Remarks Prepared for Delivery

By the Honorable Gale Norton

Secretary of the Interior

October 4, 2003

National Trust for Historic Preservation

Welcome to Colorado and welcome to Red Rocks.

I am honored to share this beautiful morning with you as we celebrate
and talk about how to preserve our rich heritage together.

I appreciate the chance to speak to such a large gathering of people
enthusiastic about historic preservation. The National Trust for
Historic Preservation is one of the Interior Department's most important
partners in one of our core missions.

Today I would like to tell you about some of the federal government's
most exciting historic preservation activities, and especially about the
Preserve America initiative. But first, I hope you will let me tell you
about why historic preservation is so important to me.

As you can tell, this Red Rocks Amphitheater is truly a wonderful place.
I have lived most of my life in Colorado, and climbed around on these
rocks since I was about 6 years old.

There's nothing like coming here for a concert on a summer
evening---enjoying a picnic dinner while the sun sets behind you---as
the sky grows dark, watching the lights of the city emerge below. The
best description of how beautiful it looks comes from a Willie Nelson
song: "The bright lights of Denver are shining like diamonds, like
10,000 jewels in the sky."

Colorado is a place that dramatizes natural history. These immense rocks
were once grains of sand at the bottom of an ancient ocean. Eons later,
forces deep under the ground pushed up the Rocky Mountains, and turned
the red rocks up to the angel you see today.

Human history in the Denver area has fewer visible reminders. When I
moved to Denver as a small child, there were no buildings over a hundred
years old. Today's landmarks like the Brown Palace or the Byers-Evans
house were only 70 or 80 years old then. There were no "George
Washington slept here" signs.

My childhood view of history came from the ghost towns of the Colorado
mountains. Gold fever and the silver boom brought prospectors with their
trusty but stubborn burros. Miners dug holes into the earth---some in
places so high and cold that mine tunnels still have ice in July.
Colorful and plucky women joined them---Baby Doe Tabor, the Unsinkable
Molly Brown.

They built railroads and boom towns, saloons and even opera houses.

Colorado history has its own even more colorful characters---like Alfred
Packer. Packer was a prospector who went into the Rockies with five
friends to look for a big strike back in the late 1800s. They were
trapped in a snowstorm and only Packer came out alive.

Something about his story of their harrowing journey aroused suspicion.
After an investigation, Alfred Packer became the only man to be
convicted of cannibalism in the United States.

At his trial the judge allegedly complained not only about Packer's
heinous crime, but that there were only seven Democrats in Hinsdale
County and Packer had eaten five of them. In later years the students at
the University of Colorado in Boulder renamed their cafeteria, "the
Alfred Packer Grill."

Yet not all of Colorado's history is so young.

On the other side of the Rocky Mountains from here are some of the
oldest remaining human habitations in the United States. The ruins of
the ancient ones at Mesa Verde, the stunning petroglyphs on the cliffs
in the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, and other important
Native American sites of the Southwest provide a different perspective
on our country's history.

These remnants of a civilization flourishing eight centuries ago still
have not fully revealed their mysteries.

As a child I was fascinated by archaeology, and my interest has
continued. Before I became Secretary of the Interior, I had wonderful
experiences learning about Colorado's Native American history from the
Southern Utes, Ute Mountain Utes, and Crow Canyon Archaeological Center.

My experiences since moving to Washington, D.C. have reinforced for me
the importance of learning from history.

We all experienced one of the defining moments in history on September
11, 2001. I will never forget looking out my office window and seeing
smoke billowing from the Pentagon.

In difficult and challenging times, when geopolitical forces upset our
routine, we can draw inspiration and guidance from history.

When our fundamental beliefs of freedom and equality are challenged we
find it is important to go back and examine what we stand for as a
people. Historic sites become a touchstone for us. They reinforce what
America is, what we believe, where we have been and where we are going.

History and the power of historic place become a sort of civic glue that
holds us together. Preserving history is our contract with past
generations that we will remember and it is our promise to future
generations that there is continuity and purpose. That is why President
Bush and his administration are so committed to Preserving America.

There is a power to standing in an historic site and imagining what went
before.

But it isn't just the physical aspect---the brick and mortar -- that we
celebrate. Like so many of our historic treasures, it is the story --
the story of the people who created this historic place. It is the story
that moves us to preserve, to protect, to restore and rehabilitate our
past.

