As dusk began to set on the 117th Congress, a bill affecting the Augusta Canal Heritage Area passed with bipartisan support.
According to Dayton Sherrouse, executive director of the Augusta Canal Heritage Area, the National Heritage Act removes quite a bit of the red tape and paperwork for the Canal Authority to receive funding from the federal government to maintain the recreation part of the canal.
“Normally, we would have to reapply for authorization every one to two years just so we could submit a budget and then apply for funding. It took an enormous amount of time,” Sherrouse said.
The bill, which originated in the Senate, passed the House 326 to 95.
The Act places all 55 national heritage areas under the same umbrella for a 15 year period and each area only needs to submit a yearly budget to receive funding.
Since all of the national heritage areas are lumped together as one, Sherrouse says it also cuts out the politics when it comes to getting funding as no one area is forced to compete with another.
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Sherrouse said that despite his and other heritage area’s lobbying efforts, at first it did not look like the bill would pass this year, but a rule change in committee allowed the bill to sail through at the last minute.
“The committee allowed for a simple majority instead of a two-thirds vote, which we got anyway, but it showed there was a priority in Congress to streamline the heritage area process,” Sherrouse said.
The national heritage area designation only applies to places where historic, cultural, and natural resources combine to form cohesive, nationally important landscapes, according to the US National Parks Service.
The new act also streamlines the process for areas to apply for the designation; however, Sherrouse says that one small caveat may keep the New Savannah River Bluff Lock and Dam from being eligible. Any site under consideration must be continuing on with its original purpose.
The Augusta Canal’s original purpose when it was built in 1845 was power generation and providing the city with drinking water, tasks it continues to fulfill to this day. By contrast, the Lock and Dam was built for barge navigation, a role that has become obsolete.“The Augusta Canal transformed Augusta from an agrarian to more of an industrial city and it continues to be an important part of our city,” Sherrouse said.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
