Things are happening every day with this project.  So check this page regularly.

8/23/2007

Most of the activity for this discussion has moved to the Heritage Network Blog.

7/23/07

On July 5th, Ronald Anzalzone, Director of the Office of Preservation Initiatives sent a letter to Malcolm Friedman in his role as Chairman of the Stevens County Commissioners regarding our application for status as a Preserve America Community.  It requested more evidence that our sample project, The Heritage Network, is a Public-Private Partnership.  Mr Anzalone also gave us contact information for his assistant, Judy Rodenstein.  After some brief exchanges with Ms Rodenstein, we have mailed a collection of materials to the Office of Preservation Initiatives which should substantiate the public-private partnership nature of The Heritage Network.  You can view our cover letter included with those materials at http://www.mapmet.com/Preservation/PublicPrivateCoverLetter.pdf. 

In short, we are almost in a position to apply for preservation money and need to start thinking about that.

In Review, grant applications must clearly fall into ONE of the following categories:  Research, Interpretation, Marketing, Planning or Training.  The proposed project must be self-sustaining.  We need to show that it will get matching value in support from Stevens County and that this support will be ongoing.

So it's time to throw your hats in the ring.  Answer these three questions: (Remember they cannot be used to build or maintain buildings.)

1) What is the most important use your organization could make of the Federal Grant monies?

2) Which of these five categories does it fall under: Research, Interpretation, Marketing, Planning or Training?

3) How would it be self-sustaining?

5/29/07

Well actually, things have not been happening every day on this web site.
I have been out of the country in Australia until the first of May (click on the
wallaby above for pictures and stories - with more to come.)  Meanwhile,
Elaine Colby has worked up an application to make Stevens County a
Preserve America community.  It was signed by the commissioners and sent
to Washington DC last Friday, May 25th. 

There were some side benefits, the application itself has a lot about the
history of the county and the organizations in the Heritage Network.  We used
the Heritage Network as the main example of what Stevens County has
achieved in the way of Historical Preservation lately.  Another document
born in the application is a version of the Heritage Network map that shows
what facilities are available in each town as a spreadsheet in a map key rather
than a cluster of icons on the map.

If you had not heard, Elaine has landed us a substantial grant, over $8,000
for preserving images and documents in the network.

We also used excerpts from David Bull's "Strategy for Tourism" even though in
its draft stage, the document is about 140 pages long already.  David also lent us
some of the extensive collection of historical photographs he has amassed to
use in the application.

So the summer is heating up in more ways than one.  We should not wait for
confirmation of our status but start establishing priorities for grant applications
to submit wherever we can.


2/21/07

2/16/07

Last Thursday the extended tourism committee of the Colville Chamber of Commerce met to hear what the new Event Coordinator, David Bull has in store for us.  There was a lot of good news at this meeting.  David is working on a Strategic Tourism Plan for Stevens County and extended Northeast Washington area.  His position is funded with monies from Stevens County and City of Colville hotel/motel taxes as well as contributions from the Colville Chamber of Commerce.  His vision - with the full backing of the funding agencies-is to enhance tourism with better coordination throughout Northeast Washington.  For those of us involved with the ill-fated Nova and other attempts and regional tourism, this is welcome news.  He is re-designing web sites and going to a lot of meetings.

Included in the plan are "Cultural Resources" which include history.  Because these resources will be included in an official county plan, they will boost the authority of Preserve America proposals supporting the plan.  Getting some authority is the order of the day.

At our Stevens County Preservation Committee meeting immediately following the tourism meeting, we took a hard look at the hurdles we need to jump to successfully apply for Preserve America Community status for Stevens County.  One major criteria is that we can demonstrate
"The community has recently supported a historic or cultural preservation project that promotes heritage tourism or otherwise fosters economic vitality, and involves a public-private partnership between government entities and at least one civic association, nonprofit, and/or business enterprise."

We think our best bet for this featured project is the Heritage Network itself.  It meets all the criteria and has a bright future.

Another criteria presented a potential conflict of interest.  We need an official body to administer any funds received through grants for historic preservation. The Heritage Network is a natural choice, but it spans more than Stevens County.  The structure we suggest is that the Stevens County Historical Society sets up a Historic Preservation Committee to approve expenditures of grant monies and forward vouchers to the Stevens County Auditor.   (I have checked with the Auditor and this should not be a problem for them.)  We would want broad representation on this committee to assure that it is not Colville-centric.

