Freedom of Information Act documents from request filed by Angel Cushing, April 2021 with the National Park Service, received July 2021, posted to Western Region Property Rights Coalition Facebook page: July 24-August 2, 2021.
The documents for 2019 provide a clear direction of growth for Kansas Nebraska Heritage Area Partnership through extensive meetings focusing on organizational structure with strategic planning and financial goals. These meetings also demonstrate the heavy emphasis on contacting political influencers as opposed to informing municipal and county governments within the targeted region.
None of those selected as board members held elected positions, yet they coveted a designation covering 49 counties with attendant federal funding. Special interest groups forming a 501c3 to become a National Heritage Area are heavy on cumbersome administration. These nonprofits operate in granny gear fashion in order to comply with National Park Service (NPS) feasibility study guidelines; some 501c3s taking up to ten years of busy work to even attempt a feasibility study. They produce nothing of substance except meeting schedules, agendas and minutes, while seeking political support and corporate, foundation, and government funding to achieve their organizational legitimacy and financial sustainability.
Kansas Nebraska Heritage Area Partnership Facebook page went live in October 2019. There were, however, no posts between October 4, 2019 and January 7, 2020. The board of directors developed a strategic plan, along with lists of political contacts and potential funding sources. The Kansas Nebraska Heritage Area Partnership sought the use of an umbrella organization as a conduit for funding until they became a functioning 501c3.
The Partnership board consulted with Jane Weber, Executive Director of Big Sky Country NHA, Cascade County, Montana on becoming a 501c3 and functioning as a NHA before actual designation. Big Sky Country NHA had not been designated by Congress. By the end of 2019 the Partnership was working on a White Paper to distribute to the political realm and concentrated on garnering political support for the Kansas Nebraska NHA initiative. The meeting hours and funding consumed throughout 2019 failed to produce any kind of product or significant public engagement. Organizational and funding issues dominated the activities of their board of director meetings in 2019.
Norman Kincaide Ph.D., April 16, 2022