National Heritage Areas Podcast Season 1 (2017)

Hosts of the NHA Podcast Season 1 pictured in "studio" at the NPS Northeast Regional Office.

The National Heritage Areas Program in the Northeast Region recorded its first podcast. Listen in as Program Manager Peter Samuel and SCA Communications Coordinator Miriam Akervall discuss what makes the program tick in conversations with National Heritage Area (NHA) and National Park Service staff.

Stream and/or download the episodes below.

Enjoying this podcast? Make sure to check out the other seasons!

• 1. Introduction

  
  

  The National Heritage Areas Program in the northeast region recently recorded its first podcast. Listen in as Program Manager Peter Samuel and SCA communications coordinator Miriam Akervall introduce the coming episodes, and discuss what makes the program tick.

  Credit / Author:

  NPS National Heritage Areas Program

  Date created:

  10/14/2020

  Audio Transcript

  Peter Samuel: This is Peter Samuel. Miriam Akervall: Right {Intro Music – Ukulele} Peter Samuel: This is Peter Samuel, I am the National Heritage Area Program Manager in the Northeast for the National Park Service. Miriam Akervall: And I am Miriam Akervall, I am the Communications Coordinator for the National Heritage Areas Program in the Northeast Region. Peter Samuel: We’re located in Philadelphia. We are going to talk a little bit about what we’re doing over the next year or longer with our podcast series on the National Heritage Areas Program. Miriam Akervall: Yeah, this is an initiative we started a few months ago. The idea really was to start a different kind of conversation about heritage areas and take a different look at what it is that these units do and how they operate and some of the people that are involved with making them run. Peter Samuel: Yeah, there’s a couple of things you want to consider. One is the national heritage areas get provided money through the Congress—the U.S. Congress. Those monies flow through the Park Service, so they have a strong connection with the Park Service, and the Park Service has really been critical to the development of the National Heritage Area’s program, very involved in planning, in helping with drafting legislation, and getting them designated obviously. Congress is the body that authorizes and designates the heritage areas. So, we really want to focus on a lot of the activities within the heritage areas, but also always keep in mind how it connects with the Park Service. Miriam Akervall: Yes. Yeah. Peter Samuel: I think, you know, in terms of the structure of each episode, we also want to give an overview from what we’ve learned so far in having some interviews with people, in that our format will be too always have Miriam and myself Introduce a topic and then we try to engage with usually heritage area partner, often executive director of the heritage area, or a Park Service person or we have done a number of projects with consultants who are working on a specific initiative. Miriam Akervall: Right, so what we are going to do is in the introduction, is think about a topic that relates to heritage areas and then focus in, on the second part of the episode segment, by having an extended conversation with an expert. That’s sort of the format that has been emerging after a number of interviews that we’ve held. Peter Samuel: Right, this is an evolving process, so as we proceed, we may find that we want to do something a little bit differently, I think from both my experience and Miriam’s experience of other podcasts we think it’s important to have more of a conversation than one person talking and almost providing a lecture. So we are going to try to veer away from that, but sometimes it’s unavoidable. Miriam Akervall: There’s a lot of information out there. Peter Samuel: There’s a lot of information and sometimes it’s best way to receive that information is by somebody just really going through the kind of work is involved with the projects that they’re working on it. I think in terms of topics the program has really tried to reach out and do a lot of different things. As an example, one of our first segments is on the organizational sustainability and that’s really become critical. I know sustainability, there’s environmental sustainability, which is very different from what we’re looking at which is how to keep an organization moving forward so that it can be successful within a community. We’ve been working on this for many years with the various consultants and bringing the heritage areas together. It’s not just a regional effort here in Philadelphia, it’s a national effort. Miriam Akervall: And it’s become increasingly important too. Peter Samuel: It’s very important because even this year, there’s 3 heritage areas that are coming up to what we call their “sunset,” who are going to lose their authorization for receiving federal funds. So, if they have been able to develop the sustainability plan they are less likely, when those federal funds, if those federal funds are no