Southern Maryland National Heritage Area outlines funding, management plan and community priorities

Lucille Walker, executive director of the Southern Maryland National Heritage Area, briefed the St. Mary's County Historic Preservation Commission on the program's work, funding structure and next steps after its 2022 congressional designation and May 2023 launch.

"We were actually the fastest heritage area that's ever been designated. We got it done in 2 years," Walker said, describing the area that covers Calvert, Charles, St. Mary's and southern Prince George's counties and citing the region's historical claims, from early religious freedom measures to UNESCO and National Marine Sanctuary designations at Mallows Bay.

Walker said the heritage area is distinct from a national park: it is funded through the National Park Service and a state heritage program but does not principally own land. She stressed the program's emphasis on heritage tourism and community-led interpretation, saying heritage is "food, ... folk ways, culture, art, song, dance, theater, landscapes, buildings, boats, barns, festivals, waterways, innovations, technologies, and so much more." She described projects already under way, including the film Grandma's Hands (a Maryland Public Television half-hour aired near Thanksgiving and a full-length version scheduled to stream April 13) and a redesigned website at destinationsouthernmaryland.com.

On staffing and governance, Walker said the present team is small: "it's me, and I have a wonderful intern, who's now our program specialist, and so, there are 2." She said the area also relies on consultants, a seven-member board and a 23-person steering committee, and extensive partnerships with county tourism offices, museums, the Tri-County Council, and the Rural Maryland Council.

Walker outlined the federal funding structure that will follow approval of a management plan. She described three tiers of federal support: Tier 1 (small, for management-plan work), Tier 2 (available after a signed management plan), and Tier 3 (full allotment). She also described state funding through Maryland's Program Open Space and the Maryland Heritage Area program, saying the 13 state heritage areas currently compete for a capped pool she described as able to fund about $6 million for the group and that a legislative proposal would raise that cap toward $12 million. Walker said statewide grants have not been increased in about 30 years and called for higher capital grant limits and lower matches to improve equity and access.

She described the management-plan process and approvals: public review, National Park Service comment, and final signature by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior before the heritage area reaches the next funding tier. Walker said the organization will release a draft management plan for public comment after board and steering-committee review and that the plan will include goals and actions intended to guide grants, outreach and partnership work.

On community and Tribal engagement, Walker said she prioritized government-to-government outreach to the Piscataway and secured Tribal leaders' involvement on the board and at launch events. She said Historic Sotterley and its Common Ground/Descendant programs are an example of local institutions leading difficult conversations about shared history, and that the heritage area aims to "set the table for those discussions, to help fund those discussions, to help promote what is needed within those discussions." Walker noted partnerships and political support that aided rapid congressional designation, including bipartisan support from Maryland members of Congress and state legislators.

Walker also described economic rationale and previous impact data: a 2019 Maryland heritage-area impact study she cited showed about $2.4 billion in annual economic impact statewide, 33,815 jobs supported and roughly $309 million in annual state and local tax revenue. She said heritage tourists tend to stay overnight and spend more locally, supporting goals to create jobs and sustain farms through agritourism and product development grants.

Audience members asked about staff size, the management plan, sources of documentation in the designation process, how partnerships were developed, and whether the heritage area pursues reconciliation or reparative actions tied to injustices in the region's past. Walker said the feasibility study and management plan required inventories, stewardship resources and documentation proving the region's contribution to the nation's story; she described that material as available on the heritage area's website and as part of the forthcoming management-plan draft. On reconciliation, Walker said the heritage area's role is to support and fund local institutions and descendant-driven programs rather than to lead all such initiatives directly.

Walker closed by emphasizing community input, invitations for public comment on the management plan, and the heritage area's focus on projects that combine preservation, education and sustainable economic development.