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It has been recommended that all four counties of the Upper Eastern Shore join to create a single heritage area
encompassing the entirety of their jurisdictions. Ensuring the continuing success of such a heritage area will require effective, coordinated management across four counties, plus a number of incorporated
towns.
Establishing such management is one of the more challenging issues for this region, even though significant experience in regional collaboration does exist here (for economic development, Chesapeake College, the arts, and a number of other issues).
Key to maintaining a successful regional collaboration among the four counties for heritage development will be a clear
understanding of how each stands to gain from the relationship--and that the benefits of partnership exceed any benefits of proceeding alone.
Continual endorsement and commitment of local leadership is critical to the long term viability of any heritage area.
As the MHAA recognition guidelines suggest, a successful heritage area will need ãa strong, effective professionally staffed management organization that orchestrates the collaborations involved, actively brokers resources, and otherwise sees to the implementation of the vision embodied in the management plan.ä For the Upper Eastern Shore, such an organization must be autonomous enough to pursue a heritage development agenda but well connected enough to solicit the help of important partners. It will also need to build partnerships across a large area and coordinate activities of many disparate groups. Achieving this will be a difficult undertaking, but the talent exists to create an influential organization to realize the vision: protecting the beauty and heritage of the area, improving the quality of life for residents, and crafting an enriching experience for visitors.
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