Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1453344
92 | SIGNATURE MONTANA Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and Angel Cushing, McCloud, NE, May 19, 2021. Rep. Tatum Lee Hahn addressing audience, WaKeeney, Trego County, KS, April 14, 2021. Cushing filed a FOIA request with the NPS in April 2021 regarding the Kansas Nebraska NHA. She received a file on July 14, covering documents from 2017 to the cutoff date of April 28, 2021. Cushing forwarded this document to forty- nine county clerks, who then distributed it to the respective boards of county commissioners. e document was scanned and posted to the Western Region Property Rights Coalition Facebook page created on February 26, 2021. A Regional Cultural Heritage Tourism study performed by students of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, (UNL) Landscape Architecture program in 2016 provided the basis for pursuing a Kansas Nebraska NHA. In the Spring of 2017, Ashley Olson, Executive Director for the Willa Cather Foundation, Joe Black, Executive Director for the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer, Kim Wilson, Professor at UNL, Landscape Architecture Program, and Mark Engler, Superintendent of the Homestead National Monument, NPS, formed a steering commiee to pursue NHA designation. An unelected steering commiee initiated a process covering 49 counties with a population of 650,000. University of Nebraska, Lincoln, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance (RTCA) Program in 2017. e RTCA works with community groups, nonprofits, tribes, state and local governments to design trails and parks, conserve and improve access to rivers, protect special places, and create recreation opportunities. During a steering commiee meeting held in December 2018, a vote was taken by twenty interested individuals to pursue a feasibility study. At the request of Prof. Kim Wilson, Jane Weber participated in a KNHAP board meeting on December 10, 2019, wherein Weber summarized the formation of BSCNHA, aspects of fundraising, completing a feasibility study, and the process to influence businesses and elected officials to gain financial and political support. In an April 3, 2020 email, the NPS criticized KNHAP for failing to develop a theme for their proposal. Furthermore, KNHAP had yet to become a 501c3 nonprofit. ey garnered backing from some twenty organizations while lobbying for political support.