longer available, to be able to continue thriving as a non-profit and keeping the heritage area going. Miriam Akervall: Right. So that’s one of the aspects of upcoming topics. Peter Samuel: Right. Miriam Akervall: We’ll also be looking at projects, initiatives, how heritage areas are reaching out into communities, the way that they forge these partnerships. Peter Samuel: We also want to tie in, we have a very active blog site, where the information is posted from heritage areas all across the country. Things that they’re engaged with, community projects, trail projects, a whole list of things. Maybe Miriam could expand on that. Miriam Akervall: Oh yeah, we launched the blog a few months ago and we’re reaching out to a lot of different heritage areas across this region and others as well, and just trying to encourage more of a unified presence, I guess you would say. Like, talking about what kind of stories are happening within the heritage areas, what their big news items are, and trying to create a common space for them to share those stories. Peter Samuel: And always keeping in mind, we always have to keep coming back to this is, is there a connection with the park service? So, in many cases, a heritage area works hand in hand with a park to do projects and programs. Or a heritage area works with park programs trying to encourage trail building and historic sites. So, it’s important to continually come back to that, and see the connection there. Miriam Akervall: Yeah, we are trying to highlight all of those connections and partnerships. So, you can find that blog at npsnhaprogram.tumblr.com, that’s our blog. Check it out. Peter Samuel: So, what else do we need to tell you about this podcast? Miriam Akervall: Um, Peter what’s your favorite part about working for the National Heritage Areas? Peter Samuel: I think, what’s really critical, is that we’re really reaching a lot of people, with the heritage area program. Some of our heritage areas in our region, as an example, Erie Canal Way is one stretch of heritage corridor as they call it, and it’s over 500 miles long, so when you imagine how many communities feel an impact by the good work that that heritage area is doing or promoting. And many of the heritage areas are quite a large expanse of land, and across state boundaries, and obviously county and municipal boundaries, and touch a lot of people’s lives. And I think how it’s different perhaps from a national park unit, and a national park unit has a very tight boundary around it and it’s a much smaller unit, and it’s owned and some of the land is owned and managed by the federal government. Heritage areas really has to be a partnership program and that’s, I think, so important in this day and age, to be able to show how communities can work together, how the federal government is involved with some federal dollars to make these public-private partnerships work. To me, that’s the exciting part of working with these groups. Miriam Akervall: And we’re in a great region for it too. We have 20 active national heritage areas in the Northeast Region, stretching from West Virginia all the way up to Vermont. In the country in total there are 48 active, currently. Peter Samuel: Yes, so we have the larger group of heritage areas than other parts of the country, and you know, I think it’s partially because maybe there’s a little bit more history on the East Coast than there is as you get further west. Miriam Akervall: A different kind of history. Peter Samuel: A different history, sure. And there’s more, probably more, historic sites or national historic landmarks in our region. That has some effect on it. Miriam Akervall: Yeah, well, I think we should wrap it up. Peter Samuel: Okay. Miriam Akervall: I had something else I was going to say… Now I forgot. Well anyways- Peter Samuel: {laughter} Miriam Akervall: -Thanks for tuning in, we’re excited to tell you more! Peter Samuel: Yes, and I think the other this is, is as we proceed with the podcast we really encourage folks to provide comments on the blog that could help us shape and evolve as we move forward. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Miriam Akervall: Yeah, we look forward to exploring this project and seeing where it takes us. Peter Samuel: Okay, thanks! Miriam Akervall: Thanks everyone. Bye-bye. {Outro Music – Ukulele} Miriam Akervall: This podcast is supported by the National Park Service Northeast Regional Office. Our music was produced by Dominic Cardea and his ukulele. A special thanks to Bridgeset Sound for providing record equipment for us in Philadelphia. Thanks for listening!

• 2. What is a National Heritage Area?

  
  

  Not quite a National Park and not quite a private organization - National Heritage Areas are true public-private partnership, often preserving areas of landscape scale. So what does that mean? In this episode, your hosts shine some light on the basic components and functions of National Heritage Areas, and how they fit into communities as well as the National Park Service.

