I have the great privilege of representing virginias fourth congressional district. Virginia is home to so many incredible sites historical, cultural, ecological and environmental significance for the state and the nation. Its our job to Work Together to ensure the preservation or future generations and they can learn about our history and experience these wonderful areas firsthand. Among the many important is the swamp located in the region of my o district. Lily is on this call with us into doing a great job keeping it going. I always chuckle to myself when i mention this because whilee its great it isnt merely the acreage that used a to be. [inaudible] ngthey are doing a great job of keepingg it up and i couldnt be more proudno of them. What you might not know is it was once the home and refuge to be a generation of generation of africanamerican and indigenous populations to create a selfsustaining Community Taking away from the threat of enslavement. It also served as an economic population with the communities and those that were escaping slavery. Due to this robust activities between the communities, it contains concentrations of important archaeological and cultural artifacts. You didnt know this either, did you, its one of the only known stops on the underground railroad. Those freed would use it for cover as they traveled north to freedom. Theres an environmental value in the region, and we must do everything we can to protect. It continues to be threatened. As i said at one time, it was more than a million acres across virginia and North Carolina and today its about a tenth due in large part to overdevelopment, threats of Climate Change sea level rise. The shrinking size of the Great Dismal Swamp should be a concern especially those that call the commonwealth home. There is a unique and fragile ecosystem home to a wide array ofts animals, plants, insect species and also plays a vital role in the continued litigation of the Climate Crisis. The fight against the Climate Crisis by helping to absorb harmful gases in the atmosphere that continue to drive the Global Temperatures up. Helping to ensure a Healthy Future the next generation thats why ive been proud ever since i came to congress. Theres many members of the delegationf introduce bicameral piece of legislation for the sustainability and feasibility of designating the great swamp as a National Heritage area. Thista legislation is an importt first step to the fight for the resources into the importance of this region. Not onlyeg does it preserve the integrity but also the commonwealth economy through tremendous economic activity. I had the privilege and opportunityo for the funding request for the House Appropriations committeesti consideration for the House Appropriations committeett consideration and possible inclusion in the upcoming process that starts in late july. Please keep your y fingers crossed. We would like to get some federal health the region. This funding request would provide the city of chesapeake with the resources it needs to move and preserve the school with one of the oldest in the region. I want to salute and commend virginia for its efforts to shine a light on the importance for the list of one of the most historical sites in our area. It is one of the nations environmental treasures in the fight and of course preservation continues. Idd like to extend my thanks to virginia and the department for their continued efforts for the sites throughout the commonwealth. Please know that i am your partner and colleague whenever and wherever you need me. I will continue advocating on erthe level of the preservation and look forward to the continued collaboration to protect this incredible region. Thank you for allowing me to join today. I have to jump off the call but i hope you have a wonderful conversation and know that we are only a phone call away. God bless you. Thankiv you so much, representative mceachin for being with us today and all that you are doing. Take care. As i mentioned, conservationists or increasingly recognizing the connections between the resources and our Natural Resources. Conservation easement with National Heritage areas are just some of the tools that are used and we have a superb panel today to talk more about National Heritage areas. We will focus on the recent interest in creating an nha National Heritage area for the Great Dismal Swamp as you heard talked about. In addition to the Panel Members i would also like to point out we have two hr staff with us, and they are going to be part to answer any questions that you may have. And just one quick housekeeping note speaking of questions, we will take questions at the end if we have time. Hopefully we will so please put them in the q and a. If we dont happen to get them to do today because we have a number of excellent speakers, we will be sure to talk with you. So, with that, lets turn to our Panel Members. I will introduce t them one at a time and then we will have questions at the end. First up, i would like to introduce jan hurstwender who joined in 2008 and is now the director of the operations and education. She receives the interpretationn preservation and general operation details of thepr preservation virginia portfolio of the properties. And six of the properties including and i will put in a quick plug, scotts town, John Marshall house, jamestown and the cape henry lighthouse. I urge you all to come visit. She will briefly share some information on these historic sites. Ou i know that most all of the panel is going to be talking about the swamp but