National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Conservation Study Institute Shared Legacies in Cane River National Heritage Area: Linking People, Traditions, and Landscapes A Technical Assistance Report for the Cane River National Heritage Area Commission Cane River Evaluation and Visioning Project Final Report National Park Service Conservation Study Institute # This report is the fifteenth in the Conservation and Stewardship Publication Series produced by the Conservation Study Institute. This series includes a variety of publications designed to provide information on conservation history and current practice for professionals and the public. The series editor is Nora J. Mitchell, director of the Institute. This volume was pre­ pared in cooperation with the Quebec-Labrador Foundation (QLF)/Atlantic Center for the Environment. The Conservation Study Institute was established by the National Park Service in 1998 to enhance leadership in the field of conservation. A part­ nership with academic, government, and nonprofit organizations, the Institute helps the National Park Service and its partners stay in touch with the evolving field of conservation and to develop more sophisticated part­ nerships, new tools for community engagement, and new strategies for the twenty-first century. The Institute serves the entire national system of parks and special places and is based at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in the Northeast Region of the National Park Service. This report is available in pdf format only; a report summary is available in print and pdf formats. We encourage you to share the information in this report, and request only that you give appropriate citations and biblio­ graphic credits. Copyrighted images are not placed in the public domain by their appearance in this document. They cannot be copied or otherwise reproduced except in their context within this publication without the written consent of the copyright holders. Recommended citation: Tuxill, Jacquelyn L., Philip B. Huffman, Daniel N. Laven, and Nora J. Mitchell. Shared Legacies in Cane River National Heritage Area: Linking People, Traditions, and Landscapes. A Technical Assistance Courtesy of the Cammie G. Henry Research Center, Northwestern State University of Louisiana Center, Courtesy of the Cammie G. Henry Research Report for the Cane River National Heritage Area Commission. Final Report. Above: From the 1930s until her death in 1988, Clementine Hunter docu­ Woodstock, VT: Conservation Study Institute, 2008. mented life on Cane River in her vibrant memory paintings. The grandchild of slaves, she worked at Melrose Plantation as a field hand and a cook before becoming an artist later in life. For print copies of the report summary or pdf files of both the final report and the summary, contact: Cover: Clementine Hunter’s African House murals tell the story of life along the Cane River in the first half of the twentieth century. This panel depicts her view of ancestors of the Cane River Creole community and people who Conservation Study Institute lived and worked at Melrose, including visiting artists. Cover photo credit: James Rosenthal, National Park Service, HABS/HAER/HALS. 54 Elm Street Woodstock, VT 05091 Tel: (802) 457-3368 / Fax: (802) 457-3405 www.nps.gov/csi Other publications on national heritage area evaluations in the Conservation and Stewardship Publication Series: No. 7 – Reflecting on the Past, Looking to the Future: Sustainability Study Report. A Technical Assistance Report to the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission, 2005 No. 9 – Connecting Stories, Landscapes, and People: Exploring the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor Partnership. A Technical Assistance Project for the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor Commission and the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, Inc., 2006 For a full publications list, go to www.nps.gov/csi/pub_resources/pub.htm. Shared Legacies in Cane River National Heritage Area: Linking People, Traditions, and Landscapes A Technical Assistance Report for the Cane River National Heritage Area Commission Cane River Evaluation and Visioning Project Final Report Prepared by the National Park Service Conservation Study Institute in cooperation with QLF/Atlantic Center for the Environment CONSERVATION AND STEWARDSHIP PUBLICATION NO. 15 Jacquelyn L. Tuxill, Philip B. Huffman, Daniel N. Laven, and Nora J. Mitchell Published by the Conservation Study Institute Woodstock, Vermont 2008 The Conservation Study Institute team dedicates this report in memory of Saidee W. Newell, long-time co-chair of the Cane River National Heritage Area Commission, for her many contributions to the preservation of cultural heritage—in the