  Credit / Author:

  NPS National Heritage Areas Program

  Date created:

  10/14/2020

  Audio Transcript

  {Intro Music – Ukulele} Peter Samuel: Good afternoon everyone! My name is Peter Samuel and I am the Program Manager for the National Heritage Areas Program for the park service in the Northeast Region. We’re located in Philadelphia, and we’re here to talk about heritage areas and give you some more insights into what the program’s about, and how it works, and what makes it interesting. And I am here with Miriam Akervall. Hello Miriam. Miriam Akervall: Hello! I am the Student Conservation Association Intern for the National Heritage Areas Program here in the Northeast Region. I’m working specifically on communications initiatives including this very podcast. Peter Samuel: Yeah, so we had an idea, which I shared with Miriam when she first came and said, “Oh we have to do a podcast about heritage areas,” and her eyes lit up and she said, “That’s great,” and we are trying to make that happen. We would like your comments and responses for all of those out there who are listening to this. If you have an opportunity, where can they go Miriam? Miriam Akervall: Oh they can go—we have so many places for you to go. You can go to our nps.gov page, which is our official program page which is nps.gov/heritageareas and you can check out our brand-new blog which is live on tumblr at npsnhaprogram.tumblr.com, that’s npsnhaprogram.tumblr.com. Peter Samuel: We’re going to start just talking a little bit about what a heritage area is and I often have to answer that question, whether it be at a party or with friends, and they’ll say, “Oh, what do you do?” and I’ll say, “Oh, I manage the National Heritage Area Program in the Northeast Region,” and usually they give me a blank stare and they have no idea what a heritage area is even though sometimes people are living with a heritage area. What I usually say is, “A heritage area is like a national park, but it’s not owned or managed by the federal government like a national park unit usually is, but it has a lot of the same objectives as a park too: conservery sources, interpret the resources, encourage the recreational uses of the resources. So many of the heritage areas in our region, of which there are 20 in the Northeast Region our of 49 around the country, have trails, they’re along river corridors often, and often they stretch long distances. As an example, in upper New York state there is the Erie Canal, which is a heritage corridor, and it’s over 500 miles long. Now that’s unusually large, but there are other rivers, one that flows into Philadelphia which is the Schuylkill River, and that’s over 120 miles long. So, these are large areas and they’re, as I’ve said, they are not owned or managed by the park service or the government. They’re done as a partnership program and are usually managed by a non-profit entity, 501c3. What makes them important is that the U.S. Congress recognized that they have significant resources; legislation was passed to designate each of these areas to preserve these resources in perpetuity, and they receive federal funds which comes to them through the park service, so that is how we get involved here with these heritage areas because we manage their funding and help provide assistance to them. Miriam, do you have any questions about that? Miriam Akervall: No, that all sounds good to me. It’s been a learning process, you know I came into this position not really knowing much about heritage areas, but I found that it’s a very interesting approach to conservation, whether that be historic preservation, or natural resource conservation, or cultural preservation. It’s just a way to really preserve an area that is somehow nationally important. Peter Samuel: Well, one thing I didn’t mention that I think is critical is that, because these are not owned by the government, they are living landscapes. Sometimes there are federal lands within a heritage area, or state park lands, but the majority of the land is still usually privately owned. The heritage area management organization, within that heritage area, does not have any ability to provide restriction on how people use their land. They certainly can encourage people to be more conscious of the preservation techniques, but they no teeth as we say to impose any regulations on how private citizens would use that land within the heritage area. Generally, the way a heritage area gets work