To date, the Congress has designated 24 national heritage areas, primarily in the eastern half of the country (see fig. 1). Generally, national heritage areas focus on local efforts to preserve and interpret the role that certain sites, events, and resources have played in local history and their significance in the broader national context. For example, the Rivers of Steel Heritage Area commemorates the contribution of southwestern Pennsylvania to the development of the nation’s steel industry by providing visitors with interpretive tours of historic sites and other activities. Heritage areas share many similarities— such as recreational resources and historic sites—with national parks and other park system units but lack the stature and national significance to qualify them as these units. The process of becoming a national heritage area usually begins when local residents, businesses, and governments ask the Park Service, within the Department of the Interior, or the Congress for help in preserving their local heritage and resources. In response, although the Park Service has no program governing these activities, the agency provides technical assistance, such as conducting or reviewing studies to determine an area’s eligibility for heritage area status. The Congress then may designate the site as a national heritage area and set up a management entity for it. This entity could be a state or local governmental agency, an independent federal commission, or a private nonprofit corporation. Usually within 3 years of designation, the area is required to develop a management plan, which is to detail, among other things, the area’s goals and its plans for achieving those goals. The Park Service then reviews these plans, which must be approved by the Secretary of the Interior. After the Congress designates a heritage area, the Park Service enters into a cooperative agreement with the area’s management entity to assist the local community in organizing and planning the area. Each area can receive funding through the Park Service’s budget—generally limited to not more than $1 million a year for 10 or 15 years. The agency allocates the funds to the area through the cooperative agreement. No systematic process is in place to identify qualified candidate sites and designate them as national heritage areas. In this regard, the Park Service conducts studies—or reviews studies prepared by local communities—to evaluate the qualifications of sites proposed for national heritage designation. On the basis of these studies, the agency advises the Congress as to whether a particular location warrants designation. The agency usually provides its advice to the Congress by testifying in hearings on bills to authorize a particular heritage area. The Park Services’ studies of prospective sites’ suitability help the agency ensure that the basic components necessary to a successful heritage area—such as natural and cultural resources and community support—are either already in place or are planned. Park Service data show that the agency conducted or reviewed some type of study addressing the qualifications of all 24 heritage areas. However, in some cases, these studies were limited in scope so that questions concerning the merits of the location persisted after the studies were completed. As a result, the Congress designated 10 of the 24 areas with only a limited evaluation of their suitability as heritage areas. Of these 10 areas, the Park Service opposed or suggested that the Congress defer action on 6, primarily because of continuing questions about, among other issues, whether the areas had adequately identified goals or management entities or demonstrated community support. Furthermore, of the 14 areas that were designated after a full evaluation, the Congress designated 8 consistent with the Park Service’s recommendations, 5 without the agency’s advice, and 1 after the agency had recommended that action be deferred. Furthermore, the criteria the Park Service uses to evaluate the suitability of prospective heritage areas are not specific and, in using them, the agency has determined that a large portion of the sites studied qualify as heritage areas. According to the Heritage Area national coordinator, before the early 1990s, the Park Service used an ad hoc approach to determining sites’ eligibility as heritage areas, with little in the way of objective criteria as a guide. Since then, however, the Park Service developed general guidelines to use in evaluating and advising the Congress on the suitability of sites as heritage areas. Based on these guidelines, in 1999, the agency developed a more formal approach to evaluating sites. This approach consisted of four actions that the agency believed were critical before a site could be designated as well as 10 criteria to be considered when conducting studies to assess an area’s suitability. The four critical steps include the following: complete a suitability/feasibility study; involve the public in the suitability/feasibility study; demonstrate widespread public support for the proposed designation; and demonstrate commitment to the proposal from governments, industry, and private, nonprofit organizations. A suitability/feasibility study, should examine a proposed area using the following criteria: The area has natural, historic, or cultural resources that represent distinctive aspects of American heritage worthy of recognition, conservation, interpretation, and continuing use, and are best managed through partnerships among public and private entities, and by combining diverse and sometimes noncontiguous resources and active communities; The area’s traditions, customs, beliefs, and folk life are a valuable part of the