Maryland Heritage Areas Authority Provides 51 Grants to Heritage Tourism Sites, Activities, and Organizations Across Maryland

CROWNSVILLE, MD (July 11, 2011) – Fifty-one matching grants totaling $2,298,000 were awarded to Maryland non-profits - including museums, tourism sites, historic preservation, natural resources and educational organizations, as well as local jurisdictions - by the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority (MHAA). These grant funds support heritage tourism projects and activities that expand economic development and tourism-related job creation throughout the state (see full listing in the full release).

Proposed changes to LEED - Preservationists make your voice heard by January 14!

The United States Green Building Council is accepting public comments on the latest version of the LEED rating system and preservationists have an opportunity to weigh in on these proposed changes. You can read more about the revisions under consideration, their potential impact on historic buildings and find out how to submit your comments by visiting the National Trust for Historic Preservation's website.



Miller's Court, in Baltimore, recieved a LEED Gold rating
and won one of five 2010 Smart Growth Awards from the
Environmental Protection Agency



LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the most widely used and well-known system for measuring the environmental impacts of buildings and encourages strategies and techniques that reduce water and energy consumption, the use of recycled materials, and the "smart" siting of buildings, among other things. While the historic preservation comunity has been touting the environmental benefits of maintaining and reusing existing buildings for decades, the LEED rating system has helped launch the environmental impacts of buildings into the public consciousness.

National Park Service to sponsor Regional Meetings for Chesapeake Bay Partners

The National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Office and its partner Chesapeake Conservancy invite you to attend one of four regional meetings taking place in January, 2011.

Technical and financial assistance from the National Park Service can have a significant impact on the work of state and local governments and non-profit organizations. To be most effective, NPS can't operate in a vacuum . . . we need to ask you about our work, what we can do better, and what we can do for you.

The meeting agenda is simple: NPS will give brief overviews of our work in the Chesapeake region. This includes the Captain John Smith Chesapeake and the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trails, the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network, and our work with public access and stewardship opportunities as part of the federal strategy for Bay restoration. Chesapeake Conservancy will share highlights of their recent projects that support these initiatives.