Re-enactment of Juan Bautista de Anza expedition. Photo by Robert Wick courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management.

Our Critical Role in the Region

• We advocate for the region’s heritage, realizing its importance in preserving our past and its power to shape our future. As heritage specialists, we coordinate heritage-based economic and community development.
• We promote our heritage by celebrating the cultural diversity of the Santa Cruz Valley. We are partners with private businesses, nonprofit organizations, governments, tribes, and individuals of all ages.
• We connect and coordinate to unite our diverse community and its rich heritage.
• We enthusiastically encourage, acknowledge, and celebrate heritage successes and efforts.
• We are a diverse group of heritage specialists who inform the public about our heritage assets and treasures through research.

The Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area is based on the following principles:

Heritage Education

A deeper understanding and appreciation of our cultural and natural legacy can be achieved through heritage education. In addition to nurturing a sense of continuity and connection with our historical and cultural experiences in this region, heritage education instills a stronger “sense of place,” and encourages residents to consider their past in planning for the future.

Voluntary Preservation

A fundamental principle of the National Heritage Area concept is that conservation efforts are most successful when the people living closest to the resources set the agenda, identify priorities, and initiate preservation actions voluntarily. The primary function of a National Heritage Area is to provide assistance to communities, groups, landowners, and other stakeholders to help them achieve their goals of resource preservation, promotion, and interpretation.

Security of Property Rights

The National Heritage Area concept recognizes the importance of private lands, and that property owners are the primary planners of land use. Designation as a Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area does not affect private property rights, property taxes, land-use zoning, or the right to renovate or remove existing buildings on private property.