done is to, as I said they are partnership programs, is to work with a large variety of partners, you know, local governments, townships, counties, or state government, as well as community groups or historic preservation groups. The funds that they receive from the National Park Service, for the most part they have to be matched 50-50, so that’s quite an undertaking, especially for these organizations to be able to raise those funds in a variety of ways. Either through private contributions or, as I mentioned that the local government would make a contribution, or foundations, as well as in-kind service. A lot of volunteers are very involved in the heritage area programs. Also, as I mentioned earlier, many of them have fairly extensive trail networks. These, they really take advantage of to have people get really further into the resources of the areas, provide recreational opportunities to the community. Miriam Akervall: Yeah, I think the grassroots, community-driven approach is what really made the heritage areas interesting to me. These are conservation strategies really created by and for the region itself where it’s going to be applied, and I think that’s why people who are involved in the heritage areas are so passionate about their work. Peter Samuel: So, I guess, you know, I’ve given you a little background on what a heritage area is, we’ll keep trying to clarify that as we go through these podcasts. Every time we talk to another person, and we’ll do many interviews throughout this series, you’ll probably get a slightly different perspective on what it means. Whether it is a heritage area director, or whether it’s a partner who’s involved with a heritage area, or we’ll talk a little bit about some of the projects that we do with the whole group of heritage areas and we’ll at some point discuss with consultants who have worked with the program and also get their perspectives on what it means to be a heritage area and what some of the challenges are. Another part of our work in this region is to really encourage the heritage areas to work closely with park units and where we can have a heritage area connect up with a park, and in that way they help a park connect better to their community, and the park can help the heritage area sort of increase their credibility with the park service brand, as you would say, is pretty strong. Coming up we had some interviews already with folks that will turn into themed podcasts. You know, some of them—the projects that we’ve done recently, one is with a group called the Partners for Sacred Places, where they are helping the heritage areas protect churches and synagogues and other religious structures. We’ll talk with the consultants from that group and some of the heritage areas who benefited from that assistance. Another project that we’ve done is economic impact studies for a lot of the heritage areas and those have been eye-opening in terms of what effects are by heritage areas on the communities and sustaining local communities through their support. So, we’ll talk with some of the heritage areas about that, and some of the work that has gone into that project. The other thing that we had recently here in our region is what we call an Organizational Sustainability Workshop. We had consultants come in and talk with the heritage areas about how to strengthen their organizations both through their messaging and strengthening their board and providing more insights in how to diversify their funding. Miriam, do you have some other comments? Miriam Akervall: Well, we’ll also be going out and visiting the heritage areas and bringing back some live audio from various events. We are going to go visit the Essex National Heritage Area, we’ll be at the Schuylkill Sojourn this year as well, so we’ve got some exciting stuff coming this way. Peter Samuel: Anything else Miriam? Miriam Akervall: No, I think that’s all we wanted to cover for today. Thanks everyone for tuning in and stay tuned for more. In the meantime again, you can learn more about National Heritage Areas Program on nps.gov/heritageareas, or check out our new blog on npsnhaprogram.tumblr.com. Peter Samuel: Thanks. {Outro Music – Ukulele} Miriam Akervall: This podcast is supported by the National Park Service Northeast Regional Office. Our music was produced by Dominic Cardea and his ukulele. A special thanks to Bridgeset Sound for providing record equipment for us in Philadelphia. Thanks for listening!

