There is a two-stage competitive process to receive the full range of benefits from the Maryland Heritage Preservation and Tourism Areas Program. First, communities prepare an application to the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority to become a Recognized Heritage Area (RHA). For the RHA application process, applicants are encouraged to work from existing information, surveys, plans and studies. It is not necessary to engage in extensive additional analysis at this stage.

To become a Recognized Heritage Area, the following criteria must be met:

the proposed heritage area must be approved by all local jurisdictions that would be affected;

the geographic boundaries must be specified;

an entity must be identified as responsible for coordinating the development of a management plan;

the cultural, historic, and natural resources contributing to the special character of the heritage area must be described;

goals and objectives for the area must be specified;

strategies for encouraging and accommodating visitors and compatible economic development must be described;

public assistance must be expected to produce new private investment, jobs, and tourist revenues;

the economic costs and benefits of the development of the area must be identified; and

the local jurisdictions must describe how they intend to preserve and protect the cultural, historic, and natural resources within the heritage area.

Once a heritage area is formally recognized by the Authority, it becomes eligible for matching State grant funds to prepare a detailed management plan. Heritage Area Management Plan Grant applications may be submitted by local jurisdictions, nonprofit organizations, or business entities. If the applicant is a local jurisdiction, it must submit the application together with all other local jurisdictions within the RHA area that will benefit from the grant. If the applicant is a nonprofit organization or business entity, it must be authorized to submit an application by all local jurisdictions within the RHA that will benefit from the grant.

Heritage area management plans must set forth the strategies, projects, programs, actions, and partnerships that will be necessary for an area to achieve its goals. The purpose of the management plan is threefold:

to provide a strategic action blueprint for coordinating the many collaborative efforts required to develop a successful heritage area;

to enable the key stakeholders to reach consensus on the roles each will play in implementation of the management plan;

and to determine the optimum investment of public resources necessary to trigger the significant private investment commitments of dollars, energy, and programmatic support that will make the heritage area sustainable over time.

On May 1, 2006, President Bush and Preserve America Honorary Chair, Mrs. Laura Bush, announced the 2006 Preserve America Presidential Awards at a White House Rose Garden ceremony. Among the winners in the “Heritage Tourism category” was the Maryland Historical Trust's Heritage Areas Program. For more information on this prestigious recognition, visit the Preserve America website.