Management Planning

The National Heritage Area Management Planning Team works with the National Heritage Area Coordinator to provide significant leadership and cultural/natural heritage expertise as needed to ensure effective development of the Management Plan.  The Planning Team includes community members from local units of government, non-profit organizations, businesses, educators, and citizen initiatives who collectively represent the national heritage stories, broad perspectives, and large geography of Downeast Maine.

 The following information is intended to describe in detail the overall process and bigger picture role of the Management Planning Team.  The Planning Timeline outlines the role of Management Planning Team members in more detail, and also clarifies what tasks the NHA Coordinator will undertake.

The NHA Program Coordinator will coordinate and support the Planning Team, and will rely on  their expertise and assistance, but will conduct the bulk of the work needed.  

The Management Planning Team will help craft comprehensive policies, strategies and recommendations for the active conservation, funding, management, and development of the National Heritage Area. 

The Management Planning Team will attend quarterly in-person retreats and quarterly Zoom meetings during the period of September 2025 through September 2026.  During these meetings, the Planning Team will assist the NHA Coordinator to:

• Provide guidance in the development of long-range strategic planning processes.
• Provide guidance in the development of heritage interpretation tools or opportunities.
• Provide information about current status and historic trends, conditions, emerging issues, etc. in their respective areas of expertise.
• Develop overall key messages about the NHA for different stakeholder groups; inform outreach materials.
• Develop a long term management model for the Downeast Maine Heritage Partnership.
• Develop criteria for a sub-granting program.

The Management Planning Team will also assist outside of these meetings in the following ways:

• Plan and attend at least two public meetings.
• Conduct outreach to build a strong network of cross sector partners, dedicated to the mission and goals of the NHA program. 
• Research specific topics and help find content and graphics on specific topics.
• Review and respond to draft Management Plan content as it is provided to them by the NHA Coordinator.

Components of the Management Plan that the Planning Team will support the NHA Program Coordinator to develop:

• Mission, Vision, Goals, and Objectives for the NHA program
• An inventory of the resources located within the NHA that are related to its key themes and should, as much as possible, be preserved, restored, managed, or maintained because of the significance of the property
• A description of strategies and specific actions that NHA partners have agreed to take to protect the important natural, historical, cultural, scenic, and recreational resources of the National Heritage Area
• Policies and strategies for future natural and cultural resource management
• A plan for ongoing collaboration among partners
• A list of specific commitments for implementation that have been made by the local coordinating entity and any partner entities for the first 5 years of operation
• An Interpretive Plan that supports the primary themes of the NHA
• An NHA implementation budget
• A list of funding sources for implementing the NHA program, including coordination of partner resources and projects
• Criteria for a sub-granting program
• A long term governance model of the NHA program including criteria for determining governance committee members, and a summary of commitments to the NHA program offered by those members.