All history is important but the stories of this nation should be a part
of all of our lives. Unfortunately, this knowledge is often sorely
lacking.

The President, the First Lady and Vice President Cheney's wife, Lynne,
all have expressed concern for the level of history illiteracy in this
country. When asked the significance of Memorial Day, too often the
answer is, "the day the pool opens."

Recent college graduates couldn't put the Civil War in the right half
century on a test. When I was at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Aircraft
Museum a volunteer told me he overheard a teacher explaining to her
students that the planes were from World War eleven.

All of us have a duty to make sure history remains an important part of
the education for the nation's children.

The President has taken this to heart with his recent Executive Order on
Preserve America. The initiative has become a cause for both the
President and First Lady Laura Bush. She has said: "Our Nation's
cultural and natural resources are important parts of our history and
our heritage. Preserve America will promote the values of historic and
cultural preservation and encourage greater public recognition and
appreciation of those values."

I was just in Mobile, Alabama with the First Lady as she reiterated her
dedication to Preserve America and the importance of local history. The
museum where we spoke was an Old City Hall for Mobile that had been
designated a National Historic Landmark and converted to a museum that
chronicles the life and times of a great Gulf Coast City. Without
historic preservation efforts the old city hall might have been torn
down.

The Departments of Interior and Commerce, as well as the Advertising
Council on Historic Preservation, are charged with promoting
intergovernmental cooperation and partnerships for the preservation and
use of historic properties under this initiative. We look forward to
your involvement in this effort.

Preserve America reinforces the Interior Department's commitment to the
historic sites that have been entrusted to us.

President Bush strongly believes in taking care of the Icons and
historic treasures that are in our care. That goal is reflected in his
commitment to taking care of the maintenance backlog in our National
Parks.

People often think of National Parks in terms of geysers and grizzlies.
But more than 60 percent of our 388 units of National Parks preserve
some aspect of American history. From historic battlefields to
petroglyphs, from President John Adams' home to the Lincoln Monument, we
endeavor to hold fast to our heritage.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation can perhaps understand
better than any other group just how challenging a taks that is. Let me
give you an example

Federal Hall is in the heart of the Wall Street district of New York. It
was build in the early 1800's on the site where George Washington took
his first oath of office as President.

It was never designed to withstand the vibrations of a nearby
subway---and certainly not the shock of the collapsing World Trade
Center towers only a few blocks away.

After those disturbances, a major crack threatened the survival of
Federal Hall. We quickly undertook a multi-million dollar effort to
restore strength to the building.

At other historic structures from Independence Hall in Philadelphia and
Ellis Island in New York, to the Spanish missions in San Antonio and the
Presidio in San Francisco, we are working to care fro the historic
treasures entrusted to Interior.

For the first time, we have developed a business-like system to manage
our Park Service buildings and structures. We are doing a nationwide
assessment of the condition of park facilities that will be completed
next year.

A new computer system lets us track and evaluate how and when
maintenance takes place. We can identify the most pressing needs across
the country and prioritize so that we repair the leaking roof before we
buy new carpet.

Nine hundred maintenance backlog projects have been completed since
President Bush took office, and nine hundred more are underway or will
be started this year.

Not all of them are historic, but many are.

The newest addition to the National Park Service is the Cedar Creek and
Belle Grove National Historical Park in Virginia.

In this month in 1864, the Belle Grove Mansion bustled with the activity
of Union officers under the command of General Philip Sheridan.
Confederate soldiers approached and the calm fields became a
battleground.

This is one of several Civil War sites where the National Trust has
worked for preservation.

Once again, the National Trust, along with partners, Belle Grove, Inc.,
Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation, and Shenandoah Battlefields
Foundation, helped us to preserve this battlefield. With partnerships
like these, since President Bush has been in office we have preserved
more than 4600 acres of Civil War battlefield land through National Park
Service matching grants.

Exciting projects and events are in the works. For example on Dec,
17^th^ this year we will celebrate the Centennial of Flight at National
Park Service sites in Dayton, Ohio---and honor the work of the Wright
Brothers. As the Wrights labored to conquer the air, Theodore Roosevelt
was President.

