Goals, Objectives, and Strategies
The Goals, Objectives, and Strategies outlined here are preliminary and will continue to be developed as community discussions and planning team meetings occur through 2024. These concepts are based on community discussions that have occurred to date, including information generated during the Feasibility Study phase.
Education and Stewardship
GOAL
Build local understanding of our Nationally important cultural and natural heritage to strengthen connections between people and place and inspire stewardship of heritage resources.
OBJECTIVES
- Develop interdisciplinary and diverse educational opportunities based in our National Heritage story
- Increase regional awareness of our natural environment and our cultural experience
- Engage community members in stewardship activities to instill community pride and develop long-term ethic of stewardship
- Support Wabanaki heritage education initiatives
STRATEGIES
Create interdisciplinary and diverse educational opportunities based in our National Heritage story
- Build intergenerational and peer-to-peer learning programs
- Develop region-wide, experiential curriculum on local history, heritage, culture to assist schools to get youth in the field to local heritage sites for field trips and lessons
- Provide opportunities for youth to hang out in and connect with their communities during their down time.
- Restore & strengthen international ties between youth through international school programs.
- Engage residents as docents and mentors in telling our united but separate heritage stories
- Work with occupational school programs to help build the enthusiasm in kids that comes from a sense of pride
- Increase STEM programs, develop interdisciplinary place-based learning programs, project-based learning, create models for other programs
- Expose youth to different options and opportunities and find their interests early through schools to help build tracks that help connect youth with a sense of place
- Encourage multi-generational learning or intergenerational exchanges; family learning; mentor-based learning – youth to youth, adult to youth.
Increase regional awareness of our natural environment and our cultural experience
- Support a public information program that emphasizes recreational ethics, public safety, sustainable use, and stewardship of cultural and natural resources
- Develop tools and programs geared toward residents that share information about heritage-related activities, assets, and attractions in the Downeast region; develop tools specific to children, teens, adults, and newer residents
- Compile resources to help people take pride in where we come from, the work that we have done, and the risks taken to be successful
- Increase protection of our healthiest heritage resources; restore the natural and cultural resources whose future is at risk
- Focus on people, place, and community:
- People: The generations of families, their lives, and how they are linked with the economy and the natural ecosystems
- Place: the land and ecosystems
- Communities: Connections and linkages of people and place living together, to build sustainable communities, both human communities and ecological communities, with shared goals, interests, attitudes, the sense of connection and mutual wellbeing for all.
- Engage youth in understanding history, our present, and how to see themselves in the future
- Celebrate/highlight the richness of our working culture
- Nurture our relationship with Canadian Maritimes
- Generate, share, and encourage local storytelling to build pride of place with focus on currently aging residents who have rich stories to tell; create physical and digital assets to preserve these stories.
Engage community members in stewardship activities to instill community pride and develop long-term ethic of stewardship
- Connect new homeowners with the history of their communities through their home
- Develop climate action plan to address shared heritage resources
- Engage youth in learning and engaging with their community and increase their desire to see it continue
- Engage residents as docents and youth mentors in telling our united but separate heritage stories
Capacity Building and Partnership Development
GOAL
Build strong and diverse collaborations across the region to increase local capacity among stakeholders and a long-term shared commitment to protect and enhance the resources and identity of Downeast Maine.
OBJECTIVES
- Provide technical assistance – help organizations utilize existing skills and resources as well as access new resources
- Help communities, organizations, and individuals to unite in achieving goals
- Actively Engage NHA communities with expanded outreach
STRATEGIES
Provide technical assistance – help organizations utilize existing skills and resources as well as access new resources
- Assist partners with finding funding opportunities and writing proposals to funders
- Train grantees and low-capacity partners on national/federal funding and reporting procedures and platforms
- Build out the NHA partner website to include a variety of relevant and useful tools
- Support the continued success of existing regional stakeholder groups and the creation of new groups for underserved regions of the NHA
Help communities, organizations, and individuals to unite in achieving goals
- Improve community connections through partnering on events
- Transition from a culture of competition to one of cooperation
- Develop a bio shed and watershed map that link people through the geology, climate, and culture
- Bring together the many and diverse groups to one table and come together around our differences and similarities
- Bring together many groups to one table and come together around our differences and similarities
- Convene periodic meetings of organizations and regional stakeholder groups within the NHA
- Regularly publish a newsletter highlighting the activities of NHA partners, funding opportunities, updates, etc.
