Distinctly Montana Magazine

W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A . C O M 21 One preservation option could be for the Madison Buffalo Jump State Park to become a corner- stone for the establishment of Montana's first national heritage area (NHA). Imagine the Cul- tural Crossroads of Native North America NHA grounded here in Southwest Montana, if you will. What is a NHA, you might ask? It is defined "as a place recog- nized by Congress where natural, cultural, historic, and recreational resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally-distinctive landscape arising from patterns shaped by geography." That definition fits the Madison Buffalo Jump, in particular, and its Southwest Montana surroundings exactly. They must be locally conceived, developed, and administered by local nonprofit organizations, civic groups, other private corporations, and/ or state governments. NHAs have elicited growing local support everywhere they have been established as versatile means for protecting lands and diverse cultural traditions, while also promoting heritage tourism and regional dynamism. Currently, there are 49 NHAs in 32 states and territories (the lion's share east of the Mississippi River), covering a wide array of subjects from Revolutionary War and Civil War history to the women's suffrage and civil rights movements to water policy in the American West to the Mormon migration. But none exists in Mon- tana and none focus upon Native and non-Native heritage, interaction, world views, and life ways together. IT IS ALSO IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND WHAT NHAS ARE NOT. They are not units of the National Park Service (NPS), nor do they involve acquiring any type of ad- ditional federally owned or managed land. Instead, lands within heritage areas remain in private, local, or state ownership or some combina- tion thereof. Functionally, they are voluntary partnerships among local communities, counties, states, and the NPS, wherein the NPS supports local and state conservation efforts strictly through federal recognition, seed money, and technical assistance, if so desired. For instance: Last August 5th, the First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park near Great Falls was designated a National Historical Landmark (NHL) by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Under this federal pro- gram, the National Park Service will now wield authority to oversee and maintain this site — comparatively a more top-down, Washing- ton, D.C. driven approach to historic preservation than the bottom-up locally-controlled NHA approach. CORNERSTONE FOR MONTANA'S FIRST NHA

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