[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6040 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6040

   To establish the Maumee Valley National Heritage Area in Ohio and 
                    Indiana, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 30, 2010

  Ms. Kaptur introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To establish the Maumee Valley National Heritage Area in Ohio and 
                    Indiana, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Maumee Valley National Heritage Area 
Act''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are to--
            (1) establish the Maumee Valley National Heritage Area in 
        the States of Indiana and Ohio;
            (2) pursue implementation of remaining recommendations of 
        the Vision for Maumee Valley Stewardship prepared by the 
        National Park Service in 1996;
            (3) raise awareness of the national significance of the 
        Maumee Valley;
            (4) promote heritage, cultural, and recreational tourism, 
        and to develop relevant educational and cultural programs for 
        visitors, residents and the general public;
            (5) recognize and interpret important events representing 
        the role of the many Native Americans, European Americans, 
        African-Americans, Hispanic Americans and other immigrants who 
        populate the Valley;
            (6) provide a management framework to foster close working 
        partnerships with all levels of government, the private sector, 
        and local communities in the region; and
            (7) provide appropriate leadership and linkages between 
        units of the National Park System and communities, State and 
        local governments, and area organizations with similar 
        missions.

SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Maumee River Valley is a distinctive landscape that 
        preserves a rich, nationally significant cultural heritage. The 
        events that transpired in the Maumee Valley in the 18th and 
        early 19th centuries were critical to the Nation's 
        transformation from wilderness to Nation. The clash of cultures 
        between Native peoples and Euro-Americans that took place here 
        helped define United States history during its formative years.
            (2) Humans have occupied the Maumee Valley for 12,000 
        years. By the 1770s, one of the largest Native American 
        villages in North America, Kiihkayonki (Kekionga), was located 
        at the headwaters of the Maumee River at Ft. Wayne. This region 
        was the home of Miami, Wyandot, Delaware, Shawnee, Ottawa, and 
        Potawatomi, Kickapoo, and Chippewa Indian tribes.
            (3) Native American tribes and confederations, France, 
        Britain, colonial militias, and United States armies under 
        President Washington's orders all vied with one another for 
        control of the Maumee Valley as it became the crucible of an 
        emerging Nation. Legendary Native Americans Pontiac, Tecumseh, 
        Little Turtle, and Blue Jacket challenged the American military 
        presence under Anthony Wayne, William Henry Harrison, and 
        William Clark. The Maumee Valley was the target of three 
        unsuccessful invasions of the United States by the British and 
        their Indian allies, leading the way to a treaty that created 
        long-lasting peace between the United States and Canada along 
        the longest unguarded boundary in the world.
            (4) Historic settlements such as Kekionga and strategic 
        outposts along the Maumee River, including Fort Wayne, Fort 
        Defiance, Fort Winchester, Fort Meigs, and Fort Miamis (a 
        British fort on United States soil), and the Fallen Timbers 
        Battlefield.
            (5) In 1999, Congress and the National Park Service 
        recognized the national significance of the Maumee Valley's 
        early military history by designating Fallen Timbers 
        Battlefield and Fort Miamis as affiliated units of the National 
        Park System.
            (6) The Maumee Valley's abundance of natural resources has 
        also been widely recognized, and its network of rivers provided 
        the key transportation system to the interior, and later aided 
        construction and operation of the second longest canal in the 
        world by the 1840s. The Maumee River was designated a State 
        Scenic and Recreational River by the Ohio Department of Natural 
        Resources in the 1960s. More recently, the vast Oak Openings 
        region is recognized on the Nature Conservancy's list of Last 
        Great Places on Earth for its numerous endangered species. In 
        1999, the Ohio Department of Transportation designated portions 
        of the Maumee Valley as a State Scenic Byway. And in 2000, the 
        Maumee Valley was one of the first three places designated as 
        an Ohio Heritage Area by the Ohio Department of Development. 
        Once covered by the Great Black Swamp, it now contains some of 
        the richest farmland in the world.
            (7) The Maumee Valley Heritage Area includes the counties 
        of Allen, Indiana, and Paulding, Defiance, Henry, Wood and 
        Lucas, Ohio. Many local, regional, and State agencies and 
        organizations, including the Maumee Valley Heritage Corridor, 
        Inc., the Metropolitan Park District of Toledo, and the Allen 
        County/Fort Wayne Historical Society have shown the desire and 
        ability to work with Federal agencies to protect, preserve, and 
        enhance the resources found within the Maumee Valley that 
        reflect this unique heritage.
            (8) As the largest river flowing into the Great Lakes, the 
        Maumee River is known for its ecological, political, and 
        historical importance in a region with 84 percent of our 
        Nation's fresh water and over 20 percent of the world's 
        freshwater resource.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Heritage area.--The term ``Heritage Area'' means the 
        Maumee Valley National Heritage Area, established in section 5.
            (2) Local coordinating entity.--The term ``local 
        coordinating entity'' means the local coordinating entity for 
        the Heritage Area designated by section 5(d).
            (3) Management plan.--The term ``management plan'' means 
        the management plan for the Heritage Area required by section 
        7.
            (4) Map.--The term ``map'' means the map entitled ``Maumee 
        Valley National Heritage Area, Proposed Boundary'' numbered 
        T16/80,001 and dated September 2008.
            (5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior.
            (6) State.--The term ``State'' means Ohio and Indiana.