- Support partner initiatives that highlight the relationships among stakeholder sites and programs through interpretation, while maintaining the individual character of those sites
- Facilitate partnerships between local, regional, and national organizations that will benefit Downeast Maine.
Actively Engage NHA communities with expanded outreach
- Find new ways to reach local stakeholders
- Partner with other stakeholders, host convening sessions with discussions leading to action plans and structures.
- Learn how to effectively recruit new people to participate on already existing groups
Economic Opportunity
GOAL
Support heritage-based community and economic development initiatives that create the jobs, workforce, and infrastructure needed to support a thriving economy and generate revenue for local governments.
OBJECTIVES
- Emphasize the importance of the National Heritage Area’s resources and identity to its economic vitality and attraction as a unique place to live, work, invest, and visit
- Retain and attract residents while promoting and preserving our local heritage
- Support workforce development and succession planning
- Find ways to draw people together in downtowns to support businesses
- Build regional adaptability to economic changes
- Increase small business/entrepreneurship and trade programs in schools
STRATEGIES
Emphasize the importance of the National Heritage Area’s resources and identity to its economic vitality and attraction as a unique place to live, work, invest, and visit
Retain and attract residents while promoting and preserving our local heritage
- Support workforce development and succession planning
- Develop career opportunities that area a result of preserving, protecting, and sharing our community
- Find way to help people move to and/or stay in the region
- Learn how to support businesses all winter
- Engage private business owners as partners in downtown revitalization – provide incentives, support downtown association, conduct lighting and façade improvements
- Develop career opportunities that area a result of preserving, protecting, and sharing our community
Support workforce development and succession planning
- Increase small business/entrepreneurship and trade programs in schools
- Schools have to be good to attract younger adults and families
- Support businesses to stay open for a longer season
- Increase small business/entrepreneurship and trade programs in schools
- Grow our population and economy from within through entrepreneurialism as focus, but also through outside recruitment.
Find ways to draw people together in downtowns to support businesses
- Events can benefit other communities by marketing their lodging and activities
- Improve first impressions in downtowns
- Promote local small businesses to connect wealth locally and the link to area natural resources, wild blueberries, fish, and forests
- Support arts, recreation, families, and communities
- Promote local small businesses to connect wealth locally and the link to area natural resources, wild blueberries, fish, and forests
- Support farmers and craft markets
- Broader, more comprehensive promotion sharing
- Improve physical accessibility to older buildings
Build regional adaptability to economic changes
- Build more local economic development committees in our communities
- Local currencies and coops, swap shops, pee-cycling, returnable containers, zero waste
- Circular or donut economics
- Use permaculture principles and design methods to work with nature to obtain yields that do not harm
- Share information with local developers to help take advantage of local resources
Civic Involvement
GOAL
Build citizen engagement in municipal government and community initiatives to grow municipal capacity and citizen leadership.
OBJECTIVES
- Develop a successful volunteer recruitment and coordination program across the region
- Bring local civics into school to connect youth with community
- Help organizations utilize existing skills and resources as well as access new resources
- Enable more citizens to participate in municipal and community group initiatives
STRATEGIES
Develop a successful volunteer recruitment and coordination program across the region
- Engage new residents in volunteer or learning experiences to help them connect with their new place, take advantage of new resident curiosity and desire to build community
- Need volunteers during local events to provide focused tours
Enable more citizens to participate in municipal and community group initiatives
- Bring local civics into school to connect youth with community
- Integrate municipal government w/youth high school programs
- High school public service program is short, could be expanded to teach importance of community volunteerism/civic engagement
Help organizations utilize existing skills and resources as well as access new resources
- Attract more people to town meetings
Historic Preservation
GOALS
Support historic preservation initiatives that preserve the structures, artifacts, and stories most representative of the cultural and natural history of Downeast Maine.
OBJECTIVES
- Increase capacity and resources for municipalities and organizations to preserve historical and archeological resources
- Build interest and create opportunity for youth and other community members to experience museums and historic sites
STRATEGIES
Increase capacity and resources for municipalities and organizations to preserve historical and archeological resources
- Conduct historical assets inventories and other research to identify important sites and other resources, their existing conditions, and preservation needs and provide information that will support interpretation of the Downeast Maine National Heritage Area’s themes and historic preservation and archeological planning at the municipal, tribal, and state levels.
