritage area in the country has achieved the stated goal of “sustainability”, many having been extended beyond the 15 year time frame.

Heritage Area designations of late are being authorized $10 Million each over 15 years with a maximum $1 Million per year appropriated. After an information session and a question and answer session the attendees were broken into two groups, one group of 22 interested in maintaining their property rights (“Leave Us Alone” coalition) and a group of 9 interested in discussing the tourism potential (“Takings” coalition) of the NHA designation.

Summarizing the public hearing in Stanton last night, 70% of the participants were concerned with federal intrusion into their lives and 30% were interested in promoting tourism with federal funds.

The memorable “economic justification” presented by the narrator of the public hearing was the comparison of the $150,000 NHA appropriation with the amount of time it would take to expend a similar amount for our war fighting efforts in the middle-east. An “anti-war rant” was warranted to justify an unconstitutional federal program and belittle a clear constitutional mandate…to protect the citizens of the U.S. from foreign born terrorists.

If we continue to focus entirely on the BIG PICTURE ITEMS concerning our National Deficit and IGNORE programs as useless and unconstitutional as this one, we will never balance the national budget.

THE MINDSET OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT AS THE FUNDING MECHANISM OF “ALL THINGS DESIRED” BY ITS PEOPLE MUST END AND IT MUST END NOW…WITH THIS CONGRESS…NOT THE NEXT ONE!

November 2012 is coming!