• 3. Organizational Sustainability: Part 1

  
  

  What is organizational sustainability and how does it relate to the National Heritage Areas? National Heritage Areas differ from other park units in that their funding is provided through Congress each year, and must be matched in full by the managing organization. But what happens when funding is reduced or fluctuates from year to year? In 2017, the National Park Service provided three organizational sustainability workshops to NHAs throughout the country in order to help them identify strategies to improve their business structures, engage community partnerships, and diversify funding opportunities. Hosts Peter Samuel and Miriam Akervall dig into the framework of the program in order to answer the question: how can the NPS encourage the long term stability of National Heritage Areas?

  Credit / Author:

  NPS National Heritage Areas Program

  Date created:

  10/14/2020

• 4. Organizational Sustainability: Part 2

  
  

  Over the course of two days in May, 2017, the final of three Organizational Sustainability Workshops took place at the National Park Service Northeast Regional Office in Philadelphia. Representatives from more than a dozen heritage areas were in attendance. In part two of this topic, Peter Samuel sits down with the National Coordinator for the National Heritage Areas Program, Martha Raymond and the workshop facilitators from the Institute of Conservation Leadership, Carol Hamilton and Cheryl Glaeser. In this interview, the group reflects on the success of the workshop, and consider some potential next steps.

  Credit / Author:

  NPS National Heritage Areas Program

  Date created:

  10/14/2020

• 5. Place Based Learning: Part 1 - Parks for Every Classroom

  
  

  In this episode, Peter Samuel and Miriam Akervall speak with Cris Constantine to introduce the National Park Service "Parks for Every Classroom" Program. Part of the support provided to the heritage areas from the NPS Northeast Regional Office involves technical assistance funding. As part of a grant initiative, NHAs were able to apply for funds to support projects that involved partnering with other NPS units. Essex NHA chose to use these funds to engage the NPS Parks for Every Classroom initiative, which instructs local educators on how to teach using place-based learning at places such as Salem Maritime National Historic Site. Constantine manages this partnership on the NPS end. Tune in for her perspective.

  Credit / Author:

  NPS National Heritage Areas Program

  Date created:

  10/14/2020

• 6. Place Based Learning: Part 2 - Essex National Heritage Area

  
  

  Beth Beringer, education coordinator for Essex National Heritage Area, shares insight from her experience implementing the National Park Service Parks in Every Classroom Program in Essex County, MA. The heritage area has approached this project in partnership with Salem Maritime National Historic Site, with the help of funds from the NPS Northeast Regional Office. How have educators responded to this program? Why would a teacher choose to take this course and implement place-based strategies in the classroom? Why work in partnership with a park unit?

  Credit / Author:

  NPS National Heritage Areas Program

  Date created:

  10/14/2020

• 7. Historic Preservation: Part 1 - Designating a National Historic Landmark

  
  

  In this episode, Peter and Miriam sit down with Bonnie Halda, Program Manager of Preservation Assistance at the National Park Service Northeast Regional Office, to set the scene for an interview with Patrice Todisco at Freedom's Way National Heritage Area. Todisco recently underwent an assessment of resources throughout the heritage area in order to determine what might qualify for National Historic Landmark designation, in collaboration with the NPS Preservation Assistance office. Tune in as Bonnie Halda walks us through the process of designating National Historic Landmarks, how the program is changing to tell a more complete American story, and what the work in Freedom's Way might mean for other heritage areas.

  Credit / Author:

  NPS National Heritage Areas Program

  Date created:

  10/14/2020

• 8. Historic Preservation: Part 2 - NHL Assessment in Freedom's Way National Heritage Area

  
  

  Patrice Todisco, Executive Director of Freedom's Way National Heritage Area, joins us by video call to share her experience navigating the historic resources in her area in order to find candidates for National Historic Landmark designation, and the surprising things she learned along the way.

  Credit / Author:

  NPS National Heritage Areas Program

  Date created:

  10/14/2020

• 9. Historic Preservation: Part 3 - NHL Assessment Continued

  
  

  Hosts Peter Samuel and Miriam Akervall speak with Elizabeth Watson to learn about the National Historic Landmark Assessment in Freedom's Way National Heritage Area from her perspective as a contractor.

  Credit / Author:

  NPS National Heritage Areas Program

  Date created:

  10/14/2020

• 10. Historic Preservation: Part 4 - The Clinton Church Restoration in the Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area

  
  

  In this episode, Miriam takes listeners to Great Barrington, MA where Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area engaged the nonprofit Partners for Sacred Places to organize a community planning workshop for the restoration of a local historic church. But what does that mean? How does this type of process benefit a community and what is the goal? The workshop was made possible with the help of funds designated by the National Park Service National Heritage Areas Program Office. Wondering why the NPS would support this type of project? Listen in as we explore the value of restoring community spaces.

  Credit / Author:

  NPS National Heritage Areas Program

  Date created:

  10/14/2020

• 11. Conclusion

  
  

  In the last episode of the series, Peter Samuel and Miriam Akervall reflect on the topics covered over the past few months, and share some thoughts on where the podcast might go from here.

  Credit / Author:

  NPS National Heritage Areas Program

  Date created:

  10/14/2020