- Generate, share, and encourage local storytelling to build pride of place with focus on currently aging residents who have rich stories to tell; create physical and digital assets to preserve these stories
- Assess and address historic preservation needs in light of climate change
- Offer incentives and assistance for preservation of historic buildings that are eligible for the State or National Historic Register
- Build interest and create opportunity for youth and other community members to experience museums and historic sites
- Work with schools and other youth programs to develop heritage-based student projects and paid internships.
- Utilize historic sites as public gathering spaces for community events
- Share cultural history of public properties, and story of how human and natural histories intersect
Arts and Culture
GOAL
Conserve and enhance Downeast Maine’s cultural resources.
OBJECTIVES
- Support arts and culture events and programs that build relationships and community
- Increase awareness of the arts, architecture, and cultural fabric of Downeast Maine
STRATEGIES
Support arts and culture events and programs that build relationships and community
- Enable local artists to work with students and young artists
- Collaborate with Tribal organizations and individuals to build capacity at their cultural heritage museums
Increase awareness of the arts, architecture, and cultural fabric of Downeast Maine
- Develop more diverse cultural experiences featuring local foods
- Provide more education around our naturally-inspired arts heritage
- Develop a rich arts community for local people that will also attract visitors
- Highlight and nurture local musical talent
Outdoor Recreation
GOAL
Develop, conserve, and enhance outdoor recreation opportunities for a variety of activities and audiences in order to get more people outside to connect with nature
OBJECTIVES
- Develop new or improved recreational amenities
- Improve physical access to outdoor recreation areas, especially access to water
- Build capacity for land managers to provide regular and adequate maintenance of existing public trails and trail infrastructure
STRATEGIES
Develop new or improved recreational amenities
- Develop more trails at schools to facilitate physical activity
- Sunrise Trail connects the region – create destinations at certain scenic areas
- Connect bike trails with lakes and campsites for a diverse adventure
- Explore creating waterway/portage trailways that are traditional and historic for the Wabanaki and for the traditional sporting economy – Eastern Maine Canoe Trail
- Host bicycle events
Improve physical access to outdoor recreation areas, especially access to water
- incorporate Wabanaki place names
- Preserve wharf and water access
- Kayaking allows you to see the landscape, need education about how to do it safely for all including fishermen
- Create more spaces where community members can gather together outside
Build capacity for land managers to provide regular and adequate maintenance of existing public trails and trail infrastructure
Natural Resources and Habitat Conservation
GOAL
Conserve, enhance, and restore natural resources of Downeast Maine to protect habitat and sustain our natural resources economies.
OBJECTIVES
- Support efforts to increase local understanding of why conservation is critical
STRATEGIES
Support efforts to increase local understanding of why conservation is critical
- Develop “experience museums” around waterway connections to showcase what happened culturally in those confluences
- Kids (& adults) who hunt and fish are engaged in conservation without realizing it
- County fairs can be expanded from just agriculture to highlight greater regional diversity of natural heritage components
- Abundance of lakes and ponds can be promoted as a recreation asset for both tourism and residents
- Integrate play spaces into the natural environment (and vice versa)
- Introduce kids to their own back yards and outdoor world through school and extra-curricular programs from pre-k forward.
- Education about critical links between people and other living beings, connections that promotes happiness and resilience (permaculture training)
- Leverage conservation lands to bring more value to communities
Climate Resiliency
GOAL
Protect our most vulnerable resources from being damaged or destroyed by preparing for and adjusting with climate-driven change.
OBJECTIVES
- Accept that changes are coming and restructure our systems/expectations to manage the changes that are coming
- Assist cultural and conservation organizations to preserve historical landscapes through climate changes
STRATEGIES
Accept that changes are coming and restructure our systems/expectations to manage the changes that are coming
- Teach and use permaculture and ecological principals and design methods to work with nature to obtain yields that do no harm
- Support transitions to new more resilient economies including re-skilling
- Work with the geology, landscape, and climate to produce a unique healthy culture linking land and people
- Protect public access to water in the face of climate change
Assist cultural and conservation organizations to preserve historical landscapes through climate changes
Interpretation and Wayfinding
GOAL
Foster storytelling, learning, and research that enable audiences to enjoy and appreciate the National Heritage Area’s history and historic sites, natural resources, and communities.
