NPS Mission - National Park Service

National Park Service FY 2013 Budget Justifications
site of the bloody 1892 Homestead Steel Strike. Projects that will utilize NPS Heritage Partnerships
Funding in 2012 include:
• Populate “Towns of Steel”, a desktop and mobile website to preserve, archive, and promote each
community’s industrial heritage with photos, bios, events, social networking, and tourism sites in
conjunctions with in-house driving guide, “Routes to Roots”, to provide a richer one-stop site for
tourism and economic development in southwestern PA.
• Develop eco-tourism interpretation for hikers and bikers along segments of the Great Allegheny
Passage that fall within the heritage area.
• Continue stabilization at the W. A. Young & Sons Foundry and Machine Shop and the Carrie
Furnace site, a National Historic Landmark.
• Advance the development of the Main Line Trail and Greenway between Pittsburgh and
Harrisburg.
Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area (2009) in Colorado's San Luis Valley, is the cradle of
Colorado's earliest settlement, and is recognized as a confluence of Hispano, Anglo, and American Indian
cultures. Spanning more than 3,000 square miles, the area includes the counties of Conejos, Costilla, and
Alamosa, the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge, the Baca National Wildlife Refuge, the Alamosa
National Wildlife Refuge, and the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, containing the largest
sand dunes in North America. Projects that will utilize NPS Heritage Partnerships Funding in 2012
include:
• Historic Alamosa Mason’s Lodge restoration.
• Historic Antonito Depot restoration.
• Horno Construction and workshop.
Schuylkill River Valley National Heritage Area (2000) conserves interprets and develops the historical,
cultural, natural, and recreational resources related to the heritage of the Schuylkill River Valley of
Southeastern Pennsylvania. By 1777, when George Washington wintered his troops at Valley Forge,
early entrepreneurs had already founded many of the historic towns along the river where the charcoal,
iron, and textile industries of the region would grow. In 1822, the first load of anthracite coal was taken
from the Schuylkill headwaters to Philadelphia along the Schuylkill Navigation System (canal). Pre-
Revolutionary mills and late 19th century factories, rural villages, and the City of Philadelphia are all part
of the fabric of the Schuylkill River Valley. Projects that will utilize NPS Heritage Partnerships Funding in
2012 include:
• The 14 th Annual Schuylkill River Sojourn.
• Installation and dedication of the Schuylkill River Heritage Area Interpretive Center at our offices
in Pottstown.
• Installation of Gateway Information Center in Pottsville in partnership with the Schuylkill County
Visitor’s Bureau and plan for one more.
• Establish route for the Schuylkill River Trail between Landingville and Pottsville in Schuylkill
County.
• Complete funding and final design for the Leesport section of the Schuylkill River Trail in Berks
County.
Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District (1996) tells the military and civilian stories of
the Civil War from 1861 to 1864 when the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia was caught in the crossfire
between the North and the South because of its strategic location between the two capitals and a key
transportation corridor. Today, 15 battlefields, over 320 sites, towns, villages, and farms in the eight
county National Historic District attest to the struggle, courage, and perseverance of soldiers and civilians
alike. Projects that will utilize NPS Heritage Partnerships Funding in 2012 include:
• Establishment of a fourth tourist orientation center.
• Establishment of an online and physical shop for Civil War and locally-produced articles.
NR&P-74