Unfortunately, we don't always get to things in time. An important
ranch-house and buildings disappeared before anyone had a chance to save
them. That is Theodore Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch in Theodore Roosevelt
National Park, North Dakota. While the ranch is gone we do have the
opportunity to protect the landscape that remains. It is this
view---almost exactly as it was when Roosevelt lived there---that
inspired our 26^th^ President, to adopt his unprecedented conservation
ethic.

He stated that, "I would not have been President, had it not been for my
experience in North Dakota." It was this passion for conservation gained
on his Black Hills ranch lands that led him to create the National
Forest system, the National Wildlife Refuge System and to protect more
units under the National Park System than any other President.

We hope to preserve one pearl of that conservation heritage, the
landscape that remains of Theodore Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch.

We are working toward a conservation plan with the community, the
elected officials and the landowners to preserve the very heart of this
ranch.

We have a huge responsibility to preserve what is on public lands and
what has already become the legacy of the Nation. But throughout the
country private and local efforts help Preserve America. Fortunately
there are a number of tools that allow the Department to aid in that
process.

HERITAGE TOURISM

An important part of the Preserve America initiative is to help
communities preserve their story and develop Heritage Tourism.

A new study from the Travel Industry Association of America and
Smithsonian Magazine shows a remarkable 81 percent of U.S. adults who
traveled in the past year are considered historic/cultural travelers.
This is up 13 percent from 1996. In fact, for 30 percent of these
travelers, their destination choice was influenced by a specific
historic or cultural event. The study also determined that these
travelers spend more money compared to the average U.S. traveler and
stay longer at their destinations.

Heritage tourism serves a dual purpose of bolstering economies while
teaching Americans more about their shared past.

Example:

The bicentennial of the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition has served as
a catalyst for heritage tourism for local communities and Tribes.

We are delighted with the response of the American people and their
interest in the Lewis and Clark expedition. Some 35 million people are
expected to follow part of their 7,000 mile trek sometime during the
three-year commemoration.

On September 9, 1805, the Lewis and Clark expeditions paused at a
campsite called Traveler's Rest in Montana. They also stopped at the
same place on their return trip. Once again, when development threatened
the Trust stepped in and purchased the most endangered part of the site.
Those who travel to this Lewis and Clark rest-stop won't be
disappointed, thanks to the Trust and their work with Interior.

Why is heritage tourism important?

There is an increasing homogenization of our world where every mall
guarantees you the same fast food restaurants and the same clothing
chain stores. If you find a clothing item in Virginia, there is a good
chance you can find the same item in Oregon. What is the draw to travel,
to see something new, if it is all the same.

It is amazing and hopeful to me that there is a resurgence among
citizens to establish what is unique about their home communities. If a
place as young as Denver can have historic preservation successes then
there are myriad opportunities for all of the communities you represent.

Tools To Save Properties:

Almost 44,000 historic and prehistoric properties have been preserved
through federal/state/local consultation under Section 106 of the
National Historic Preservation Act---just since President Bush took
office.

LANDMARKS

Since I became Secretary, we have designated more than 40 historic
properties as National Historic Landmarks. They range from the nation's
first public beach---Revere Beach in the Boston area, to Sun Records
Studio in Memphis, Tennessee.

Why Sun Records? Because you can't tell the story of America in the
1950s without the story of the earthquake that was Rock and Roll. Sun
Records was the recording home for many who started the tremors: B.B.
King, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley.

With the recent deaths of Johnny Cash and record producer Sam Phillips,
many feel an era has passed. But we have preserved the music and the
setting to remind new generations that music used to come on little
round vinyl records. I have to admit, I was a little taken aback that I
was designating an historic landmark that was so close to my age.

NATIONAL REGISTER

Our National Register of Historic Places now lists more than 1.3 million
properties. Not because government mandated it, but because people had
the passion and incentive to do so. The 1966 National Historic
Preservation Act designed a bottom-up process where the citizens of a
community nominate the sites.

Those properties include ones with tribal significance. Since the early
1990s, Tribes have been able to appoint a tribal historic preservation
officer. We now have more than 40 such officers in Indian Country, and
fully half of them have been named under this Administration. A
corollary to that effort is that we have under consideration naming the
Navajo Council Chamber in Window Rock, Arizona as a National Historic
Landmark.

