[Heritage] Oregon Heritage Reflects on 2021

Thu Jan 6 18:34:09 PST 2022

Oregon Heritage Reflects on 2021

First and foremost, Happy New Year from Oregon Heritage!

Oregon Heritage includes the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), the Oregon Heritage Commission, Oregon Commission on Historic Cemeteries and many other programs supporting efforts to identify, evaluate, designate, preserve, and recognize Oregon's historic resources. To reflect on the past year, we are sharing our experience, noting primary plan (Oregon Historic Preservation Plan and Oregon Heritage Plan) progress, and looking to the future.
Despite the continuing COVID-19 health emergency, state office closures, travel restrictions, budget limitation, and nearly a 30% staff cut related to the pandemic, staff moved many goals forward. Oregon Heritage saw a general increase in demand for services. We continued support related to COVID impacts and responded to 2020 and 2021 wildfires; providing support to heritage organizations, assisting federal and state agencies seeking to identify and protect historic properties, and participating in working groups.

These challenges created an opportunity to re-evaluate agency priorities and how we do our work. The results are reflected in achievements of plan goals, noted later on in this message.

Fewer resources and greater demand did reduce responsiveness. In addition to our general services, primary projects that lagged include implementation of the state National Register rule, oversight of inter-agency agreement documents, and response to issues of confidentiality of culturally-sensitive. Training, communication, and outreach program services were also limited.

In 2022, with full staffing for the first time since May 2020, we expect to continue current efforts. The Compliance Bureau will emphasize administration of cultural resource laws and related policy issues including the state archaeological permit law and confidentiality of culturally-sensitive information. Preservation Bureau will address the identification, evaluation, and treatment of historic properties. The survey program will integrate the processes and documentation for archaeological and built-environment resources and continue to broaden the types of documented historic places. Work will continue on two statewide National Register nominations for properties related to African American and Depression Era history. Three major studies will be completed: an evaluation of the Oregon Main Street Network, a study of the economic value of heritage, and an exploration of unused upper floors in historic downtowns.

Our two guiding plans will remain central to our work. The current State Preservation Plan ends in 2023, so we will bring our partners together across the heritage community to develop goals for the new plan. We will also begin an exciting evaluation process for the Oregon Heritage Plan. Perhaps most importantly, we look forward to a time when we can again open our offices and begin meeting with you in-person, on-site in support of the many good things each of you do for Oregon's communities.

We also want to recognize the efforts of those we serve, all of you who are doing heritage preservation work in Oregon. While 2020 was a year of resilience and pivoting, 2021 was a year of perseverance for heritage organizations and efforts. We saw all of you moving forward, keeping an eye on the ebbs and flows of the pandemic situation, but ultimately working with the current reality and doing the best you could and thriving within it.

Let's take a look at a snapshot of our programs from 2021 and some of the results that helped move forward heritage preservation in Oregon:

Project Review

  *   218 Archaeology permits were issued and 1003 compliance review letters were issued to help determine if a project will have impacts on properties of historic significance
  *   19 Memorandum of Agreements and 5 Programmatic Agreements were signed allowing partners to complete preservation, education, and documentation projects that address or minimize negative impacts to historic resources while also streamlining processes

Document

  *   2,848 properties and sites were surveyed that will be added to our databases<https://www.oregon.gov/oprd/OH/pages/database-and-mapping-resources.aspx>, such as the Historic Sites Database available for the public to view.

Designation

  *   18 listings in the National Register of Historic Places including:
     *   The African American Resources in Portland, Oregon from 1851 to 1973 MPD
     *   The Oregon Trail, Oregon, 1840 to 1880 MPD
     *   Portland's Mallory Avenue Christian Church. Located in Portland's Albina neighborhood, the 1949 Mallory Avenue Christian Church is recognized for its notable early postwar modern architecture and association with Portland's Black Community.
     *   Portland's Darcelle XV. Darcelle XV is nationally significant for its role it played in creating acceptance for drag and gay rights and as a safe place that anchored the LGBTQ community far beyond the reach of any LGBTQ bar. Learn more about the larger scale and award winning Darcelle Project here<https://youtu.be/IENK991cVkA>.
  *   Two National Register nominations, one for the The Rex in Vale and one for the Dallas Cinema in Dallas, resulted from the National Park Service Historic Theater Grant awarded to our office in 2019.
  *   The Oregon Main Street Network<https://www.oregon.gov/oprd/OH/Pages/OMS.aspx> had 7 new communities designated at the Exploring Downtown level and 2 applications for the Associate level
  *   The Aumsville Corn Festival was designated an Oregon Heritage Tradition<https://www.oregon.gov/oprd/OH/pages/heritage-designations.aspx#two> having been carried out each year since 1968
  *   Grants Pass joined the ranks of Oregon's designated Certified Local Governments<https://www.oregon.gov/oprd/OH/Pages/CLG.aspx>
  *   Governor Brown signed into law a bill passed by the Oregon legislature to change the designation date for a historic cemetery beyond the original date of February 14, 1909 to 75 years or older.

