The Article



Guest Opinion
Should the Silver Valley become a National Heritage Area?

Shoshone News-Press, February 21, 2007, page 4

By Ron Roizen

When I joined the Pulaski Project in 2003 one of my chief tasks was to look for funding for a new interpretive center and museum that would be sited somewhere not too far from the Pulaski trailhead. 

The new facility would complement the Pulaski Tunnel Trail.

As it turned out, however, it was not a good historical moment for finding that kind of funding.  The then-new wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as a number of other factors made my search a frustrating experience.

But I did turn up one interesting, if somewhat indirect, prospect.

It was the National Heritage Areas program of the National Park Service.

The National Heritage Areas (NHA) program is based on the premise that we as a nation cannot put everything of significant historical interest into a museum. 

Sometimes significant historical interest resides in battlefields, towns, or even identifiable regions of the country.  In other words, they reside out-of-doors and in the nation’s landscape.

The NHA program selects areas with national historical significance around the country and designates them as National Heritage Areas.

There are at present 37 such National Heritage Areas around the country – although not a single one is in the Northwest. 

What happens when a place becomes a National Heritage Area? 

Well, new attention gets showered on that place’s historical character and identity.  New efforts are launched to develop its historical resources, both at  the local level and in partnership with historical specialists at the National Park Service. 

Up to one million dollars per year may be awarded to National Heritage Areas for strengthening their historical presentation.

How does it work? 

A local nonprofit is organized and designated as the key agency for NHA planning and distribution of funds. 

Once funded, the local agency will call for requests for support from local museums, organizations, and other entities.  The annual pot of NHA funds is distributed to applicants in much the same way that the Morbeck Foundation distributes its grants.

The NHA program might bring a lot of new attention and fresh resources to the Silver Valley and to our presentation of its history.

But – and of course – there are risks to a community that pursues a National Heritage Area designation too.

New funds can for example create competition among local institutions, which in turn may at times give rise to hurt feelings and resentments.

A program focused on local history may also risk the development of a kind of “boutiquification” of the area’s aesthetic.

At least one source has told me that designation as a NHA tends to stifle natural resources enterprises such as logging and mining.

Moreover, applying for National Heritage Area status is a long and complicated process that will require support from both the public and our congressional representatives.

Most of us will agree, I think, that the Silver Valley has played a significant role in the nation’s history in several respects – including as the nation’s chief sources of silver, lead, and zinc; as a significant venue in the history of labor-management relations; because of the Great 1910 Fire; and as an outpost of the culture and character of the American West.

But do we want such a designation?  I propose that it would be good to  investigate that question thoroughly before doing anything else.

I’d like to suggest that the Silver Valley community forms a committee to carry out such an investigation.  If you’re interested in participating in it, the place to start is by examining the National Heritage Areas web page, at http://www.cr.nps.gov/heritageareas/.

Then please email (at ron@roizen.com) or telephone (at 556-1707) me about setting up a new group’s initial meeting.

For my part, I don’t want to participate in something that tends to distort or limit our area’s potentials. 

But I also believe that it’s high time the nation got a better understanding of the ethic of the American West and natural resources enterprises.  A NHA designation for the Silver Valley may serve that goal.

What do you think?