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Show Neiv Legislation Helps Utah's Push For Nat'l Mormon Pioneer Heritage Area By Monte Bona The sense of anticipation about the National Mormon Pioneer Heritage Area continues to grow in the cities and town along U.S. Highway 89, the Heritage Highway. The state legislature approved two bills during this year's session that complement U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett's effort to move the national designation forward. The first bill, sponsored by Sen. Leonard Blackham of Moroni, establishes a Mormon Pioneer Heritage Center in connection con-nection with Utah State University. The center will coordinate coor-dinate research and extension efforts in recreation, heritage tourism and agriculture. "It's intended to work in con- junction with the Bennett bill," said Monte Bona, a member of the Utah Highway 89 Alliance, which has been actively sup porting the national designation. Bennett's bill aims to help preserve cultural and architectural architec-tural treasures of Utah's pioneer heritage and strengthen opportunities opportu-nities for local heritage-related businesses and products in the state. "The center will help carry out the responsibilities of the National Mormon Pioneer Heritage Area and empower communities to preserve and enhance their heritage. "This includes having extension exten-sion agents work with local communities to enhance the production pro-duction of heritage and craft (See HERITAGE on page 3A) Heritage Highway From Front Page products and develop business tourism plans. The center will also enter into cooperative contracts con-tracts with the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and the U.S, Department of the Interior, and with state, county, city, public and private agencies. "It's extremely important to have a center located at a college col-lege with the stature of Utah State University, in terms of its involvement in recreation studies, stud-ies, agriculture and agricultural extension," Bona says. "It will add prestige and faculty expertise expert-ise to the goals and objectives of the Mormon Pioneer Heritage Area." The second bill, sponsored by Rep. Michael Styler of Delta, establishes the boundaries of the Utah Pioneer Heritage Area, and specifies that the area be labelled as such on all officials maps, signage and other identifying identi-fying materials. The area includes U.S. Highway 89 from Fairview to Kanab, the Boulder Loop (state highways 12 and 24), the All-American All-American Road (Highway 12) and the six counties through which the route passes: Sanpete, Sevier, Piute, Wayne, Garfield and Kane. Bona says that the cities and towns in the six-county area are the best remaining example of how Mormon pioneers colonized colo-nized the west. "The heritage area includes countless examples exam-ples of rich cultural and architectural archi-tectural history shaped by the early settlers. ; "Both of the approved measures meas-ures are companion pieces at trie state level to the Bennett bill," Bona says. "We are all pulling for this national designation." Traditionally, areas that attain national heritage designation receive millions of dollars in federal funds for marketing, historic his-toric preservation and related projects. |