Attention ND Land Owners: National Heritage Area Land Management Will Influence Surrounding Areas

One of the principle defenses deployed by chief perpetrator of the 4.3 million acre national heritage area land grab (my previous posts on the subject here), state Senator Tracy Potter, is to claim that his group will have no authority outside of the narrowly-defined national heritage area.
Of course, given that as of right now the Northern Plains Heritage Area consists of the entirety of 5 North Dakota counties (Oliver, Mercer, McLean, Morton and Burleigh) this land grab isn’t at-all narrowly defined, but let’s stipulate for a moment that Potter is correct and his unelected group of liberals will only be planning for (and spending our tax dollars) within certain defined cultural and historic areas.
Potter would have us believe that their influence doesn’t extend beyond that area at all. He’s said as much in a recent interview with the little-read left-wing publication Prairie Independent:

PI: Right-wing blogs have called this a federal land grab, but you say there is no land being grabbed. How is a heritage area different from a national park?
TP: The difference is that National Parks and National Historic Sites are solid, real, boots-on-the-ground kinds of things. They have a physical boundary and within that boundary there is no private activity – no businesses, no residences. But National Heritage Areas are meant to create economic activity and create jobs. They don’t regulate anyone, but they offer marketing and financial support for business development related to heritage tourism.

So we don’t need to worry, right? Potter and his group of unelected liberals won’t be regulating anything. They’ll just be encouraging economic growth within a small area. Except, that’s not how other national heritage areas work. The Schuylkill River National Heritage Area in Pennsylvania included this statement in a publication about their planning process:

Question: How will headwater areas not included within the Schuylkill River Valley National Heritage Area (i.e., located within the overall watershed but not within one of the five counties that are covered by the heritage area) be addressed?
Response: Because of the limits of congressional authorization, such headwater areas are not addressed by the Management Plan and project funding under the National Heritage Areas program will be limited to the officially designated boundaries. However, the intent of the initiative is not to set barriers, but rather to encourage collaboration and coordination among a variety of local, state, and federal agencies. Thus the heritage area management entity can work with other organizations to leverage resources and funding sources in order to address areas outside of the officially designated boundaries.

Now, remember that Potter’s Northern Plains Heritage Foundation is getting $10 million of your tax dollars to pursue a management plan for this land designation in North Dakota. And with that $10 million they will influence actual regulatory authorities – county commissions, municipalities, etc – to bring about the sort of regulations they want.
Meaning that landowners caught up in this land grab – who were included without their permission and without ever being notified about the designation – now have to fight against what amounts to a well funded (with their tax dollars) special interest group in Potter and his fellow NPHF cronies.
Sound fair? Not even remotely. But Potter and his crew, like typical liberals, think they know what’s best for you and so naturally should get millions of your tax dollars to plan uses for and influence regulation of your land.