ASTORIA, OR – Destination: The Pacific is offering two free public forums as part of its March Gateway Community Workshop session. These forums provide an opportunity to hear excellent presentations about protecting community character and details about National Heritage Areas from leading national experts. The first forum on Wednesday, March 7, is an entertaining and informative program called The Dollars and Sense of Protecting Community Character and is conducted by Ed McMahon from the Urban Land Institute. The second forum on Thursday March 8, is National Heritage Areas: A Regional Approach to Heritage Development and Stewardship with Michael Creasey from the National Park Service. Visit www.DestinationThePacific.com or call (503) 861-4403 for more information.
McMahon holds the Charles Fraser Chair on Sustainable Development at the Urban Land Institute in Washington, DC where he is nationally known as an inspiring and thought provoking speaker and leading authority on topics related to sustainable development, land conservation, urban design, and historic preservation.
Creasey currently serves as Superintendent of Lowell National Historical Park in Massachusetts, one of the first urban cultural parks unveiling the story of America’s Industrial Revolution and preserving an urban landscape of mills, mill housing and canals through a progressive historic preservation program. Prior to Lowell, Creasey was Executive Director of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor in Rhode Island and Massachusetts - one of the first nationally designated heritage corridors in the nation. It was an experiment in how a region could create a balanced framework for preservation and development within a working landscape.
Balancing Community, Heritage & Commerce in Gateway Communities of the Columbia-Pacific is an intensive three-day workshop conducted by The Conservation Fund in coordination with Destination: The Pacific and the Lewis & Clark National Historical Park. Eleven teams from Clatsop County in Oregon and Pacific and Wahkiakum Counties in Washington are gathering in early March to develop community initiatives and a generate a greater sense of regional connectivity.
The Dollars and Sense of Protecting Community Character
Ed McMahon, Urban Land Institute
Sponsored by City of Astoria
Wednesday, March 7; 6:30 – 8 PM
Liberty Theater
1203 Commercial Street, Astoria, Oregon
Participants learn about the economic, social, and environmental benefits of protecting community character, and the value of open space and historic resources. They are introduced to major tools that can be used to protect community character, including education, voluntary initiatives, and other non-regulatory action, as well as alternatives to conventional residential and commercial development. The session addresses the challenges in preserving community character and ways to generate public support and the political will to use available tools. Examples are provided of what successful communities have done
National Heritage Areas: A Regional Approach to Heritage Development and Stewardship
Michael Creasey, National Park Service
Thursday, March 8; 6:30 – 8:00 PM
World Kite Museum
303 Sid Snyder Drive, Long Beach, Washington
This session presents the concept of National Heritage Areas as it is currently being applied throughout the United States. Creasey will share the 20-year experience of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, a 46-mile river corridor encompassing 24 communities in two states. The session will highlight processes, successes, challenges and lessons learned from this extensive regional-scale partnership, as they might apply to other regions.
Sponsors:
Lewis & Clark National Historical Park
National Park Service
Destination: The Pacific
The Conservation Fund
Pacific County Friends of Lewis and Clark
Washington State Parks
The Bank of the Pacific
City of Astoria
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