Valley due for zip

from proposed 

federal budget

By Linda Lemmon

Town Crier Editor

The Last Green Valley community is just "a little bit worried" about the proposed federal  budget which would eliminate 100 percent of the funding for TLGV and the 48 other National Heritage Areas.

Lois Bruinooge, executive director of  TLGV, said she's concerned that the National Heritage Area (NHAs), which is part of the National Park Service's budget, is small enough to get cut and stay cut. Also on the chopping block is $120 million for land acquisition. 

Bruinooge said TLGV has been in contact with all the federal representatives and has also asked its Board of Directors to call Washington.

Readers could contact  Washington representatives and "let them know how important TLGV is to us, to this area," she said. U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal can be contacted at 202-224-2823; Congressman Joe Courtney can be reached at 202-225-2076 or 860-886-0139); and Senator Christopher Murphy can be reached at 202-224-4041.  In addition, she said, those wanting to help can go to www.thelastgreenvalley.org --- donate, volunteer and more.

The National Heritage Areas were designated by Congress as places where natural, cultural and historic resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally important landscape, government officials said. 

Bruinooge said the federal government provides a "significant" portion of The Last Green Valley's budget. "We have fund-raising programs," she said "but still rely on the park service."

The National Park Service evaluated The Last Green Valley recently over its 20-year life, looking at all the money that was spent to further the heritage goals of the valley. The Last Green Valley began as the Quinebaug-Shetucket Heritage Corridor and the first grant from the National Park Service was $200,000 in 1996. She said the grants have been as high as $805,000 (2005) and have hovered at about $600,000 to $650,000 of late. The survey showed that between 1996 and 2014 $11 million was allotted to TLGV and the return on that investment was around $253 million. That total includes everything from the value of volunteer hours to private donations to work at Old Sturbridge Village to mill renovations and more.

She added that TLGV has given out more than $3 million in grants in the last 20 years. 

The total budget for TLGV is around $700,000.  TLGV brings in about $150,000 in private donations. That local money acts as a buffer when TLGV is waiting for its next federal budget contract. Currently TLGV is operating on the 2016 budget and the 2017 budget/contract is not set yet. While TLGV is waiting, they use the local money. "There's a delay in federal money. It's hard to plan when we don't know how much money is coming," she said. 

"We certainly aren't alone," she said. "We're all in this together."