SEC. 5. MAUMEE VALLEY NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA.

    (a) Establishment.--There is established the Maumee Valley National 
Heritage Area in Ohio and Indiana.
    (b) Boundaries.--The National Heritage Area shall be comprised of 
the following, as depicted on the map: the Maumee River and Valley 
including the counties of Lucas, Wood, Henry, Defiance, and Paulding in 
Ohio, and Allen County in Indiana.
    (c) Availability of Map.--The map shall be on file and available 
for public inspection in the appropriate offices of the National Park 
Service, Department of the Interior, and the Maumee Valley Heritage 
Corridor, Inc.
    (d) Local Coordinating Entity.--The Maumee Valley Heritage 
Corridor, Inc. shall be the local coordinating entity for the Heritage 
Area.

SEC. 6. DUTIES AND AUTHORITIES OF THE LOCAL COORDINATING ENTITY.

    (a) Duties of the Local Coordinating Entity.--To further the 
purposes of the Heritage Area, the local coordinating entity shall--
            (1) prepare and submit a management plan for the Heritage 
        Area to the Secretary in accordance with section 7;
            (2) assist units of local government, regional planning 
        organizations, and nonprofit organizations in implementing the 
        approved management plan by--
                    (A) carrying out programs and projects that 
                recognize, protect, and enhance important resource 
                values within the Heritage Area;
                    (B) developing recreational and educational 
                opportunities in the Heritage Area;
                    (C) increasing public awareness of and appreciation 
                for natural, historical, scenic, and cultural resources 
                of the Heritage Area; and
                    (D) promoting a wide range of partnerships among 
                governments, organizations and individuals to further 
                the purposes of the Heritage Area;
            (3) include the interests of diverse units of government, 
        businesses, organizations, and individuals in the Heritage Area 
        in the preparation and implementation of the management plan;
            (4) submit an annual report to the Secretary for any fiscal 
        year for which the local coordinating entity receives Federal 
        funds under this Act, setting forth its accomplishments, 
        expenses, and income, amounts and sources of matching funds, 
        the amounts leveraged with Federal funds and sources of such 
        leveraging, and grants made to any other entities during the 
        fiscal year;
            (5) make available for audit for any fiscal year in which 
        it receives Federal funds under this Act all information 
        pertaining to the expenditure of such funds and any matching 
        funds, and require in all agreements authorizing expenditures 
        of Federal funds by other organizations that the receiving 
        organizations make available for such audit all records and 
        other information pertaining to the expenditure of such funds; 
        and
            (6) encourage by appropriate means economic development 
        that is consistent with the purposes of the Heritage Area.
    (b) Authorities.--The local coordinating entity may, subject to the 
prior approval of the Secretary, for the purposes of preparing and 
implementing the management plan for the Heritage Area, use Federal 
funds made available under this Act to--
            (1) make grants to political jurisdictions, nonprofit 
        organizations and other interested parties within the Heritage 
        Area;
            (2) enter into cooperative agreements with or provide 
        technical assistance to political jurisdictions, nonprofit 
        organizations, Federal agencies, and other interested parties;
            (3) hire and compensate staff;
            (4) obtain funds or services from any source including 
        other Federal programs;
            (5) contract for goods or services; and
            (6) support activities of partners and any other activities 
        that further the purposes of the Heritage Area and are 
        consistent with the approved management plan.
    (c) Prohibition on the Acquisition of Real Property.--The local 
coordinating entity may not use Federal funds received under this Act 
to acquire real property.

SEC. 7. MANAGEMENT PLAN.

