**STATEMENT OF DANIEL N. WENK, DEPUTY DIRECTOR,** **NATIONAL PARK
SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL
PARKS, SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES, CONCERNING S.
827, A BILL TO ESTABLISH THE FREEDOM'S WAY NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA IN THE
STATES OF MASSACHUSETTS AND NEW HAMPSHIRE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.**

# APRIL 23, 2008

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the
opportunity to appear before you today to present the Department's views
on S. 827, a bill to establish the Freedom's Way National Heritage Area
in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the State of New Hampshire.

While the Department recognizes the appropriateness of designating the
Freedom's Way National Heritage Area, we recommend that the committee
defer action on S. 827 and all other proposed heritage area designations
until program legislation is enacted that establishes guidelines and a
process for the designation of national heritage areas. In summer 2006,
the Administration sent to Congress a legislative proposal to establish
such guidelines and a process for designation. Bills were introduced in
the 109^th^ Congress (S. 243, H.R. 760 and H.R. 6287) that incorporated
the majority of the provisions of the Administration's proposal, and S.
243 passed the Senate. During the 110^th^ Congress, a similar heritage
area program bill, S. 278, has been introduced, and we look forward to
continuing to work with Congress on this very important issue.

With 37 national heritage areas designated across 27 states, and more
heritage area legislative proposals in the pipeline, the Administration
believes it is critical at this juncture for Congress to enact national
heritage area program legislation. This legislation would provide a
much-needed framework for evaluating proposed national heritage areas,
offering guidelines for successful planning and management, clarifying
the roles and responsibilities of all parties, and standardizing
timeframes and funding for designated areas. Program legislation also
would clarify the expectation that heritage areas would work toward
self-sufficiency by outlining the necessary steps, including appropriate
planning, to achieve that shared goal.

The proposed Freedom's Way National Heritage Area includes 37
Massachusetts and 8 New Hampshire communities northwest of Boston. It
includes the Minute Man National Historical Park, the Oxbow and Great
Meadows National Wildlife Refuges, the Concord, Assabet and Sudbury Wild
and Scenic Rivers, as well as National Historic Landmarks and Districts,
and many sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

This is a region that substantively influenced our democratic forms of
governance and the development of intellectual traditions that underpin
the concepts of American freedom, democracy, conservation, social
justice, and ethnic diversity. Historically prominent leaders in
literature and intellectual thought found the region to be a source of
inspiration including Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Nathaniel Hawthorne and Louisa May Alcott. It was also the locale for
expressions of religious freedom and social experimentation with the
settlements of the Shakers, Millerites and Transcendentalists. Its
natural and community resources are exceptional examples of the rural
beauty of the New England landscape. The events that occurred here
during the American Revolution include the ride of Paul Revere and the
engagements at Lexington and Concord, which are known to virtually every
elementary school child in the nation.

The concept of a Freedom's Way National Heritage Area was defined in a
feasibility study undertaken by the proposed management entity, the
Freedom's Way Heritage Association, Inc. Priorities outlined in this
study speak to linkages through education and preservation of the
region's nationally distinctive natural and cultural resources through
partnerships. The region has a strong partnership base among its many
cultural institutions, businesses, non-profit organizations, local
governments, and citizens. The governors of both states have endorsed
the designation of a national heritage area.

The National Park Service reviewed the national heritage area
feasibility study undertaken by the proposed management entity in July
1997. Since it did not fully address the interim national heritage area
criteria, representatives of our Northeast Region conducted field
reconnaissance visits in November 2000. Based on the findings of the
reconnaissance team, the Freedom's Way Heritage Association, Inc.
submitted an addendum in April 2001 to the 1997 Freedom's Way National
Heritage Area Feasibility Study entitled "The Proposed Freedom's Way
National Heritage Area and Compliance with the National Park Service
Interim Criteria for National Heritage Area Designation." The National
Park Service evaluated that addendum, as well as the original
feasibility study, and found that the criteria were fully addressed and
met.

Since 2001 when the study was amended, both Massachusetts and New
Hampshire have enacted legislation establishing state heritage area
commissions related to Freedom's Way. Although these state laws are
quite similar to each other, and appear to be consistent with the
general aims of S. 827, they raise a number of issues. For example, each
state is authorized to establish a Freedom's Way Heritage Area
Commission, and among other duties "prepare and implement a unified
historic preservation and interpretive plan for the area." If S. 827 is
enacted, the Freedom's Way Heritage Association, Inc., a nonprofit
organization, would be the management entity, and would also be charged
with developing a comprehensive management plan for the area. It is
unclear how the heritage area would function with three separate
management entities charged with similar duties. The Massachusetts law
states that if a federal heritage area is designated by act of Congress,
the governor may terminate the commission when a federal management
entity is appointed, but the New Hampshire law includes no such
provision.

It is our understanding that if the heritage area is federally
designated, then both state commissions would not be established and the
responsibility to prepare the management plan would be the duty of the
Freedom's Way Heritage Association, Inc. as the management entity.

Mr. Chairman, while the proposed Freedom's Way National Heritage Area
contains significant natural and cultural resources and meets the
established criteria for congressional designation, we would again
request that the committee defer action until national heritage area
program legislation is enacted. However, if the committee chooses to
move ahead with this bill, the Department would like to work with them
to make some technical corrections to the bill. In addition, the
Department would recommend that the bill be amended to include an
additional requirement for an evaluation to be conducted by the
Secretary, three years prior to the cessation of federal funding under
this act. The evaluation would examine the accomplishments of the
heritage area in meeting the goals of the management plan; analyze the
leveraging and impact of investments to the heritage area; identify the
critical components of the management structure and sustainability of
the heritage area; and recommend what future role, if any, the National
Park Service should have with respect to the heritage area.

Mr. Chairman this completes my testimony. I would be happy to answer any
questions that you or any of the members of the subcommittee may have.