AFNHA to Hold Stakeholder Meeting in Buckhannon

Tuesday June 18, 2024
Colonial Arts Center
48 E. Main Street Buckhannon, WV 26201
Downtown parking info

Join us for our Annual Stakeholder meeting to learn how AFNHA can support you, and network with partners across the AFNHA.

Tentative Agenda:

9:30 am to 10:00 am - Registration open -  

10:00 am to 11:00 -

• Introduction and Welcome  

• About AFNHA Programs

• What are National Heritage Areas?

• Membership Meeting 

11:15 - 12:15 - Themed Breakout Discussions 

• Conservation/Outdoor Recreation  

• Heritage/Community Development  

12:15-12:30 - Break
12:30 - 1:30 - Lunch (buffet by Aladdin Food Management Services)

1:30   Breakout discussion reports - 

1:45 - Upshur County Projects and Partners Panel - 

• Create Buckhannon

• Upshur County Trails

• Buckhannon River Watershed Association

• West Virginia Division of Forestry

2:45 Closing remarks

Discover Upshur County before or after the event (See curated list)

Help us "pass the torch"

Since our designation as a National Heritage Area in 2019, our organization has grown from a small staff of three to a strong team of seven. Our Management Plan was approved in August 2023, providing direction for the future. Now, we are preparing for another big change. Our longtime leader, Phyllis Baxter, will step down in 2024, and Logan Smith will step up to become our new Executive Director.

Phyllis has been involved with the Appalachian National Heritage Area (AFNHA) since the beginning. For over 20 years, she has helped achieve all our important milestones. She has provided excellent vision and leadership at every step. She was there for the initial stakeholder meetings that helped establish the Appalachian Forest Heritage Area (AFHA) as a non-profit organization. Phyllis was instrumental in starting our long-running AmeriCorps program and advocating for the congressional legislation that established our National Heritage Area, creating AFNHA.

Logan has been involved since 2008 and, as Deputy Director, has supported much of the day-to-day operations of our organization. Now he will take on a larger role of leadership in managing and planning our programs. 

To assist with the long-term development of our organization we have also brought on Larry Jent as Fiscal Sustainability Director. Larry brings deep connections to Appalachian culture and a wealth of experience in nonprofit management. He will help us begin our next chapter as we plan for our future.

Help us recognize these accomplishments and welcome this new era at our upcoming celebration: Friday, January 26, 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. at the Appalachian Forest Discovery Center (101 Railroad Ave, Elkins). Come and go as you please. 
Presentation at 5:30. 
Light refreshments will be served. 
Virtual attendance will be available 5:30 - 6:30: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89433093280

AFNHA Hosting Interpretation Training 11/03

Interpretation Training

Friday, November 3 9:30 am-4:30 pm

West Virginia Wood Technology Center (10 11th St, Elkins, WV 26241)

Workshops will cover interpretation basics, personal and non-personal interpretation, developing exhibits, and interpreting difficult stories. Trainers will include Dr. Dave Smaldone (WVU), Kyle Warmack (WV Humanities Council), and Katie Thompson. Free and open to all and highly encouraged for AmeriCorps members, partners, and grantees doing interpretation projects. Lunch included. Please RSVP by email to afnha@afnha.org

Schedule:
9:30 - 11:15 -- Dave Smaldone - Intro to natural and heritage interpretation and themes.

11:30 - 12:30 -- Interpreting difficult topics conversation.

12:30 - 1:15 lunch (provided)

1:15 - 2:30 - Katie Thompson - giving tours and personal interpretation.

2:45 - 4:30 -- Kyle Warmack - developing exhibits and signs

AFNHA Awards Grants to 19 Area Organizations

AFNHA awarded $200,000 in grants to area organizations through our new Appalachian Forest Grants program. These projects will support preservation, interpretation, tourism development, and partnership development.

Grantees include:

Friends of the Cheat: Cheat River Trailhead Interpretive Signage

Future Generations University: Forest on the Go

Mountain Heritage Trails, Inc: Restored Humanity: The African American Burial Grounds of Hardy County

Evergreen Heritage Center Foundation Inc: The Forest Gatehouse Exhibit

Kump Education Center: Woodland Heritage Lecture Series

Woodlands Development Group: Lost Towns/Lost Communities

Randolph County Park and Recreation Board: Historic Schoolhouse Renovation and 4-H museum

City of Frostburg: Glendening Park Signage

Helvetia Restoration and Development Organization: Helvetia Historic Signage

Randolph County Historical Society Inc: Centennial of the RCHS - 100 Years of History

Allegany Museum Inc: Mountain Maryland Traditional Arts Education Center

Arthurdale Heritage, Inc: Essential Museum Upgrades and Masonry Restoration

Greenbrier Valley Archaeology, Inc: Fort Warwick Archaeology and Heritage Tourism

Greenbrier Valley Repertory Theatre: West Virginia History Play

Northern Webster County Improvement Council, Inc: Appalachian Heritage-Historical Area

Pendleton County Convention and Visitor's Bureau: Preparing Pendleton & Sharing Seneca

Friends of Blackwater: Ecotourism and Heritage Tourism with Friends of Blackwater

The Old Brick Playhouse Company: OBP Dynamic History Initiative

West Virginia Highlands Conservancy: Highlands Creatures Coloring Book

Thank you to all who applied. We received almost twice as much requested as we had funds available. So the judgment process was difficult, and inevitably, we had to turn down some very worthwhile projects. We expect to offer this grant program annually.

These grants were made possible by funding from the National Park Service.

National Park Service Approves AFNHA Management Plan

The National Park Service has approved the Management Plan for the Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area (AFNHA) on August 28, 2023. Completing over three years of outreach and a year of review, the Management Plan will guide AFNHA activities moving forward as a National Heritage Area, based on five main goals. Approval of the plan makes AFNHA eligible for increased federal matching funding.

According to the approval letter signed by National Park Service Director Charles Sams: “The Appalachian Forest Heritage Area Inc. developed a plan that promotes the continued appreciation and protection of the natural, historic, and cultural resources associated with the National Heritage Area, a place important to our nation’s history and heritage. We commend you for completing this well-conceived plan and for involving the interested Tribes, citizens, and organizations from 16 counties in West Virginia and two counties in Maryland. …This nationally distinctive landscape, which contains some of our nation’s most important natural and cultural resources, deserves continued respect and protection.”

Following Congressional designation as a National Heritage Area in 2019, AFNHA worked with Point Heritage Development Consulting through the planning process. We solicited feedback from task group participants, partners, the public, and National Park Service, and incorporated their comments into the draft plan The review draft management plan was released for public input on June 24, 2022. Public review included an in-person workshop, a virtual information and feedback session, and distribution of the plan digitally and in print at public libraries, all publicized by press releases and social media. The submitted plan includes 47 letters of support or comment from federal, state, and local government representatives and organizations, educational partners, tourism entities, and other natural resource, cultural, heritage, and community-based organizations. The plan was finalized and submitted to the National Park Service for approval on August 16, 2022.

Now we move forward to accomplish the ambitious goals of the plan -- to conserve and enhance our area's assets, to share our stories, to build sustainable tourism, to strengthen our partnership network, and to sustain the coordinating organization, AFHA Inc. As we accomplish multiple projects within these goals, we look to partners and supporters to help with their participation and resources.

National Heritage Area funding will help us towards many of these goals, but all of that federal money has to be matched. Your support now will help to draw down federal dollars, accomplish concrete projects, and to implement the AFNHA Management Plan. Please consider making a gift at https://www.appalachianforestnha.org/donate