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by Joshua Heston
I’d liken political disagreements with grass fires. When you set one off, you can just never tell whose fencerow it’s gonna end up in.
That said, State of the Ozarks isn’t meant to be a “political” magazine.
However, when issues of a political nature begin affecting Ozark culture, we are left with little choice but to consider the viewpoints at hand.
Does State of the Ozarks have a political agenda?
No, not unless you count a general appreciation for common sense, a downright laconic distrust of “big guv‘mint,” and a deep love of conservation and down-home ideals.
Amen to that.
__________
Currently under debate? A national heritage area in the Missouri Ozarks. Heralded by some as an exciting opportunity (and by others as a federal land grab), two opposing sides are presented here by Matt Meacham (below) and Bob Parker (at right).
Renewing Regional Identity: A National Heritage Area in the Missouri Ozarks?
by Matt Meacham, public folklorist, West Plains Council on the Arts
Three organizations based in West Plains have undertaken an endeavor that they hope will contribute toward renewing their regional identity and making the past a resource for the future in the Missouri Ozarks.
The West Plains Council on the Arts, Ozarks Preservation, Inc., and Ozark Action, Inc., are completing a feasibility study regarding the possibility of pursuing National Heritage Area status for much of south-central and southeast Missouri.
Initiated by the National Park Service, the National Heritage Area (NHA) program gives special recognition and support to places that have made distinctive contributions to American culture. There are now 49 NHAs, reflecting a multiplicity of themes and varying widely in size.
An organization interested in the possibility of attaining an NHA designation must consult extensively with people throughout the region under consideration to seek input as to whether the proposed NHA would have public support and, if so, what its practical goals and interpretive themes ought to be.
The organization may then produce a feasibility study report, which must be made available for public comment. If the National Park Service endorses the report, the organization then collaborates with the relevant Congressional representatives to draft legislation designating the region an NHA.
The National Park Service makes various resources available to each NHA and helps to promote its cultural assets. Decision-making about its mission and how to achieve it is conducted at the local level, however, and participation in its activities is voluntary. The program does not involve acquisition of land, and all legislation designating new NHAs states that they cannot be used as a basis for infringing property owners’ rights.
The West Plains Council on the Arts (WPCA) and Ozarks Preservation, Inc. (OPI) became interested in the possibility of pursuing National Heritage Area status approximately six years ago. WPCA has long supported the work of traditional artists and the conservation, interpretation, and public presentation of folk culture in south-central and southeast Missouri. OPI developed as an outgrowth of WPCA devoted to exploring avenues for making cultural conservation a basis for economic opportunity and economic opportunity an incentive for cultural conservation.
WPCA and OPI began to seek a sustainable source of support for their cultural conservation efforts. Representatives of WPCA and OPI attended a workshop on cultural tourism hosted by the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce, where they heard a presentation about the National Heritage Area program.
It seemed that the NHA program might provide not only a more permanent base of operations for their own cultural programming but also a means of coordinating the efforts of organizations throughout the region that contribute significantly to the conservation of its folklife but have limited resources with which to carry out and publicize their work.
WPCA and OPI recognized that the capacity to market the work of regional artists and craftspeople, locally grown foods, cultural sites and events, and related resources in a more integrated way could benefit not just themselves but the whole region and the entire state.
In 2007, they hired me to conduct field research on traditional artistic activity in five counties and write a report about its potential to serve as a basis for an NHA. They continued deliberations throughout the next two years but did not have the wherewithal to begin a feasibility study until late 2009. Recognizing the potential of an NHA to generate economic opportunity, Ozark Action, Inc., a community action agency, generously agreed to collaborate with WPCA and OPI to conduct a study with funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Over the past year, representatives of the three organizations met with officials, civic and cultural groups, and individuals throughout Ripley, Wayne, Carter, Reynolds, Iron, Dent, Shannon, Oregon, Howell, Ozark, Douglas, Wright, and Texas counties to hear their views about the prospect of attaining National Heritage Area status, as well as their observations and stories about the culture of this region.
Marideth Sisco, an accomplished journalist, author, and musician who serves on WPCA’s board of directors, participated in many of these discussions.
“One of the most fascinating things is how many stories have parallels from county to county and from group to group,” she commented. “It’s astonishing how many historical experiences are common throughout the region.”
Ozark Action, Inc., hired the firm of Jeffrey L. Bruce and Company of Kansas City to compile all of the research and public input into a feasibility study report. A preliminary version of that report is in progress, and a draft will be made available for public response soon.
