U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is praising federal legislative action this week for protecting the Appalachian Forest Heritage Area, which is part of 18 counties including Randolph County.

Manchin, a ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, secured the permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the national designation of the Appalachian Forest Heritage Area and an increase in the funding cap for the Wheeling National Heritage Area as part of the Natural Resources Management Act.

“I’m proud to have worked with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to finally permanently reauthorize LWCF so our land management agencies can operate fully and without the fear of losing access to the funding they rely on. The Appalachian Forest Heritage Area is a treasure in Randolph County and this national designation is long overdue,” Manchin added.

“By reauthorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund, this bill supports West Virginia’s heritage and outdoor recreation economy and keeps faith with the important idea that America’s outdoors and public lands are part of who we are as a nation,” said Angie Rosser, executive director of West Virginia Rivers.
LWCF is a conservation tool that ensures states and federal public land management agencies are able to protect and conserve our natural resources without relying on taxpayer dollars. In West Virginia, LWCF funded the acquisitions of the Gauley River National Recreation Area, New River Gorge National River and Dolly Sods. Since 1965, more than $243 million in LWCF funds have been spent in West Virginia on more than 500 projects, both on state and federal lands.
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This includes improvements to local parks and public spaces in 54 of West Virginia’s 55 counties.

To read the full article, visit the Intermountain's website at www.theintermountain.com/news/local-news/2019/02/forest-heritage-area-receives-designation/?fbclid=IwAR1sTMTTTLEegcPCRiZrjqIitSA2InvF1267CLT4wF1MFTAPznAV8dW4BKA

You can nominate your favorite historic preservation project or a deserving volunteer or professional to be recognized and celebrated at the 2018 West Virginia Historic Preservation Awards.   Complete a nomination form and email it and photos to AmeriCorps@pawv.org by 5pm on Friday, August 17, 2018, and your nomination will be considered. 

Award recipients receive a complimentary ticket to the banquet and a special award.  The banquet will be held at the Blennerhassett Hotel in Parkersburg, WV on Friday evening, September 21, 2018. 

Download a nomination form here.

Visit here to read about past award winners.

The Preserve WV AmeriCorps program is the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia’s statewide service initiative where members help main streets thrive, help communities capture their local history, and help preserve beloved West Virginia landmarks. The purpose of the Preserve WV AmeriCorps program is to implement historic preservation and heritage tourism projects throughout WV by way of historic resource reuse, improvement, and interpretation. A historic resource could be a building, museum/archival collection, structure, landscape, or historic district / downtown commercial district. Members' service will emphasize community development and revitalization through projects focused on historic preservation, volunteer management, and cultural heritage tourism development.
 
Members will be placed with individual sites across the state, ranging from museums and archives to Main Street organizations and city agencies. Preserve WV AmeriCorps offers 2 main categories of site placements for members: Museums, Archives, and Heritage Sites; and Historic Districts, Revitalization Sites, and Thematic Regional Sites. Within those categories, each site has individual needs. A detailed description of all sites and their specific task lists (plus more information about the program) will be provided to applicants upon receipt of the initial application; alternately, you can email dlapresta@pawv.org for a copy in advance.
 
All members’ duties will include some combination of the following:

•  Increase site capacity by recruiting and training volunteers.
• Preserve and enhance site quality through collections management, collections care/maintenance, and preservation activities.
• Increase sites’ public utilization by creating new exhibits; developing tours; conducting living history demonstrations; assisting patrons with research; planning/managing events; organizing beautification or public art projects; and creating walking tours.
• Provide assistance to sites by creating/revising policies; performing outreach marketing; researching/writing Clio entries; creating interpretive or wayfinding signage; completing preservation needs assessments; completing National Register of Historic Places nominations and state Historic Property Inventory forms; completing multi-building inventories; and doing project-specific, non-federal fundraising (10% of time or less).
• Required: Propose (and, if approved, organize and fundraise for) a hands-on, preservation-oriented, group project.
• Required: Participate in 3 community-oriented, Civic Service Projects.

 
Application process:

1. Complete the My AmeriCorps application at https://my.americorps.gov/
2. Complete a questionnaire at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6WFJ6MN  
3. Each applicant must review the site descriptions and task lists (supplied via email on request or after receipt of the application) & email a cover letter to dlapresta@pawv.org explaining sites of interest & why he/she would like to serve at those sites & be a good fit for service. Applicants can apply to more than one site at once, using the same letter. If desired, applicants can attach a resume or CV.
4. Once the My AmeriCorps application, questionnaire, and cover letter have all been submitted, the applicant will be considered for a phone interview.

 
For more information, see http://www.pawv.org/americorps.html

More than a decade after closing its doors to students, Dunbar School may have found a second life as the city of Fairmont, the Dunbar School Foundation and Fairmont State University are working together to turn the building into a community center and museum.

Fairmont city planner Sandra Scaffidi said that due to several requests from residents, plans started to come together to renovate the school, starting small by installing a bathroom in the school’s gym.