We went through the 10 criteria on the application of which we need to demonstrate activity in at least 5.  They involve Heritage Places, Historic Resources and Promoting Historic Assets.  We are looking good in many of these, again because of long-standing activities of the Stevens County Historical Society. 

Even though it is an official holiday, we are hoping for good attendance at the meeting of the Heritage Network at the Stevens County Museum next Monday at 10:00 AM.  The agenda is packed with new energy.  Elaine Colby will talk about her duties as our Vista Volunteer.  David Bull will introduce himself and the renewed efforts for tourism.  I will talk about the Stevens County Historical Preservation Committee. 

The following day, Tuesday at 1:30 we will meet with the Commissioners in the Courthouse and ask for their support in applying for Preserve America Community Status.  We would like to demonstrate broad community backing for this effort and you are all encouraged to attend.

2/15/07

Here are the minutes you requested (from the meeting with the Commissioners 1/15/07).  See you all Tuesday at 1:30 (Feb. 20^th).  Polly 

At 10:15 a.m. Gabriel Cruden, Tricia Woods, Joe Barreca and Janet Thomas met with the Board to present information on Preserve America, a White House initiative developed in cooperation with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Commerce.  Guidelines and application instructions for applying for FY 2007 Preserve America Historic Preservation Fund grants to preserve and promote America’s heritage and cultural assets were reviewed.  It was noted that there are two funding cycles in 2007.  The group did not believe they would be able to meet the deadline for the first funding cycle (application due February 14, 2007) but would apply for the second.  The Board was asked to consider the county being designated as lead agency.  It appears that 100% in-kind is allowed.  A list of 24 people who make up the current “Preservation Team” was reviewed.  Another meeting was scheduled for February 20, 2007 to review a more complete proposal, budget and scope of work.  A copy of information provided to the Board was placed in a file for the February meeting. 

2/2/07

This week we have postings from the Cities of Kettle Falls and Colville about their history-related activities: http://mapmet.com/Preservation/activities.htm. (Thank you Dave and Melinda)

Also I talked with Clay White, Stevens County Land Services Director.  I clipped the 3 short sentences about historical preservation from the plan (there are a few more in the shorelines section and perhaps other parts). (See below)

Clay is very busy but in favor of historical preservation and now is in the email loop for this committee.  For grant application purposes, it would be valuable to have more detail in the comprehensive plan about historical efforts and assets.  Unfortunately, no changes to the plan will be considered until December of 2008.  We can focus on resolutions and policies established separately by the commissioners.  The land use portion, chapter 3, of the comprehensive plan is available on the Land Services web site, http://www.co.stevens.wa.us/landservices/Planning/Comprehensive%20Plan/3.0%20Land%20Use.pdf.

We are scheduled to meet at 1:15 in the Colville Library basement on Feb 15th to discuss priorities for our next appointment with the county commissioners on February 20th and a presentation to the Heritage Network .  If you would like to attend the Colville Chamber tourism meeting/lunch, immediately before the our meeting in the Library, you are welcome.  You can order a lunch for that meeting by sending an RSVP to Tricia Woods at the Colville Chamber, colvillecoc@plix.com or phoning 684-5973.

Keep those activities and plans coming!

1/27/07

Barbara Swanson from the Chewelah Museum called yesterday.  She has already begun work on Preserve America before her recent illness and is back to work again.  To see some of what she has accomplished, check out their web site http://www.chewelahmuseum.org/.  It is searchable with lots of images.  We can look forward to seeing her at some meetings. 

1/25/07

After the meeting Wednesday January 24th at the TEDD offices, we have a name, a chairman, Joe Barreca, a mission statement (see meeting notes) http://mapmet.com/Preservation/minutes_1_25_07.htm, some upcoming meetings to achieve our first goal of certification of Stevens County as a Preserve America Community and to move into planning and fund raising http://mapmet.com/Preservation/calendar.htm.

We also have some very helpful new members.  David Bull, new tourism coordinator for the Colville Chamber of Commerce, has some spot-on experience and a mandate to develop heritage tourism and a cultural corridor in our region.  Check out this initiative from Northwest Colorado where he last worked: Regional Tourism Initiative 2005.pdf.