The report will identify three themes that reflect many of the stories and observations shared by area citizens, convey much of the essence of the region’s culture as its residents themselves understand it, and could form a basis for the proposed NHA’s interpretive efforts: 1) An Enduring Land; 2) Settlement, Self-Sufficiency, and the Quest for Security; and 3) Community Survival Through Creativity and Innovation.
“An Enduring Land” pertains to the distinctive configuration of natural resources that characterize this region – the karst topography with its caves and springs, the exceptionally clear rivers and streams, the remarkable diversity of flora and fauna, and the timber and mineral resources – both before and after human impact. Subsidiary themes associated with “An Enduring Land” include “A Geological Region of Lasting Importance,” “Extraction, Devastation, and Recovery of the Land,” and “The Conservation Ethic.”
“Settlement, Self-Sufficiency, and the Quest for Security” involves the ways in which the settlement patterns and the geographic and socio-economic isolation of the Missouri Ozarks prior to the late nineteenth century have influenced the region’s character. Ancillary themes are “Off the Path, On the River” (which addresses the Trail of Tears) and “Lawlessness in a Time of War” (specifically the Civil War, which took an especially chaotic and often brutal form in this region).
“Community Survival Through Creativity and Innovation” addresses the evolution of the region’s culture and its contributions to the nation’s culture from the late nineteenth century to the present. It encompasses three subsidiary themes: “A Culture of ‘Grittiness’,” “Folklife Traditions in an Isolated Place,” and “Sustainability as a Way of Life.”
Reflecting on times past, a resident who will be quoted in the report remarks, “Life was rough then compared to what we have today, but this was so for every family living in these Ozark hills and up and down these rivers. The stories told of events that took place can make one feel nostalgic and wish they could go back to that time. Then logic prevails and one realizes that only the good ones have been remembered. The bad ones were washed away and cleansed from memory as if by the water that runs through the Current River.”
Indeed, the persistence of many of this region’s folkways can be attributed partly to its having been economically marginalized during much of its history. When goods and services were scarce, Ozarks residents had to rely upon knowledge and skills that had been transmitted over generations, as well as ingenuity and improvisation. When formal cultural institutions and media-transmitted culture were difficult to access, they made their own art and entertainment.
The West Plains Council on the Arts, Ozarks Preservation, Inc., and Ozark Action, Inc., believe that a National Heritage Area could help to make these folkways a source of economic benefit to the region without compromising their integrity. They hope to contribute to the creation of the future out of the past – the process that folklorist Henry Glassie defines as “tradition” – and the renewal of the regional identity of the Missouri Ozarks.
Photo credits: J. Heston. Above, Brush fire near Rogersville, Missouri, November 4, 2009.
State of the Ozarks © Archive.
January 30, 2011
Big Government puts crosshairs on the Ozarks
by Bob Parker January 26, 2011
There have been several attempts over the years by the Federal government to establish it’s authority over the Ozarks region.
These include; The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, The Natural Streams Act, the FEMA Hazard Mitigation plan, the United Nations ”Man in the Biosphere” designation, Scenic Byways designations, and now, the Ozarks Highlands National Heritage Area. This most recent effort consists of 13 Ozarks counties including, Wright, Douglas, Ozark, Texas, Howell, Dent, Reynolds, Iron, Wayne, Carter, Ripley, Shannon, and Oregon being taken under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service and the global planners.
While the proponents of the Heritage Area designation may deny this, I will share gleaned excerpts from two feasibility studies taken in 2010 that were sponsored by Ozark Action and let you decide what their intentions are.
Ozark Action and other promoters of this scheme have taken great pains to hide the facts about this program. They have quietly gone about their business of ‘’selling” the ”program”, telling unsuspecting County Commissioners and Community leaders wonderful things about how this program will help save our ‘’stories”, and also improve our economy by promoting tourism and marketing of local products. These are wonderful things I agree, but let me share the dark underbelly of this program.
The Ozark Highlands National Heritage Area feasibility studies, which were only obtained by a freedom of information act (FOIA) request after weeks of waiting for voluntarily shared documents, show that they had great fear of property rights advocates getting access to these documents. That fear was substantiated.
It’s doubtful the supporters of the program on the local level, including all thirteen county commissions, had ever read or were ever shown these documents. There are over 700 pages on this program to date. I have found that government officials almost never have the documents available and never want you to read them, they just want you to believe what a wonderful program it will be.
The OHNHA feasibility study documents say the following (my comments in italics):
Page 1 “The National Heritage area program has been developed by the National Park Service.”
This program will basically take our 13 counties under the jurisdiction of the United States Park Service.
