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| 2/9/2007 11:08:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Salazar reintroduces bill to create South Park heritage area
Linda Bjorklund - Correspondent
U.S. Senator Ken Salazar has announced that he has re-introduced bills to designate two new National Heritage Areas - the South Park National Heritage Area and the Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area.
The bill was introduced in 2006 but no action was taken by Congress. There are currently 27 such areas throughout the country that have been organized to recognize and protect properties that have extraordinary cultural, historical, environmental and recreational resources. Those areas are conceived and managed by local citizens and organizations, but the National Park Service provides administrative and technical support.
The South Park NHA proposal initially identified some 19 working ranches along 30 miles of stream corridor and 17,000 acres of wetlands and agricultural lands in the headwaters of the South Platte River.
Park County Tourism and Community Development Director Gary Nichols compiled a great deal of the information that went into the proposal, but is not just waiting around for results. He has obtained more than $100,000 in grants to move forward on identification of suitable areas to include and has enlisted support of five owners whose properties fit the profile for historic preservation:
"The budget is $150,000," Nichols said. "We are preparing master plans for each of those five sites."
Those properties are:
•The Buffalo Peaks Ranch, formerly the Guiraud Ranch, for whom the early town of Garo was named. It is located just off Colorado Highway 9 between Fairplay and Hartsel.
•The Paris Mill, located in Buckskin Gulch, about three miles west of Alma.
•The Santa Maria Ranch, along the South Platte River north of Hartsel.
•The Salt Works Ranch, near Antero Junction.
•The Como Roundhouse, just off U.S. 285 at Como.
The Paris Mill has also been designated by Colorado Preservation Inc. as an Endangered Place in its program to identify historical structures that should be saved.
Owners of those historic properties have already invested money and/or in-kind work toward preservation and are eligible for federal funding should Salazar's bill pass.
Under the bill, the federal government will provide matching funds to rehabilitate old structures, develop tours, establish exhibits or programs, and increase public awareness of the area. The bill also provides that private property rights and water rights are in no way affected by the creation of an NHA. Owners are free to participate in the program or not.
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