    (a) In General.--The management plan for the Heritage Area shall--
            (1) describe comprehensive policies, goals, strategies, and 
        recommendations for telling the story of the region's heritage 
        and encouraging long-term resource protection, enhancement, 
        interpretation, funding, management, and development of the 
        Heritage Area;
            (2) take into consideration existing State, county, and 
        local plans in the development of the management plan and its 
        implementation;
            (3) include a description of actions and commitments that 
        governments, private organizations, and citizens will take to 
        protect, enhance, and interpret the natural, historic, scenic, 
        and cultural resources of the Heritage Area;
            (4) specify existing and potential sources of funding or 
        economic development strategies to protect, enhance, interpret, 
        fund, manage, and develop the Heritage Area;
            (5) include an inventory of the natural, historical, 
        cultural, educational, scenic, and recreational resources of 
        the Heritage Area related to the stories and themes of the 
        region that should be protected, enhanced, managed, or 
        developed;
            (6) recommend policies and strategies for resource 
        management including, but not limited to, the development of 
        intergovernmental and interagency agreements to protect the 
        Heritage Area's natural, historical, cultural, educational, 
        scenic, and recreational resources;
            (7) describe a program of implementation for the management 
        plan including: performance goals; plans for resource 
        protection, enhancement, and interpretation; and specific 
        commitments for implementation that have been made by the local 
        coordinating entity or any government, organization, business, 
        or individual;
            (8) include an analysis and recommendations for ways in 
        which local, State, tribal and Federal programs may best be 
        coordinated, including the role of the Department of the 
        Interior, specifically the National Park Service and the U.S. 
        Fish and Wildlife Service, and other Federal agencies 
        associated with the Heritage Area, to further the purposes of 
        this Act;
            (9) include an interpretive plan for the Heritage Area; and
            (10) include a business plan that--
                    (A) describes the role, operation, financing, and 
                functions of the local coordinating entity and of each 
                of the major activities contained in the management 
                plan; and
                    (B) provides adequate assurances that the local 
                coordinating entity has the partnerships and financial 
                and other resources necessary to implement the 
                management plan for the Heritage Area.
    (b) Deadline and Termination of Funding.--
            (1) Deadline.--The local coordinating entity shall submit 
        the management plan to the Secretary for approval within 3 
        years from the date when any funds are made available for this 
        purpose after designation as a Heritage Area.
            (2) Termination of funding.--If the management plan is not 
        submitted to the Secretary in accordance with this subsection, 
        the local coordinating entity shall not qualify for any 
        additional financial assistance under this Act until such time 
        as the management plan is submitted to and approved by the 
        Secretary.

SEC. 8. DUTIES AND AUTHORITIES OF THE SECRETARY.

    (a) Technical and Financial Assistance.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary may, upon the request of the 
        local coordinating entity, provide technical and financial 
        assistance on a reimbursable or nonreimbursable basis (as 
        determined by the Secretary) to the Heritage Area to develop 
        and implement the management plan.
            (2) Priority actions.--In assisting the Heritage Area, the 
        Secretary shall give priority to actions that in general assist 
        in--
                    (A) conserving the significant natural, historical, 
                cultural, and scenic resources of the Heritage Area; 
                and
                    (B) providing educational, interpretive, and 
                recreational opportunities consistent with the purposes 
                of the Heritage Area.
            (3) Cooperative agreements.--The Secretary is authorized to 
        enter into cooperative agreements with the local coordinating 
        entity and other public or private entities for the purposes of 
        carrying out this subsection.
    (b) Approval of Management Plan.--
            (1) Review.--The Secretary shall approve or disapprove the 
        management plan not later than 90 days after receiving the 
        management plan.
            (2) Consultation.--The Secretary shall consult with the 
        Governor of any State and tribal government in which the 
        Heritage Area is located prior to approving any management 
        plan.
            (3) Criteria for approval.--In determining the approval of 
        the management plan, the Secretary shall consider whether--
                    (A) the local coordinating entity will be 
                representative of the diverse interests of the Heritage 
                Area, including governments, natural and historic 
                resource protection organizations, educational 
                institutions, businesses, community residents, and 
                recreational organizations;
                    (B) the local coordinating entity has afforded 
                adequate opportunity for public and governmental 
                involvement, including workshops and public meetings, 
                in the preparation of the management plan;
                    (C) the resource protection and interpretation 
                strategies contained in the management plan, if 
                implemented, would adequately protect the natural, 
                historical, and cultural resources of the Heritage 
                Area;
                    (D) the management plan would not adversely affect 
                any activities authorized on Federal or tribal lands 
                under applicable laws or pursuant to land use plans;
                    (E) the Secretary has received adequate assurances 
                from the appropriate State, tribal and local officials 
                whose support is needed to ensure the effective 
                implementation of the State, Tribal, and local aspects 
                of the management plan; and
                    (F) the local coordinating entity has demonstrated 
                the financial capability, in partnership with others, 
                to carry out the plan.
            (4) Action following disapproval.--If the Secretary 
        disapproves the management plan, the Secretary shall advise the 
        local coordinating entity in writing of the reasons and may 
        make recommendations for revisions to the management plan. The 
        Secretary shall approve or disapprove a proposed revision not 
        later than 90 days after the date it is resubmitted.
            (5) Approval of amendments.--Substantial amendments to the 
        management plan shall be reviewed by the Secretary and approved 
        in the same manner as provided for in the original management 
        plan. The local coordinating entity shall not use Federal funds 
        authorized by this Act to implement any amendments until the 
        Secretary has approved the amendments.
    (c) Evaluation.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 3 years before the date on 
        which authority for Federal funding terminates for the Heritage 
        Area, the Secretary shall conduct an evaluation of the 
        accomplishments of the Heritage Area and prepare a report with 
        recommendations for the National Park Service's future role, if 
        any, with respect to the Heritage Area.
            (2) Evaluation components.--An evaluation prepared under 
        paragraph (1) shall--
                    (A) assess the progress of the local coordinating 
                entity with respect to--
                            (i) accomplishing the purposes of the 
                        authorizing legislation for the Heritage Area; 
                        and
                            (ii) achieving the goals and objectives of 
                        the approved management plan for the Heritage 
                        Area;
                    (B) analyze the Federal, State, local, and private 
                investments in the Heritage Area to determine the 
                leverage and impact of the investments; and
                    (C) review the management structure, partnership 
                relationships, and funding of the Heritage Area for 
                purposes of identifying the critical components for 
                sustainability of the Heritage Area.
            (3) Recommendations.--Based upon the evaluation under 
        paragraph (1), the Secretary shall prepare a report with 
        recommendations for the National Park Service's future role, if 
        any, with respect to the Heritage Area. If the report 
        recommends that Federal funding for the Heritage Area be 
        reauthorized, the report shall include an analysis of--
                    (A) ways in which Federal funding for the Heritage 
                Area may be reduced or eliminated; and
                    (B) the appropriate time period necessary to 
                achieve the recommended reduction or elimination.
            (4) Submission to congress.--On completion of a report 
        under paragraph (3), the Secretary shall submit the report to--
                    (A) the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 
                of the Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Natural Resources of the House 
                of Representatives.

