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National Register of Historic Places, and designated 
by the Governor of Pennsylvania as one of the State 
Heritage Park Areas, is a region with tremendous 
physical and natural resources and possesses a story 
of State, national, and international significance. 
(2) The single event of Colonel Edwin Drake’s 
drilling of the world’s first successful oil well in 1859 
has affected the industrial, natural, social, and polit-
ical structures of the modern world.
(3) Six national historic districts are located 
within the State Heritage Park boundary, in 
Emlenton, Franklin, Oil City, and Titusville, as well 
as 17 separate National Register sites. 
(4) The Allegheny River, which was designated 
as a component of the national wild and scenic rivers 
system in 1992 by Public Law 102–271, traverses the 
Oil Region and connects several of its major sites, as 
do some of the river’s tributaries such as Oil Creek, 
French Creek, and Sandy Creek. 
(5) The unspoiled rural character of the Oil Re-
gion provides many natural and recreational re-
sources, scenic vistas, and excellent water quality for 
people throughout the United States to enjoy. 
(6) Remnants of the oil industry, visible on the 
landscape to this day, provide a direct link to the
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past for visitors, as do the historic valley settlements, 
riverbed settlements, plateau developments, farmlands, 
and industrial landscapes. 
(7) The Oil Region also represents a cross section 
of American history associated with Native Ameri-
cans, frontier settlements, the French and Indian 
War, African Americans and the Underground Rail-
road, and immigration of Swedish and Polish indi-
viduals, among others. 
(8) Involvement by the Federal Government shall 
serve to enhance the efforts of the Commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania, local subdivisions of the Common-
wealth of Pennsylvania, volunteer organizations, and 
private businesses, to promote the cultural, national, 
and recreational resources of the region in order to 
fulfill their full potential. 
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this title is to enhance 
a cooperative management framework to assist the Com-
monwealth of Pennsylvania, its units of local government, 
and area citizens in conserving, enhancing, and inter-
preting the significant features of the lands, water, and 
structures of the Oil Region, in a manner consistent with 
compatible economic development for the benefit and inspi-
ration of present and future generations in the Common-
wealth of Pennsylvania and the United States.
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SEC. 103. OIL REGION NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby established the 
Oil Region National Heritage Area. 
(b) BOUNDARIES.—The boundaries of the Heritage 
Area shall include all of those lands depicted on a map enti-
tled ‘‘Oil Region National Heritage Area’’, numbered 
OIRE/20,000 and dated October 2000. The map shall be 
on file in the appropriate offices of the National Park Serv-
ice. The Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register, as 
soon as practical after the date of the enactment of this title, 
a detailed description and map of the boundaries estab-
lished under this subsection. 
(c) MANAGEMENT ENTITY.—The management entity 
for the Heritage Area shall be the Oil Heritage Region, Inc., 
the locally-based private, nonprofit management corpora-
tion which shall oversee the development of a management 
plan in accordance with section 105(b). 
SEC. 104. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING. 
To carry out the purposes of this title, the Secretary 
shall enter into a memorandum of understanding with the 
management entity. The memorandum shall include infor-
mation relating to the objectives and management of the 
area, including a discussion of the goals and objectives of 
the Heritage Area, including an explanation of the proposed 
approach to conservation and interpretation and a general
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outline of the protection measures committed to by the Sec-
retary and management entity. 
SEC. 105. AUTHORITIES AND DUTIES OF MANAGEMENT EN-
TITY. 
(a) AUTHORITIES.—The management entity may use 
funds made available under this title for purposes of pre-
paring, updating, and implementing the management plan 
developed under subsection (b). Such purposes may in-
clude—
(1) making grants to, and entering into coopera-
tive agreements with, States and their political sub-
divisions, private organizations, or any other person; 
(2) hiring and compensating staff; and 
(3) undertaking initiatives that advance the pur-
poses of the Heritage Area. 
(b) MANAGEMENT PLAN.—The management entity 
shall develop a management plan for the Heritage Area 
that—
(1) presents comprehensive strategies and rec-
ommendations for conservation, funding, manage-
ment, and development of the Heritage Area; 
(2) takes into consideration existing State, coun-
ty, and local plans and involves residents, public 
agencies, and private organizations working in the 
Heritage Area;
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(3) includes a description of actions that units 
of government and private organizations have agreed 
to take to protect the resources of the Heritage Area; 
(4) specifies the existing and potential sources of 
funding to protect, manage, and develop the Heritage 
Area; 
(5) includes an inventory of the resources con-
tained in the Heritage Area, including a list of any 
property in the Heritage Area that is related to the 
themes of the Heritage Area and that should be pre-
served, restored, managed, developed, or maintained 
because of its natural, cultural, historic, recreational, 
or scenic significance; 
(6) recommends policies for resource manage-
ment which consider and detail application of appro-
priate land and water management techniques, in-
cluding, but not limited to, the development of inter-
governmental and interagency cooperative agreements 
to protect the Heritage Area’s historical, cultural, rec-
reational, and natural resources in a manner con-
sistent with supporting appropriate and compatible 
economic viability; 
(7) describes a program for implementation of 
the management plan by the management entity, in-
cluding plans for restoration and construction, and
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specific commitments for that implementation that 
have been made by the management entity and any 
other persons for the first 5 years of implementation; 
(8) includes an analysis of ways in which local, 
State, and Federal programs, including the role for 
the National Park Service in the Heritage Area, may 
best be coordinated to promote the purposes of this 
title; 
(9) list any revisions to the boundaries of the 
Heritage Area proposed by the management entity 
and requested by the affected local government; and 
(10) includes an interpretation plan for the Her-
itage Area. 
(c) DEADLINE; TERMINATION OF FUNDING.—
(1) DEADLINE.—The management entity shall 
submit the management plan to the Secretary within 
2 years after the funds are made available for this 
title. 
(2) TERMINATION OF FUNDING.—If a manage-
ment plan is not submitted to the Secretary in ac-
cordance with this subsection, the management entity 
shall not qualify for Federal assistance under this 
title. 
(d) DUTIES OF MANAGEMENT ENTITY.—The manage-
ment entity shall—