I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1427
To establish the criteria and mechanisms for the designation of certain areas 
in the United States containing nationally important natural, historic, 
and cultural resources and recreational and educational opportunities 
that are geographically assembled and thematically related as areas that 
provide unique frameworks for understanding the great and diverse char-
acter of the United States and the development of communities and 
their surroundings as national heritage areas, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 25, 2003
Mr. HEFLEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Resources 
A BILL 
To establish the criteria and mechanisms for the designation 
of certain areas in the United States containing nation-
ally important natural, historic, and cultural resources 
and recreational and educational opportunities that are 
geographically assembled and thematically related as 
areas that provide unique frameworks for understanding 
the great and diverse character of the United States 
and the development of communities and their sur-
roundings as national heritage areas, and for other pur-
poses.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘National Heritage Areas Policy Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Purposes. 
Sec. 3. Definitions. 
Sec. 4. Recommendation of areas for designation as national heritage areas. 
Sec. 5. Requirements applicable to feasibility studies. 
Sec. 6. Management plans. 
Sec. 7. Grants for proposed national heritage areas. 
Sec. 8. Grants to support designated national heritage areas. 
Sec. 9. Technical assistance. 
Sec. 10. Termination of designation. 
Sec. 11. Private property protection. 
Sec. 12. Relationship to other federal programs. 
Sec. 13. Savings provisions. 
Sec. 14. Funding.
SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this Act are as follows: 
(1) To establish the criteria and mechanisms 
for the designation of certain areas in the United 
States containing nationally important natural, his-
toric, and cultural resources and recreational and 
educational opportunities that are geographically as-
sembled and thematically related as areas that pro-
vide unique frameworks for understanding the great 
and diverse character of the United States and the 
development of communities and their surroundings 
as national heritage areas. 
(2) To strengthen, complement, and support 
the existing units of the National Park System
through the interpretation and conservation of the 
associated living landscapes outside of the bound-
aries of those units. 
(3) To describe the extent of Federal respon-
sibilities and duties in regard to future national her-
itage areas. 
(4) To encourage collaboration and partner-
ships among State and local governments, nonprofit 
organizations, and the private sector, or combina-
tions thereof, to conserve and manage the resources 
and opportunities in national heritage areas. 
(5) To authorize Federal financial and technical 
assistance to local coordinating entities to assist in 
the conservation and interpretation of national herit-
age areas. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) FEASIBILITY STUDY.—The term ‘‘feasibility 
study’’ means a study conducted by the Secretary, 
or conducted by one or more other interested parties 
and approved by the Secretary in accordance with 
this Act, regarding the feasibility of designating any 
proposed national heritage area as a national herit-
age area.
(2) LOCAL COORDINATING ENTITY.—The term 
‘‘local coordinating entity’’ means, with respect to a 
national heritage area—
(A) an entity recognized by the Secretary, 
but only after consultation with the chief execu-
tive officer of the State in which the national 
heritage area is located (or if the area is located 
in more than one State, the chief executive offi-
cers of all such States), that agrees to perform 
the duties of a local coordinating entity under 
this Act; or 
(B) a Federal commission designated by 
Congress with members appointed by the Sec-
retary to perform the duties of a local coordi-
nating entity under this Act. 
(3) NATIONAL
HERITAGE
AREA.—The term 
‘‘national heritage area’’ means an area or corridor 
designated by an Act of Congress as a national her-
itage area. 
(4) PROPOSED
NATIONAL
HERITAGE
AREA.—
The term ‘‘proposed national heritage area’’ means 
an area or corridor that has been authorized by an 
Act of Congress for which the Secretary has been 
explicitly authorized to conduct a study to determine
the suitability and feasibility of designating the area 
or corridor as a national heritage area. 
(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of the Interior. 
(6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 
the Several States, the District of Columbia, Guam, 
the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Common-
wealth of Puerto Rico, and the Commonwealth of 
the Northern Mariana Islands. 
(7) UNIT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—The term 
‘‘unit of local government’’ means the government of 
a State, a political subdivision of a State, or an In-
dian tribe. 
SEC. 4. RECOMMENDATION OF AREAS FOR DESIGNATION 
AS NATIONAL HERITAGE AREAS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may recommend to 
Congress that an area or corridor be designated as a na-
tional heritage area only if, not later than 5 years after 
the Act explicitly authorizing the Secretary to conduct a 
study to determine the suitability and feasibility of desig-
nating the area or corridor as a national heritage area, 
the Secretary has—
(1) determined, based upon a feasibility study 
conducted for the proposed national heritage area 
that the area contains resources of national impor-
national heritage area that is related to the 
themes of the proposed national heritage area 
and that is found to merit preservation, restora-
tion, management, development, or maintenance 
because of its natural, cultural, historical, or 
recreational significance; 
(C) policies for resource management with 
appropriate land and water management tech-
niques, including the development of intergov-
ernmental cooperative agreements, private sec-
tor agreements, or any combination thereof, to 
protect the historical, cultural, recreational, and 
natural resources of the proposed national her-
itage area in a manner consistent with sup-
porting appropriate and compatible economic vi-
ability; 
(D) a program for implementation of the 
management plan by the designated local co-
ordinating entity, in cooperation with its part-
ners and units of local government; 
(E) evidence that relevant State, county, 
and local plans applicable to proposed national 
heritage areas have been taken into consider-
ation;