SEC. 9. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER FEDERAL AGENCIES.

    (a) In General.--This Act shall not affect the authority of any 
Federal official to provide technical or financial assistance under any 
other law.
    (b) Consultation and Coordination.--The head of any Federal agency 
planning to conduct activities that may have an impact on the Heritage 
Area is encouraged to consult and coordinate the activities with the 
Secretary and the local coordinating entity to the extent practicable.
    (c) Other Federal Agencies.--Nothing in this Act--
            (1) modifies, alters, or amends any law or regulation 
        authorizing a Federal agency to manage Federal land under the 
        jurisdiction of the Federal agency;
            (2) limits the discretion of a Federal land manager to 
        implement an approved land use plan within the boundaries of 
        the Heritage Area; or
            (3) modifies, alters, or amends any authorized use of 
        Federal land under the jurisdiction of a Federal agency.

SEC. 10. PROPERTY OWNERS AND REGULATORY PROTECTIONS.

    Nothing in this Act shall be construed to--
            (1) abridge the rights of any property owner, whether 
        public or private, including the right to refrain from 
        participating in any plan, project, program, or activity 
        conducted within the Heritage Area;
            (2) require any property owner to permit public access 
        (including Federal, State, tribal, or local government access) 
        to such property or to modify any provisions of Federal, State, 
        tribal, or local law with regard to public access or use of 
        private lands;
            (3) alter any duly adopted land use regulations or approved 
        land use plan or any other regulatory authority of any Federal, 
        State, or local agency, or tribal government or to convey any 
        land use or other regulatory authority to any local 
        coordinating entity;
            (4) authorize or imply the reservation or appropriation of 
        water or water rights;
            (5) diminish the authority of the State to manage fish and 
        wildlife, including the regulation of fishing and hunting 
        within the Heritage Area; or
            (6) create any liability, or affect any liability under any 
        other law, of any private property owner with respect to any 
        persons injured on such private property.

SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--There is authorized to be appropriated for the 
purposes of this Act $15,000,000, of which not more than $1,000,000 
shall be made available for any fiscal year.
    (b) Matching Funds.--Federal funding provided under this Act may 
not exceed 50 percent of the total cost of any assistance or grant 
provided or authorized under this Act. Recipient matching funds--
            (1) must be from non-Federal sources; and
            (2) may be made in the form of in-kind contributions of 
        goods and services fairly valued.

SEC. 12. SUNSET.

    The authority of the Secretary to provide financial assistance 
under this Act shall terminate on the day occurring 15 years after the 
date of enactment of the Act.
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