This act officially establishes the Finger Lakes National Heritage Area in New York, tasking the Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance with developing a management plan within three years.
Claudia Tenney
Representative
NY-24
This Act officially establishes the Finger Lakes National Heritage Area in New York, incorporating fourteen counties into the National Heritage Area System. The Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance is designated as the local coordinating entity responsible for developing and submitting a management plan within three years. This designation authorizes federal assistance for the area for a period of fifteen years from the date of enactment.
Finger Lakes Heritage Act Designates 14 Counties: Tourism Alliance Gets 3 Years to Draft Plan
This legislation, officially called the Finger Lakes National Heritage Area Act, is straightforward: it formally creates the Finger Lakes National Heritage Area in New York, bringing it into the National Heritage Area System. This designation covers a massive 14-county region, including Cayuga, Chemung, Cortland, Livingston, Monroe, Onondaga, Ontario, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Tioga, Tompkins, Wayne, and Yates Counties. Essentially, this is the federal government formally recognizing the region’s historical, cultural, and natural significance, opening the door for federal support.
The Local Coordinator and the Timeline
One of the most important provisions is naming the local entity responsible for coordinating all this activity: the Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance. This organization now has the specific responsibility of developing a comprehensive management plan for the entire Heritage Area. They must submit this plan to the Secretary of the Interior within three years of the law’s enactment, which is a tight but manageable timeline for coordinating 14 counties’ worth of interests. This plan is the blueprint for how the area will preserve its resources and promote tourism, meaning local businesses and cultural sites need to pay attention to what the Alliance proposes.
15 Years of Federal Partnership
If you’re a local business owner or work in the tourism sector in this region, the big takeaway is the federal support structure. While the designation itself is permanent, the federal government’s direct financial assistance is not. The Act specifies that the authority for the Secretary of the Interior to provide assistance to the Finger Lakes National Heritage Area will expire 15 years after the law is enacted. This means the local Alliance and the counties involved have a 15-year runway to establish sustainable, locally funded programs and infrastructure improvements. If they plan to use federal grants for major projects, they need to prioritize those initiatives early in the cycle, as the clock starts ticking immediately upon enactment.