“We’ve been hearing from the community that there’s need for indoor gymnasium space,” Scaffidi said.

“Dunbar has a gymnasium inside, but it needs to be refurbished a little bit. The main deterrent for using the gymnasium is that it doesn’t have a working bathroom facility right now, so the idea is to create an ADA-accessible bathroom. That’ll just allow people to utilize the space while the foundation is continuing to rehabilitate the building.”

The Dunbar School Foundation has been caring for the building since its closure, and the school has thankfully remained in good shape, according to Fairmont State Architecture Department Chair Philip Freeman, who has helped work on the project with his students.
“From a structural point of view, it’s a sound building,” Freeman said. “It doesn’t require a whole lot to get back into use. There are a lot of cosmetic issues, but the big issue with getting the building up and running immediately would be HVAC, electrical and plumbing — the systems that make a building usable.”
The building would also need a new roof.
Dunbar School Foundation President Houston Richardson said the team is constantly working to secure funding for the project, although it has hit a few rough patches.
“We’ve applied for heritage grants,” Richardson said. “We have tried for Bowers Grants before, but they don’t like dealing with bricks and mortar, and we have been turned away. Right now, we have a historical-type grant out, which Sandra put out for us. The Bowers Grant is due this week. That’s where we’re at right now.”
The foundation has also held community events to raise money and is hoping to do more in the future.

Read the entire article at https://www.wvnews.com/fairmontnews/news/plans-underway-to-renovate-dunbar-school/article_024d96bd-40e2-5313-9d6e-da957258eb0e.html

The Preservation Alliance of West Virginia is launching a new funding initiative, the Historic Preservation Loan Fund, where it will partner with local and regional lending agencies to guarantee up to 20 percent of loans for historic preservation projects. The Historic Loan Fund will target West Virginia Endangered Properties and commercial structures that are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The alliance is partnering with Woodlands Community Lenders, Natural Capital Investment Fund, and the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority to pilot the fund and leverage more resources for larger revitalization projects in Barbour, Fayette, Nicholas, Raleigh, Randolph, Summers and Tucker counties.
 
The Historic Preservation Loan Fund is a revolving loan guaranty program whereby the alliance will promise, or guarantee, its loan funds in case a borrower defaults. This will in turn minimize risk for lending financial institutions and assist candidates that may not have the capital for a regular bank loan. “Made possible with a grant from the 1772 Foundation, the Historic Preservation Loan Fund focuses primarily on construction costs, but borrowers may also apply for acquisition and predevelopment costs, as well as grant funding match,” explained Danielle LaPresta, Executive Director for the alliance. “We are hoping to assist small borrowers like nonprofit organizations and local residents who lack access to the credit resources available to large borrowers, but feel passionately about saving and re-purposing a historic building.” According to LaPresta, these projects are also eligible for a 45 percent historic rehabilitation tax credit and state-issued Development Grants, among other grant funding. Applicants for the Historic Preservation Loan Fund will also receive technical assistance from the alliance, and nonprofit organizations may be eligible for Preserve WV AmeriCorps support. 
 
While several preservation organizations have had success with similar loan programs in states across the United States, this will be the first revolving fund of its kind in West Virginia. With sustainability in mind, the alliance developed the program so that when borrowers pay back loans to local lending partners, the alliance’s funds will be opened up for new applicants. This allows the alliance to stretch the $25,000 grant it received from the 1772 Foundation in February to assist more projects across the state. “We are very grateful to the 1772 Foundation for supporting the development of this loan guaranty program for the last three years, and we are working hard to grow these seed funds,” said LaPresta. The alliance continues to raise funds for the Historic Preservation Loan Fund. “Every dollar we raise will go directly to guarantee loans,“ explained LaPresta. Interested individuals can contribute to this new financial resource at http://www.pawv.org.  
 
Anyone interested in applying for loans using the Historic Preservation Loan Fund should contact Danielle LaPresta at info@pawv.org or by calling 304-345-6005. 

A New Deal-era house in Arthurdale is better preserved thanks to a collaborative project between Arthurdale Heritage, Inc., and local AmeriCorps members.
 
On March 15, AmeriCorps members with the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia worked with the Arthurdale Heritage community to apply UV protection film to the windows of the site’s historic house museum. This UV film will help ensure the longevity of artifacts inside the house, such as documents, photographs, textiles, and furniture, that are sensitive to light and changes in temperature.
 
The two-story Wagner-style house built in 1935 gives visitors a sense of life at Arthurdale, the nation’s first New Deal Subsistence Homestead Community. Established by the Roosevelt administration in 1933, Arthurdale provided jobs, education, and modern housing for impoverished and unemployed local people. It also served as a laboratory for new educational, industrial, and farming techniques. Arthurdale Heritage, Inc., was formed in 1985 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring and preserving the cultural heritage of historic Arthurdale, located in Preston County.
 
