Historic preservation good investment

By Nevada Appeal editorial board

"There are too many historic buildings and not enough money."That comment, quoted in the newly issued historic preservation plan for Nevada, pretty much sums up the challenges for the State Historic Preservation Office as it peers into the future to gauge its efforts to protect the past.

Historic preservation is one of the better investments going for Nevada. The Commission for Cultural Affairs gets $2 million in bond money to hand out each year for rehabilitation of historic sites.

Twenty-nine projects are complete, and 15 more are ongoing. The Fourth Ward School and Piper's Opera House in Virginia City, the Gold Hill Depot, the Brewery Arts Center in Carson City and the Genoa Courthouse are just some of the restoration projects that have benefited from the funding in recent years.

The commission figures its cultural centers contribute $19 million a year to the state's tourism economy.

Aside from the monetary value, of course, these places are the heritage of Nevadans. The vision for the next eight years at the Historic Preservation Office reflects the broader perspective we all should share: "We envision a Nevada in which an educated and caring citizenry respects traditional lifeways and works to protect Nevada's archaeological heritage. We see Nevada as a place where historic properties are preserved, interpreted and reused for their economic and intrinsic values and for future generations to appreciate."

Not all old places can be preserved, nor should they. But the office comes up far short each year on the money it needs to do its work in the kind of places that are obviously worth saving.

Last year, for example, historical societies around the state submitted requests for 32 projects for a total of $8.5 million. That's pretty stiff competition for the $2 million available.

The Nevada Legislature in 2005 should at least double the amount of bond money available for historic preservation and boost the resources of the Historic Preservation Office to administer the program.

It's time we all recognize that, particularly in the northern part of the state, investment in Nevada's past is a solid investment in the future of Nevada's tourism industry.