Cane River region and the state of Louisiana, and at the national and international levels. Contents Section I. Setting the Context Section III. The Future of Cane River Chapter 1: Background and Introduction to the Cane River National Heritage Area Evaluation and Visioning Project 5 Chapter 7: Identifying Critical Ingredients for Sustained A. The Scope and Methods of the Cane River Success 55 Evaluation and Visioning Project A. Structuring the Partnership System B. The National Context B. Guiding the Partnership System C. Organization of the Report C. Cultivating the Partnership System Chapter 2: Establishing Cane River National Heritage Area 9 D. Considering the Role of Time in Development A. The Heritage of the Cane River Region of the Partnership System B. The Origins of Cane River National Heritage Area Chapter 8: National Heritage Area Framework Options Chapter 3: The Existing Framework for the Cane River and Opportunities 61 National Heritage Area Partnership 13 A. Purposes, Vision, and Mission A. Purposes, Vision, and Mission B. Geographic Scope/Boundary B. Geographic Scope C. Management Entity C. Management Entity D. Partners/Key Governmental Partnerships D. Partners E. Funding and Other Forms of Support E. Funding and Other Forms of Support Chapter 9: Other Options and Opportunities for the Future 77 A. Investment in Programs Section II. Assessing the Cane River B. Investment in Outreach and Enhancing Partnerships National Heritage Area Partnership C. Investment in Operations Chapter 4: Pursuing the Vision: Progress, Chapter 10: Closing Thoughts 87 Accomplishments, and Leverage 21 A. Observations on Progress and Accomplishments B. Program and Project Highlights Further Reading 88 C. Funding and Other Public Investments in the Heritage Area D. Overall Observations from the Analysis of Heritage Glossary of Terms and Acronyms 90 Area Accomplishments Chapter 5: Analyzing the Existing Heritage Area Framework: Strengths and Challenges 33 Acknowledgments 91 A. Purposes, Vision, and Mission B. Geographic Scope/Boundary C. Management Entity Appendices 92 D. Partners A. Cane River Evaluation and Visioning Project E. Funding and Other Forms of Support Methodology Chapter 6: Evaluating the Cane River National Heritage B. Cane River National Heritage Area Projects, Area Partnership System: The Partner Perspective 43 1998–2007 A. Perceived Strengths B. Perceived Challenges 4 Shared Legacies in Cane River National Heritage Area: Linking People, Traditions, and Landscapes SECTION I: SETTING THE CONTEXT Chapter 1 Background and Introduction to the Cane River Evaluation and Visioning Project Cane River National Heritage Area conserves believed this project would help them make and interprets the rich multicultural legacy and better-informed decisions about the future, landscapes of a region that was a vibrant cross­ provide an opportunity for enhanced engagement roads in the 1700s and a base for early trade and with local stakeholders, and strengthen govern­ settlement in North America by France and mental and partner relationships that are key to Spain. Located in northwestern Louisiana along the future. The commission and staff also saw an the former main channel of the Red River, the opportunity to reflect on and learn from the past heritage area embodies the diverse cultural through an approach that builds on research traditions and stories of the American Indian, conducted in other national heritage areas. By Spanish, French, African American, and Creole engaging in this project, Cane River management peoples who have lived in this region down demonstrated a willingness to look critically at through the centuries. its accomplishments and consider adjustments to its partnership process in order to become more Congress established Cane River National Heri­ effective at achieving heritage area goals. It also tage Area in 1994 in recognition of the national believed that investment in a rigorous evaluation significance of the region and its cultural would help to inform policy development at the resources.1 Seven years later, the Louisiana legis­ national level, with benefits for both existing and lature designated Cane River a state heritage area emerging national heritage areas. as well. The 1994 federal authorization also established Cane River Creole National Historical A. The Scope and Methods of the Park as a unit of the National Park System within Cane River Evaluation and Visioning the heritage area, and charged the heritage area Project and the park to work in partnership to carry out The commission asked the National Park Service a shared preservation and education mission. Conservation Study Institute to provide techni­ This establishment of a national park and a cal assistance in implementing the project and national