Local activists are hoping that by this time next year, Congress will designate the area from Marana south to Nogales and east to include Sonoita and Elgin, as a national heritage area.

What that could mean, if all goes well, is that local businesses, environmental and other nonprofits and governments could apply for federal funds for a variety of projects that promote "historic preservation, education and conservation that connect people with the place where they live," said Jonathan Mabry, president of the Santa Cruz Valley Heritage Alliance.

"Heritage areas across the country have been very effective at promoting local foods, crafts, lodging; regional products," Mabry said. "That could be wines from Sonoita and Elgin; organic, range-fed beef that more and more ranchers in the region are raising, and Tohono O'odham Nation traditional crops."

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Mabry went on to explain: "Say a rancher has a riparian area that is sensitive and he wants to protect it. He could (apply for) funding to build a fence around it. If a land owner had an erosion problem and wanted to do erosion control, he would be eligible."

Also eligible would be restoration of other riparian areas, some Río Nuevo projects in Tucson or the historic courthouse in Nogales.

The Heritage Alliance last month submitted a feasibility study to the National Park Service, which brings the voluntary group a step closer to winning designation.

The study is posted on the website of the Center for Desert Archeology - www.cdarc.org. Mabry works there as an archeologist.

Board members say they have received solid cooperation from local congressmen Jim Kolbe and Raúl Grijalva, and the staffs of Sens. Jon Kyl and John McCain, and expect to win congressional approval next year, when the action will benefit those running for election.

Designation by Congress could bring the area a one time planning grant of $250,000 from the National Park Service within the first three years, plus the right to apply for annual federal matching funds for local projects.

In other National Heritage Areas, the designation has brought in an average of about $300,000 a year in federal funds, and those funds have leveraged other monies at about an 8-to-1 ratio, Mabry said.

Already, the alliance has received formal endorsements from local governments and has raised $70,000 from local governments and other donors to pay for the feasibility study and to create pamphlets and other educational materials, Mabry said.

"I want people to know that the federal heritage designation is based on voluntary preservation. It does not affect property rights, taxes or zoning. It has no regulatory effects," he said. "The analogy I give people is that it's like an enterprise zone. If you are within the boundaries you are eligible to obtain the benefits."

Mabry said the Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau estimates that tourism is worth $2.3 billion, all told, to the region's economy, and that the top attractions are heritage and nature.

"The spin-off from nature and heritage tourism is not just tourism money but more taxes generated and more jobs and investment opportunities," Mabry said. "There is a balance between economic development and voluntary preservation. In ‘heritage based economics' we are using the local cultural and natural treasures as assets. By preserving and promoting them we get benefits," he said.

What Mabry hopes will come out of this, aside from simply more money and more preservation and conservation projects, is "more people being knowledgeable about the cultural and natural history of this area, of the economic benefit of preservation.

"When there is that higher awareness and appreciation, then there is a preservation ethic or stewardship ethic," he said.

Contact Philip Franchine, a reporter for the Green Valley News, by e-mail at pfranchine@gvnews.com or call

(520) 547-9738