before we get to that im going to talk about some of the ways that the site is utilizing our agency end the landscape around us. Im going to give a brief little overview of some of the projects that wend are involved in. So im going to go ahead and share. Sothere we go. Okay so the first site that we are going to dive into is going to be patrick henry. This is a great aerial shot of the property and next i have a mapp drawn in the 60s i believe 63. Its upside down so you can see the orientation. But i did want to point out that atpo this point, scotts town is in the process of developing a master plan for the entirety so we are not just focused on the structure book so we can integrate the landscape for all of our visitors in the general public. We own about 23 acres. Historically weve only been in the archaeology in the area. We have so much work to do, so much that remains we know that there were enslaved quarters on the property. We have yet to find them. That is a goal of ours and we also want to make sure that we are working with the representatives to have a better understanding of how this land was used prior to 1717 when the landnd was patented. This kind of gives you an overview but while we are still undergoing lotshe of research we are utilizing the space and this is through partnership. Its the only way we can move forward. Partnering with hanover to develop learning gardens and with local businesses. Those are very traditional ways of partnering and using the landscape that we have. Then we will move on and get a sort of an aerial shot of this property corresponding with an older map. So the base and capital is in same situation as scotts town. We have 40 acres that comes with this property and we are looking forward to developing a master plan that is going to help us develop a plan to integrate all of that landscape into the historic fabric that already exists. And so, archaeology again is a major factor in how this is going to play out. But with this castle, we are fortunate that we have this farmland t and forest thats pretty much been there since the centuries that the structure of the xuppercaseletter existed. The original building was built in 1655 and its pretty much been in agricultural use ever since. So, one of the projects we are working on in collaboration with the state park is essentially to do a historic road trade. So the plan is to reopen this three and a half mile road trail that would go from the castle and in the distance in this aerial shot you can see the james river so this gives you an idea. Its not built on the water. There is a creek where they can get up and down the creek, but any navigable channels are here on the james river. So we are working with of the state park, landowners to see if we can reopen that property up to bikes, walking and horse trails. So definitely a partnership we are looking forward to. So, moving on, we have smith port. There is this manor house build but really the names come from 1619 that he began but wasnt able to complete. It became part of the john smith warner trail and in the top righthand corner you can see the representatives commemorating this event taking place. And so, we have a designation and walking trail that goes from the manor house back to the site. Otherwise we are also utilizing the property, the local landowner has this in our property now for several years which is a great way that is bringing a lot of tourism to the site for people. Moving on to cape henry, its located on an active military base and we have worked in partnership with the active military base and also the National Park sites as a memorial National Park site. So, our interpreters provide a goalhe to different areas you cn see in the bottom righthand corner there is a world war ii mine case built into the white house and working with of the joint expeditionary, weve been able to utilize that space with our interpreters in that area and really to get an idea of how this area was used for the past 400 plus years. The last project i want to talk about is something coming up next week. There is the least amount of property out of the sites. Theres not much landscape in the middle off richmond however its taking place next week where they will go online the on ninth andmarshall street ande representing a project to work towards ending juvenile incarceration. So this project is partnership with the house. This is an augmented reality project so we are working with landscapes. You can download a qr code and see these panels come to life with video and poetry and it can into the sky and the clouds. This is very much a partnership that fell into our lap, but its really a great tie to the current judicial issues back to the site of chief justice John Marshall so that is a quick sampling of some of the ways that the sites are using the historic landscape. Now we will hear from Elizabeth Vehmeyer at the National Park service in dc along with the Technical Assistance to 55 of these areas and 34 sites. Shes also working sorry, having a little technical issue here. And along withan administering assistance in these areas and 34 states, the Program ProvidesTechnical Assistance on the Feasibility Study process for emerging. Shes also worked as an archaeologist, Grant Management specialist with the National Park service and of ruby american penalty protection program. I elizabeth. Thanks. And i just want to say thank you to the preservation virginia for the invitation this afternoon. We are happy to bee here. Im going to give an overview of the National Heritage program and