Essex National Heritage Area
Tom Leonard, President, ENHC

Tom Leonard,
President Emeritus, ENHC

Tom Leonard writes a monthly column for the community newspapers in the Essex National Heritage Area. This is a reprint of this month's column.
tleonard
at essexheritage.org.

Columns
National Park Service Report and Regional Planning Seminar

It is always such a pleasure for me to have the opportunity to “speak” about the work of Essex Heritage in this region. We are truly indebted to the Community Newspapers for allowing us this chance to deliver a monthly message to the residents of the region Essex Heritage continues to build partnerships across this region and the association with this newspaper group is one of our best relationships.

National Park Service Second Century Report Released
A panel of nationally known experts headed by former United States Senators, Howard Baker and Bennett Johnson has been holding hearings across this country, with the goal of offering a recommendation to the National Park Service. The goal is to offer a plan as to how the Park Service might move forward in the second Century of their existence. The Essex National Heritage Commission has played an important role in those deliberations as in 2008 the Second Century Commission made a visit to this region to learn how the partnership that has been established here between the National Park Service, the communities in this region, and the many private partners we have established relationships with is working. This blue-ribbon panel visited the Gould Barn in Topsfield for a hearing and that followed an extraordinary dinner meeting at the Boot Mills the night before in Lowell. Those two sessions gave Essex Heritage advocates the opportunity to advance some thoughts on the work being accomplished in this region.

The findings and recommendations concerning the National Park Service that have just been released to the United State Congress by the Commission is to “authorize, clearly define and base fund a system of National Heritage Areas, and to encourage, where possible, the establishment of Heritage Areas in association with National Parks”. The Second Century group continued their findings by stating that “to advance the 21st Century National Park Service idea, the Congress of the United States should, “provide the National Park Service with clear legal authority , not withstanding any other provision of law, to enter into cooperative agreements without competition that benefit both National Park Service and Heritage Area partners, define public purpose to include both direct benefits to the National Park Service and to partners for projects within and outside park boundaries.”

The panel also indicated that they have seen the current reality function at or near optimum level in their meeting at the Essex National Heritage Area, and the Salem Maritime National Historic Site, “where two units of the National Park Service; a National Heritage Area; National Historic Landmarks; National Register of Historic Places; Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance; and state, local and private sector entities interested in cultural resources, natural resources, scenic beauty, recreation, education, and economic function in nearly seamless harmony.”

These comments are a powerful endorsement of the Heritage Area concept in general and in particular the work of the Essex National Heritage Commission and how well it works in this region for the National Park Service, the 34 communities we serve, the dozens of private partnerships we have established and most particularly the three quarters of a million residents who call Essex County home... We now anxiously wait to learn how the recommendation of the powerful Second Century Commission is received in Washington and how those recommendations will be implemented in the future.

Essex County Community Foundation Seminar
I recently spent time at a seminar offered by the Essex County Community Foundation.The subject of the seminar focused on fundraising strategies for not-for-profit organizations in this difficult economy. It was generally thought that in 2010 that, even though Americans will give over $300 Billion to charities of all kinds, the total amount provided overall will be slightly down from the current year. The diversity of this region was also outlined, and the depth of the need for charitable giving was also identified as it was pointed out that in this region alone, that there are 2500 not-for-profit organizations all seeking support.

It will be important for Essex Heritage to continue to differentiate why it would be important to support our work. I came away from the seminar thinking that, Essex Heritage builds broad based coalitions that fosters regional cooperation that focuses on the preservation of the precious resources in this region for future generations. In the last quarter of this year Essex Heritage will once again offer the opportunity to endorse that concept and to support the work being accomplished at the Commission in an annual appeal for support. The results of that effort will help support the mission of Essex Heritage going forward.

Read more about the region from Tom Leonard on his blog.

Thomas M. Leonard is President Emeritus of the Essex National Heritage Commission, Inc., the nonprofit management entity of the Essex National Heritage Area, and can be reached by clicking here.