Learn more   ● For more information on the proposed Santa Cruz National Heritage Area, visit the group's Web site at www.santacruzheritage.org

Marana's Town Council hopes to preserve some of its past and make it the northern showpiece of the proposed Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area. Jonathan Mabry, of Desert Archaeology Inc., told the council that the National Heritage Area designation could spur tourism, generating jobs and sales tax revenue. He said studies of the 27 other National Heritage Areas in the United States showed that, on average, they doubled tourism within 10 years of receiving the designation. Right now the only National Heritage Area in the desert Southwest is the Yuma Crossing Heritage Area along the Colorado River on the Arizona-California border. Mabry said tourism in the Santa Cruz Valley area now is a $2.3 billion a year industry producing 50,000 jobs. He defined the Santa Cruz Heritage Area as the Santa Cruz River and its watersheds to the east and west from the U.S.-Mexico border at Nogales to the Pinal County line. The presentation linking the heritage area with Marana's cultural heritage park project was made at a study session of the Marana Town Council, which had already signed on as a supporter of the Heritage Area designation. If the Santa Cruz Heritage Area is approved by Congress, Mabry said, the area would be eligible for yearly $1 million in matching grants. Under the funding rules, he said, projects such as Marana's own Heritage Park could count as the town's contribution to the matching grants. Besides bringing in tourists and tax money and creating jobs, Mabry said, the designation leads to "preservation of places, landscapes and traditions." Planning consultant Barbara Strelke showed the council some drawings of the proposed Marana Heritage Park, to be built near the Santa Cruz in northwest Marana. She said its reproduction of the Producer's Cotton Oil Building and other exhibits having to do with Marana's agricultural past could preserve a way of life that is being lost as the town's crop land is subdivided for housing. Rather than move the old adobe Producer's Cotton building, the town has replicated it on the park site. Town Manager Mike Reuwsaat estimated it would have cost $400,000 to move the building. Plans for the town park include a demonstration garden and cotton field, interactive exhibits, public art and spaces for pavilions. Supporters of the National Heritage Area designation for the Santa Cruz Valley include dozens of local, state and federal government agencies and officials, as well as conservation, cultural and historical groups. Mabry said he hopes for Congressional designation within the year. Learn more

 

● For more information on the proposed Santa Cruz National Heritage Area, visit the group's Web site at www.santacruzheritage.org