national story; The area provides outstanding opportunities to conserve natural, cultural, historic, and/or scenic features; The area provides outstanding recreational and educational opportunities; Resources that are important to the identified themes of the area retain a degree of integrity capable of supporting interpretation; Residents, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and governments within the area that are involved in the planning have developed a conceptual financial plan that outlines the roles for all participants, including the federal government, and have demonstrated support for designation of the area; The proposed management entity and units of government supporting the designation are willing to commit to working in partnership to develop the area; The proposal is consistent with continued economic activity in the area; A conceptual boundary map is supported by the public; and The management entity proposed to plan and implement the project is described. These criteria are broad and subject to multiple interpretations, as noted by an official in the agency’s Midwest region charged with applying these criteria to prospective areas. Similarly, according to officials in the agency’s Northeast region, they believe that the criteria were developed to be inclusive and that they are inadequate for screening purposes. The national coordinator believes, however, that the criteria are valuable but that the regions need additional guidance to apply them more consistently. The Park Service has developed draft guidance for applying these criteria but has no plans to issue them as final guidance. Rather, the agency is incorporating this guidance into a legislative proposal for a formal heritage area program. According to the national coordinator, some regions have used this guidance despite its draft status, but it has not been widely adopted or used to date. The Park Service’s application of these broad criteria has identified a large number of potential heritage areas. Since 1989, the Park Service has determined that many of the candidate sites it has evaluated would qualify as national heritage areas. According to data from 22 of the 24 heritage areas, about half of their total funding of $310 million in fiscal years 1997 through 2002 came from the federal government and the other half from state and local governments and private sources. Table 1 shows the areas’ funding sources from fiscal years 1997 through 2002. As figure 2 shows, the federal government’s total funding to these heritage areas increased from about $14 million in fiscal year 1997 to about $28 million in fiscal year 2002, peaking at over $34 million in fiscal year 2000. The Congress sets the overall level of funding for heritage areas, determining which areas will receive funding and specifying the amounts provided. Newly designated heritage areas usually receive limited federal funds while they develop their management plans and then receive increasing financial support through Park Service appropriations after their plans are established. The first heritage areas received pass-through grants from the Park Service and funding through the agency’s Statutory and Contractual Aid appropriations. However, in 1998, the Congress began appropriating funds to support heritage areas through the Heritage Partnership Program. In addition, the Congress has placed in each area’s designating legislation certain conditions on the receipt of federal funds. While the legislation designating the earliest heritage areas resulted in different funding structures, generally those created since 1996 have been authorized funding of up to $10 million over 15 years, not to exceed $1 million in any single year. In conjunction with this limit, the designating legislation attempts to identify a specific date when heritage areas no longer receive federal financial or technical assistance. Although heritage areas are ultimately expected to become self-sufficient without federal support, to date the sunset provisions have not limited federal funding. Since the first national heritage area was designated in 1984, five have reached the sunset date specified in their designating legislation. However, in each case, the sunset date was extended and the heritage area continued to receive funding from the Congress. Finally, the areas’ designating legislation typically requires the heritage areas to match the amount of federal funds they receive with a specified percentage of funds from nonfederal sources. Twenty-two of the 24 heritage areas are required to match the federal funds they receive. Of these 22 areas, 21 have a 50-percent match requirement—they must show that at least 50 percent of the funding for their projects has come from nonfederal sources—and one has a 25-percent match requirement. In the absence of a formal program, the Park Service oversees heritage areas’ activities by monitoring the implementation of the terms set forth in the cooperative agreements. According to Park Service headquarters officials, the agency’s cooperative agreements with heritage areas allow the agency to effectively oversee their activities and hold them accountable. These officials maintain that they can withhold funds from heritage areas—and have, in some circumstances, done so—if the areas are not carrying out the requirements of the cooperative agreements. However, regional managers have differing views on their authority for withholding funds from areas and the conditions under which they should do so. Although Park Service has oversight opportunities through the cooperative agreements, it has not taken advantage of these opportunities to help to improve oversight and ensure these areas’ accountability.