OBJECTIVES
- Let the locals be the owners of their own stories
- Provide interpretation to diverse audiences
- Create interpretation tools that connect and promote NHA themes across the region to assist visitors to find their way and maintain an awareness of the region’s individual and collective resources and identity
STRATEGIES
Let the locals be the owners of their own stories
- Tell the story without violating privacy and making residents feel like they are a museum or curiosity
- Tell REAL stories in the local language
- Incorporate Passamaquoddy place names and native language whenever appropriate
Provide interpretation to diverse audiences
- Support the development of bilingual materials, interpretation, and services
- Develop and/or improve natural and cultural heritage interpretative trails using wayside exhibits and other informative media.
- Support the use of new information technology
- Support professional development for interpreters
Create interpretation tools that connect and promote NHA themes across the region to assist visitors to find their way and maintain an awareness of the region’s individual and collective resources and identity
- Create more cohesion between the separate and shared identities and heritage of the many communities in the region
- Support tourism information centers, marketing organizations, regional byway initiatives, and similar to coordinate and disseminate information on opportunities for year-round use of recreational, natural, cultural, and historic resources of the Downeast Maine NHA
- Establish a unified, broadly applicable design template for all interpretive materials sponsored by the Downeast Maine NHA
- Develop and maintain an online interpretive toolkit for the Downeast Maine NHA
- Provide general technical support for interpretation projects
- Work with interested partner organizations to determine the appropriate interpretive themes and focus areas for individual sites, the programs that support those sites, and the possible collaborative role of the NHA
Tourism
GOAL
Establish a balance between growing and managing tourism while retaining local values to make tourism a meaningful, enjoyable experience for visitors and for residents.
OBJECTIVES
- Coordinate efforts among partners to promote the Downeast Maine NHA as a world-class destination for heritage travelers
- Engage locals in learning, developing, and sharing our heritage stories with visitors
- Stimulate heritage-based tourism by attracting visitors who value the culture and environment of Downeast Maine
- Develop and enhance existing opportunities for heritage tourism
- Promote the natural splendor, solitude, and quiet without spoiling it
- Develop and maintain a consistent regional brand related to the interpretive themes of the Downeast Maine NHA
STRATEGIES
Coordinate efforts among partners to promote the Downeast Maine NHA as a world-class destination for heritage travelers
- Partner with DownEast Acadia Regional Tourism to create a variety of visitor opportunities focused on new and diverse audiences.
- Support ongoing basic research on the heritage visitor base DownEast Acadia to identify types of travelers and their preferences.
- Offer tourism training workshops designed to build the capacity of heritage area partners to engage in the business of tourism and develop new audiences.
- Educate small businesses about current and future tourism needs, including hospitality training, destination awareness, and increasing open hours and hospitality training
Engage locals in learning, developing, and sharing our heritage stories
- Assist Municipalities and community organizations to develop infrastructure and capacity for tourism
Stimulate heritage-based tourism by attracting visitors who value the culture and environment of Downeast Maine
- Manage expectations of visitors and residents
- Develop and Promote Sustainable Tourism Products and Activities
Develop and enhance existing opportunities for heritage tourism
- Support efforts to link communities through transportation routes that feature interpretation of heritage resources – for example, scenic byways, scenic bikeways, Down East Sunrise Trail, Downeast Fisheries Trail, Maine Ice Age Trail, etc.
- Support Byway identification, planning, and recognition as a way of improving the visitor experience, promoting resource protection, and positioning communities for outside funding to support byway needs.
- Expand agritourism in this region to support Downeast Maine farmers and educate residents and visitors about farms and food production, and connect people with farmers, animals, history and tradition, and the land
- Develop more ways to boost the local economy through shoulder season expansion.
Promote the natural splendor, solitude, and quiet without spoiling it
- Spread promotion of popular destinations across the region so they don’t attract too many people
- Prioritize assisting rural communities that are not equipped to handle any more visitation even if they want it
- Conduct carrying capacity surveys for primary community attractions (like Roosevelt Campobello International Park, Schoodic Peninsula, Eastport, Deer Isle, specific trails, or beaches, etc.)
- Support existing initiatives to plan for and provide regional land-based and water trails, further regional linkages, and additional trail access points.
Develop and maintain a consistent regional brand related to the interpretive themes of the Downeast Maine NHA
- Develop digital, internet-enabled wayfinding and interpretive applications as a part of Downeast Maine NHA’s commitment to a robust communications program.
- Advocate for the installation of welcome signs along major highways at points of entry into the Downeast Maine NHA.
- Use grants and technical assistance to encourage and support municipalities and interpretive sites as they develop sign systems that accommodate the Downeast Maine NHA’s objective to ensure that clear, consistent, and appropriate signs identifying points of public access and sites of interest are posted throughout region.