I believe it is important to recognize and highlight Native American
cultural history. It is why Weatherman Draw in south-central Montana was
important to me. We were able to come together in a cooperative fashion
with the Indian Community, the Trust and a private entity to protect
significant petroglyphs.

I want to thank the Trust and the Anschutz family for giving us a happy
ending for Weatherman Draw.

One of the most important tools we have is \-\-\-\--

INCOME TAX CREDITS

During this administration, more than 2000 historic commercial buildings
in the nation's city centers and in small towns have received Federal
Historic Preservation Income Tax benefits. These represent a
private-sector investment of almost \$5 billion with less than \$1
billion cost to the Treasury.

The tax credit has generated almost \$30 billion in preservation funds
since its inception in 1976. I know the National Trust and many state
organizations have been leaders in helping to establish these tax
incentives.

Let me give you an example. The 1920-era Westside Courthouse in Denver
fell into disrepair. In 1985, it was abandoned and left to vagrants who
took over the once stately judge's chambers.

But the building had great bones, original mosaic tile and intricate
exterior brickwork. The property was sold to the Hispanic Heritage
Center which took on \$4 million in rehabilitation costs. The Center
applied for a 20 percent historic rehabilitation tax credit.

Today the new Bernard Valdez Hispanic Heritage Center is home to the
Denver Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Latin American Education fund,
and Habitat for Humanity.

The tax incentive program is jointly administered by the Internal
Revenue Service and the National Park Service, in partnership with the
State Historic Preservation Officers in each state.

This tax credit is an effective tool to promote urban and rural
revitalization and to encourage private investment in rehabilitating
historic buildings.

In fact, each tax incentive project approved by the National Park
Service creates an average of 40 new jobs in a local area. To give you
an idea of what that means, more than 50,000 jobs were created in the
Nation just in the last year.

All of these tools are just part of the work we do with communities to
Preserve America.

I've save some of the best for last. A partnership with the National
Trust to further historic preservation in the Mountain West.

McGraw Ranch in Rocky Mountain National Park is a perfect example of
working together for common goals. Maybe George Washington never slept
there, but Kansas Governor and Presidential candidate Alf Landon did.
Homesteaded in 1884, the ranch eventually became a Dude ranch.

That it exists today is a testament to the work of preservation
advocates from Estes Park, Boulder, Longmont and Denver and especially
to the Trust's own Barbara Pahl who helped Rocky Mountain National Park
see the value of saving the ranch for an ongoing productive use.

The Trust helped the local preservation community raise money. With help
from the State Historical Fund coupled with a \$1.2 million commitment
from the Park Service, McGraw Ranch avoided the wrecking ball. It is now
on the National Register of Historic Places and already a valuable
research center for Rocky Mountain National Park.

But McGraw Ranch has another significance. It is the "can do" model for
all our Parks and communities to learn that with vision, perseverance
and an ethic of reusing the old---rather than always having to resort to
new---we can protect our heritage. We can tell the stories and continue
to keep our past working for us today. That is what I call a true "win
--win."

It is the model for a new partnership for the future: White Grass Dude
Ranch.

One of the most evocative images of the American West is the historic
ranch on the High Plains or the historic mining or ghost town in the
great Rocky Mountains. These unique and endangered historic properties,
typically were built of log, wood and stone. Such structures have unique
and complex conservation and historic preservation needs.

It gives me great pleasure to announce today that we will sign an
agreement with the Trust to adapt the White Grass Ranch in Grand Teton
National Park as a Western Preservation Training and Technology Center.

This is an agreement under which the National Trust for Historic
Preservation will attempt to raise up to \$1 million to help make this a
reality.

This new Center will teach National Park Service employees and
volunteers how to preserve, rehabilitate, and find new uses for historic
rustic structures in national parks starting with Grand Teton and
Yellowstone.

It also will house and train volunteer groups, like the celebrated
Michigan Volunteers who annually perform preservation maintenance and
stabilization of historic structures in Grand Teton---and who assisted
with the McGraw Ranch project.

Once again we are working together with the Trust to make the past work
for the future. It is a valued partnership and one we will continue to
cultivate in the service of our shared history.

Thank you.

I am honored to invite your President Dick Moe to join me on stage so
that together we can sign this agreement to work on the White Grass
Ranch new Western Preservation Training and Technology Center.