Since the meeting I have talked to Randy Abrahamson who has a lot of preservation and interpretation work he would like to do with the Spokane Tribe.  We hope to meet him in person at our next meeting, February 15th at 1:30, after the Chamber meeting in the Colville Library basement, just north of the Stevens County Courthouse.

I have also talked to Hamton Tucker at the National Preserve America Office in Washington D.C..  He answered a lot of questions for me:

1) Although the deadline for grant applications is February 15th, there is as yet no funding approved by Congress for 2007.  If that funding exceeds 3 to 5 Million, there may well be another round of applications accepted on November 7th of 2007.
2) Our strategy of forming a plan that includes sections on Planning, Research, Interpretation, Marketing and Training will allow us to apply for grants in one of those categories each cycle.
3) He will fax a sample grant application from a county to the Colville Chamber Office for us to look at.
4) His office does establish a priority list that is sent to Congress for approval.  So far there has been very little politics involved in accepting the NPS recommendations and funding accordingly.
5) This year there were 90 applications, 3.5 Million was awarded to 45 of them.  There were 400 Preserve America Communities last year.  That number is expected to raise to 700 this year.
6) Preserve America status is essential to qualify for these grants.  He gave me the name of Ron Alazone in the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (202) 606-8523, ralazone@achp.gov as a contact to attain Preserve America Community status.

Several people have supplied us with lists of their historical assets, projects and goals.  I am adding those to the activities page as they come in http://mapmet.com/Preservation/activities.htm.  The latest are from Lee Snook at the Park Service.  David Bull confirms that these are the grist for preparing any plan and directing funding.  Even if you cannot attend these meetings, please give us some material to work with along these lines.  We will be meeting with the Heritage Network on Feb. 19th at the Stevens County Museum, 10 AM to explain this process.  We will also be meeting with the Six Cities Consortium and Chambers of Commerce to garner support and advice. 

That's plenty for two days!
 

1/23/07

We now have some contacts with the Spokane Tribe (Thanks to Larry Fine), but we do not have a member for our committee yet.  I am working on a planning page for the website.  Lee Snook has contributed some choice activities, goals and themes from the NPS historical planning files.   Still no response from the National Preserve America Office.  Lee has supplied some more specific names and phone numbers there that I (Joe) will try in the morning.  In the meeting at TEDD tomorrow, we will do some brainstorming on the plan.  Have some themes about your local history in mind to promote.  We need to develop specific objectives, a budget and discuss how to involve all relevant areas.  Elaine Colby is taking her Vista Volunteer training in Utah and will not be able to attend.  She suggests we work through the Heritage Network.   There are advantages to this but perhaps not for the government representatives.  We will need to work that out.

1/16/07: Brief Report on Meeting with the Commissioners

Janet Thomas, Gabriel Cruden, Tricia Woods and myself had a cordial meeting with Stevens County Commissioners Merrill Ott and Malcolm Friedman yesterday.  They did not readily agree to sign a petition of support for becoming a Preserve America Community but seemed inclined to do so.  They wanted us to establish a connection with the Spokane Tribe, (who evidently have very similar ideas,) and to talk to their Land Services Director, Clay White, before getting involved.  We have another meeting with them scheduled for February 20th.

They should provide us with some contacts with the Spokanes.  If any of you know someone we could talk to about Historical Preservation and Interpretation, that would be helpful.  No one was specifically noted on their web site.

Meanwhile we need to accumulate more information about what resources and projects you are already working on and what you would like to see happen.  This information will be assembled into a preliminary plan to submit with the application for Preserve America Community status.  You can see a couple examples of this kind of information from the Stevens County Historical Society and the Little Pend Oreille Wildlife Refuge on the website, http://mapmet.com/Preservation/activities.htm.  This is the first step toward getting your pet history projects funded, if not through Preserve America, then with whatever assistance we can garner.

I have called and emailed the NPS Preserve America Office.  To date they have not responded.  We will move ahead anyway.
 

1/11/07: Melinda Lee, City of Colville writes:

1/10/07: Marilyn James, Sinixt Indian calls to say she wants to help in the planning phase.  (This is a huge asset, Marilyn not only knows Tribal history and stories, she is a story teller and maintains as much as possible a traditional lifestyle.)

1/10/07: Calendar postings January 16th Selkirk Loop in Sandpoint
January 17th - Federal Grants workshop in Spokane.  See Calendar for details