Engagement

  *   Value of Heritage Resources in Disaster Recovery document and communication tools were added to the Value of Heritage Toolkit<https://www.oregon.gov/oprd/OH/Pages/tools.aspx#culturalimpact>
  *   The current Preservation Plan<https://www.oregon.gov/oprd/OH/Pages/tools.aspx#preservationplan> and Heritage Plan<https://www.oregon.gov/oprd/OH/Pages/tools.aspx#heritageplan> continued to be woven throughout our programs (stay tuned in 2022 for outreach to begin for the next Preservation Plan and a 3 year evaluation to begin for the Heritage Plan!)
  *   The 2021 Virtual Summit focused on collaboration and featured a pre-conference event to help provide a networking opportunity for those working on preserving Latino and Hispanic heritage in Oregon<https://oregonheritage.wordpress.com/2021/08/16/latino-a-x-and-hispanic-heritage-preservation-in-oregon-building-a-network-summit-event-connections-made-and-lessons-learned/>
  *   The 2021 Oregon Main Street Conference engaged the Main Street network with inspiring keynote speakers and relevant topics
  *   The Oregon Heritage Commission partnered with the Nonprofit Association of Oregon<https://nonprofitoregon.org/> to provide 46 heritage organizations with a one-year membership and 3 webinars just for these organizations to help them work on their organizational capacity and development.

Preserve

  *   Process initiated to revamp state tax incentive program
  *   Completed 9 federal tax program projects
  *   Preserving Oregon and Diamonds in the Rough Grant programs were back this year after a hiatus related to COVID-19 budget impacts.
     *   Diamonds in the Rough - Awarded $75,000 for 4 projects in 3 counties
     *   Preserving Oregon - Awarded $200,000 for 13 projects in 11 counties
  *   Oregon Museum Grant program awarded $74,278 for 13 projects in 10 counties
  *   Oregon Historic Cemeteries Grant program awarded $62,500 for 15 projects in 13 counties
  *   Oregon Heritage Grant program awarded $380,000 for 32 projects in 17 counties. We successfully increased the number of applications this year by more than 20 applications over our highest ever number.
  *   The 2019 Oregon Heritage Grant funding projects successfully wrapped up despite scope of work adjustments in response to COVID-19 challenges. In the end, there was only one cancellation.
  *   Oregon Heritage All-Star Communities received $18,000 resulting in 6 projects in 6 counties.
  *   Launch of the revamped Oregon Heritage MentorCorps<https://www.oregon.gov/oprd/OH/pages/mentorcorps.aspx> Program, matching Heritage Mentors with eight organizations for nine months of sustained technical assistance.
  *   2021 saw the first approved permit for working in a historic cemetery. German Hill Cemetery in Clackamas County with the beneficiary of work provided by James Moriarty.

Celebrate

  *   7 Oregon Heritage Excellence Awards and their videos<https://www.oregon.gov/oprd/OH/pages/awards.aspx#one> were presented at the 2021 Virtual Summit (2022 awards are open NOW<https://www.oregon.gov/oprd/OH/pages/awards.aspx#one> for applications, including a new, non-competitive category for standout volunteers)
  *   18 people, organizations, and projects were awarded an Excellence On Main award and their videos<https://www.oregon.gov/oprd/OH/pages/awards.aspx#two> were presented at the 2021 Oregon Main Street Conference.
  *   The Oregon Heritage Exchange Blog featured Creative Collaboration Support Vibrant Downtowns<https://oregonheritage.wordpress.com/2021/02/05/creative-collaborations-support-vibrant-downtowns/> and Collaborations During a Pandemic<https://oregonheritage.wordpress.com/2021/04/07/collaborations-during-a-pandemic/>

Like everyone else, we to are trying to move forward in a continuous time of uncertainty. And like always, we will do our best to continue serving you and assist you with your heritage preservation efforts. Please do not forget to save the date for the 2022 Oregon Heritage Conference<https://www.oregon.gov/oprd/OH/Pages/heritageconference.aspx>, April 27-29, as that is one of the primary ways we can connect, listen, learn, and provide inspiration for one another on how to move forward with this important work.

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Oregon Heritage News is a service of Oregon Heritage, a division of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. The news editor can be contacted at heritage.info at oregon.gov<mailto:heritage.info at oregon.gov>.

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