with National Heritage areas are. And a little bit about what they do, benefits that the heritage areas bring to the communities into the nation. And a little bit about how they aree designated in the feasibility printing process. First what are the National Heritage areas . The quick answer is they are large lived in landscapes of nationalon importance and designated by congress. The heritage areas over the place andor an organizational model for conservation and preservation efforts. The organizing model, which is done through a local management and processing their is grassroots. Its a a communitybased decisionmaking model with focus on interdisciplinary approaches, programs and projects. A Management Entity or what we call local coordination is designated via the legislation that creates the heritage area. They can be nonprofit. They are local government, academic institutions or federal commission. In the legislation that creates the heritage areas, the Management Entity along with partnership with the federal government is tasked with of the goal of conservation, turecreation, culturally and Historic Research preservation, education,av and the last one which is in some things always noted in the legislation but as a direct byproduct of the other goals and processes of the National Heritage areas Economic Development foror that community or that region. Many activities address multiple Conservation Strategies into one single project, so while these are kind ofar called out separately, a lot of projects and programs combine them and i can talk that about that. The approach to the large landscapes and pins can cultivate new ways of seeing and learning from the landscape from its resources and really at the core permits people. So, where are the nhas. I know they are not only in organizing modelel but they are also a place. And as mentioned, there are 55 heritage areas across 34 states in the country. They are you can tell hear from this map that they vary in size, but in general, they are in a strategic assemblage of resources that allow an important interplay between the landscape and its features to total story. Althey are usually nationally distinctive landscapes meaning this is a place, the best place to tell the story in america. And they can represent different types, different areas of history or different elements of our story in america. Andd that can be industry events or people were person. For an example, in terms of telling a story of industry and how industry played out across the landscape includes motor cities National Heritage area in michigan, rivers of steel National Heritage area in the pittsburgh area and pennsylvania for silos and a soap stacks National Heritage area in iowa which tells of an agricultural industry. Then you have events or kind of trends in our history that can relate to the transportation so we have a lot of canal systems that are part of the program. We also have with the first one being the illinois and michigan canal connecting the great lakes to the mississippi. Then we also have what i mentioned people, we have Abraham LincolnNational Heritage area in central illinois, how his life was shaped by that area and then we also have the Cultural Heritage corridor along the coast with North Carolina down to florida and the goal is how they interact with of the landscape into the landscape influenced them. I also encourageeb anyone to go onto the website and check out this map thats very and you can see how your life has interacted across the country or if maybe you didnt realize that you are in one and benefit from the sites and programs there. What do they actually do . How do they fulfill their legislation and mandates from congress . They released their Publicprivate Partnership in the model of costeffective ways to preserve these nationally important Cultural Resources and its kind of through the creation of the working partnerships. Di they expand upon the approaches looking at a large scale approach, Community Driven like it noted its that thats Grassroots Level that the programs are developed and carried out. At the same time that connection is clear with of the mission of the park service and furthering the mission across the larger landscape ofce interest with the park service owned in the park unit boundary. Part of that is making the connection to other sites that domay be the park service doesnt own and manage themselves but also to help tell the larger story ofnd our shared heritage. Some of that is through expanding upon underrepresented communities, helpingng tells stories that may be havent been told previously. Making connections in partnerships with groups that may be havent had an opportunity in the past to tell their story, to help them get a platform and a space. Its also it usuallyha provides sub grants and that is a way to help the Capacity Building for their network that at that local level and that can help those carrying out certain projects like Water Quality interpretation, historic preservation. I just wantca to point out it is located in virginia. You may be familiar with them and maybe now you understand what theyow do. You can see how they operate across the country, which is an example of one journey. One is there premier project is into the program is the national nationalhistory academy which is happening partly right now because they have a Summer Program for the middlent and hih school students. And when we switched to virtual, last year we were able to make that switch and i think this year they are also doing some virtual programmin