This hands-on service project brought together a number of AmeriCorps members from West Virginia. It was organized by Pamela Curtin, a Preserve WV AmeriCorps member serving with Clio, a nonprofit website and mobile app developed by Marshall University that connects the public to historic and cultural sites.
 
“Arthurdale’s historic structures and artifacts have unique stories to tell,” says Curtin, who is based in Morgantown. “These stories are not only nationally-significant, but also personally meaningful to the families who lived and continue to live there. This project presented a wonderful opportunity to help preserve this history.”
 
Curtin coordinated the project with Nora Sutton, an Appalachian Forest Heritage Area AmeriCorps member serving with Arthurdale Heritage as a Museum Associate. “Collaborative projects like this one are so important to Arthurdale Heritage’s mission to preserve the structures and artifacts in our care,” says Sutton. “Applying this protective film to the house windows will help us care for unique textiles and furniture that were made here by original homesteaders. It was great to work with other AmeriCorps members dedicated to preserving the past.”
 
Both Curtin and Sutton are alumni of West Virginia University’s Public History MA program.
 
Several other AmeriCorps members volunteered for the project, including Rachel Niswander, Charlotte Riestenberg, Sydney Stapleton, and Jason Wright. Ed Turnley, Vice President of the Board of Directors and member of the Arthurdale Heritage Maintenance Committee, oversaw volunteer tasks, such as cleaning the windows and measuring, cutting, and applying the UV film. Turnley is also an Arthurdale homesteader descendant whose family lived not far from the house the volunteers worked on.
 
This project contributes to a larger effort by Arthurdale Heritage to preserve its historic structures, which also include community and administrative buildings, barns, a former gas station, and an iron forge.
 
Supplies for this project, including the professional UV film, were generously funded by the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia, the state’s leading grassroots organization dedicated to the support and promotion of historic preservation. In addition to education, outreach, and advocacy, PAWV coordinates an AmeriCorps program that places volunteers with small museums, heritage tourism agencies, and main street groups.
 
AmeriCorps is a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, an independent federal agency whose mission is to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering. 

Join PAWV in supporting the Appalachian Forest Heritage Area (AFHA) in its effort to be designated by Congress as a National Heritage Area. Your expression of support NOW for Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area will help bring this long-sought goal to life.

WHAT CAN I DO?
Tell your U.S. Representatives and Senators you support Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area designation. Showing them strong grassroots support will inspire action!

See HERE for a contact list and HERE for sample letters and talking points.

WHY AFNHA? 
For over 15 years, AFHA has worked for conservation and community development in our 18-county region. AFHA conserves, develops, interprets and promotes a regional network of forest-based resources and experiences, benefiting communities and the environment throughout the highlands of West Virginia and western Maryland. Now is the time to expand these efforts during our spring 2018 support letter campaign.

AFHA began seeking National Heritage Area (NHA) designation with the approval of our Feasibility Study by the National Park Service in 2006. For the study, more than 150 different private, government and non-profit agencies as well as individuals wrote in support (see list of letters HERE) of this designation.

Today, we need to show that support again. 

Currently, two bills, Senate Bill 401 and House Resolution 3142, have been introduced in Congress to designate the Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area. This designation will bring national recognition of the importance of the Appalachian Forest Heritage story, as well as technical assistance through the National Park Service and funding for local projects. 

WHAT IS A NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA?
For over 30 years, National Heritage Areas have been telling America’s story. They are designed as a cost-effective way of conserving our nation’s natural and historic resources. This approach has been validated in 49 areas around the country, including two in West Virginia (Wheeling National Heritage Area and the National Coal Heritage Area), that have developed dynamic partnerships among local governments, non-profit groups and businesses.
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The National Heritage Area program in a nutshell:

• NHA is a grants and outreach program through the National Park Service, administered and controlled locally.
• NHA designation does not result in any additional federal ownership, regulations, or management controls.
• NHAs leverage federal funds that help create jobs, generate revenue for local governments and sustain local communities.
• NHAs return an average of $5.50 for every $1 of federal investment. 
• NHAs serve as catalysts in their communities, taking on projects that fit their goals and local priorities. They encourage collaboration and work with willing partners to see projects through.
  
  

WHAT WOULD IT MEAN FOR THE AFNHA REGION?
Let’s look at figures from one of West Virginia’s NHAs. The National Coal Heritage Area (NCHA) generates $207 million annually in economic impact, supports 2,744 jobs and generates $16.8 million in tax revenue. This economic impact consists of: tourism ($205.3 million), operations ($1.1 million), grant making activities ($419,000), and capital expenditures ($238,000).* The NCHA has been a driver of economic development in that southern West Virginia region and transformed communities through preservation and celebration of their rich coal history.

The opportunities for our region are similarly limitless; for we are unique. No other NHA has identified forest heritage as its primary theme. NHA status would provide support and funding for the region to develop interpretation and cultural programs; conserve our unique assets, recognize the role of past, present and future of the forest industry; strengthen our forest heritage identity; and share this amazing legacy with visitors. 

For the history of Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area effort, including Feasibility Study, see HERE