Page 54 “Incorporate approaches employed by European nations for preserving parks and other special places without removing them from the life and culture of the nation.”
That is a system where everything is regulated, permitted, and controlled. You will no longer control your private property. You will now be in a National Park. They call it a ”Heritage Area”, but it will give them control over you and your property when fully implemented.
Page 54 “ The formal administration of the National Park Service of the National Heritage Area program in the Ozarks Highlands would likely continue to facilitate a culture of distrust of the National Park Service in the area, particularly by private property protection groups and alternative heritage preservation methods would likely be preferred.”
Seems as if they understand there will be opposition to their program once the information got out. They are trying to figure out how to keep us from understanding the Park Service will be in charge. How? Local representation is appointed, not elected, but Park Service will have final say because everything must match up with their ”criteria” or goals to keep the designation and keep the federal dollars flowing.
Page 57 “The efforts of the national heritage area program to facilitate the goals of the NPS guideline are foremost….”
This will be a gradual takeover of our area by the Park Service and it’s global goals. European style management systems? The facts are clear.
Page 58 “Public officials from EVERY COUNTY have been contacted and been provided information concerning the function of a National Heritage Area and have offered their support towards this effort.”
Did your local official read the documents about this program? Did they have any idea what they were signing on to support? Have them read this letter and ask them to get these feasibility studies and read it for themselves. Have them research and Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development. This is the socialist style of land control. Do we want that in America?
Page 58 “Special attention has also been made toward those groups who are interested in Private Property Protection to provide them with information and documentation in this process.”
We just received these documents after weeks of waiting and only then by FOIA requests. When we met with officials from Ozark Action and other supporting entities no official documents were produced. I suspect no community leaders understood what was happening either. Warning; Get educated about Sustainable development and Agenda 21. All the federal and state agencies are promoting these concepts and programs. They cannot be trusted to tell you the details of these programs. It’s likely that they don’t know the details themselves. DON’T BE FOOLED!
Page 58 “…the National Heritage Area would likely have no negative impact on economic activity.”
Resource control, regulations, planning, permitting, unelected boards determining the future of your farm or business.Increased taxation to bring the Heritage Area into “self reliance”… This will have NO impact? Are you kidding?? Key word is ”likely”.
Page 59 “This sustainable development approach…”
Again, this is sustainable development. Google or youtube it. Lot’s of good information on the about this program.
Page 23 “Management” Specified actions, policies, strategies, taken to meet the goals and recommendations of the heritage area.
The National Park service will tell the local committee what they must do to get funding. They must meet the NPS guidelines and criteria. NPC will pick who is on the board and what they do. This is the Soviet style of governing by council and committee. We have elected officials and a State and Federal Constitution. I think we should stick with that. Soviet means unelected or appointed councils that rule. This is what the regional planning centers, Federal Agencies and these other schemes are all doing, creating another layer of government over our Constitutional one. This is the socialist model of governing. Most elected officials have no idea what is happening.
Page 23 “Resource Protection” the act or process of preventing, eliminating, or reducing human-caused impacts to natural resources and natural processes.
This is the ultimate goal, total control over our farms and businesses. Permits, regulations, inspectors, boards, and councils that can take over control and implement the new federal agency guidelines of Agenda 21 Sustainable Development. This will destroy our property rights and destroy our system of government. Are you feeling GREEN?….
In conclusion;
I have very briefly described the plan. They keep trying to gain control and are slowly doing so. As I said before, all the federal agencies are working towards these goals. Our founders were very wise in the way they set up our government, this system goes around our constitutional protections. This has been going on for many years.
The Ozark Highlands National Heritage Area is ready to be adopted. It takes an act of Congress to do it. They have all the local support from our elected officials they need according to their documents, all 13 counties!
They are currently working to get this adopted and in place for our region. If you are against this, immediately contact your elected officials, County Commissioners and mayors. Give them this letter. Ask them to get the feasibility studies and get educated about sustainable development and what this Heritage Area designation area will really do. Get them to send letters to Ozark Action rescinding their letters of support immediately. Call your Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson and ask her not to support this declaration. Educate your friends and neighbors about this program. This is an immediate threat to our property rights and freedom to use our land and streams.
If we lose our private property rights. They may be lost forever.
Bob Parker is a cattle rancher and specializes in farm and ranch property sales in 7 counties in the Southern Missouri Ozarks. He operated Rock Creek Dairy in Texas County from 1983 to 1998. He is a long time property rights advocate. He has been a guest speaker at many property rights meetings, NAIS meetings, Tea Parties, Radio shows, as well as political events.