Congressman Blake Moore’s Bear River National Heritage Area Study Act Passes the House of Representatives
WASHINGTON -- Today, in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 399 to 23, the House of Representatives passed the Bear River National Heritage Area Study Act. Representative Moore introduced this legislation earlier this year in order to require the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of establishing the Bear River Heritage Area in Utah and Idaho’s historic Bear River region, allowing local communities in the Bear River area to protect important elements of their heritage and promote the area’s tourism industry.
“I am immensely proud that the House passed the Bear River National Heritage Area Study Act today,” said Congressman Blake Moore. “As I have worked closely with communities in the Bear River Basin, I have been struck by the historical significance this region brings to our state and nation’s story. Ensuring that this history can be fully preserved and remembered will promote tourism and shine a light on the local heritage.”
The Bear River Heritage Area includes seven counties between northern Utah and southeastern Idaho. This bill was originally cosponsored by Congressman Mike Simpson (R-ID).
The full bill text can be found here. This is Congressman Moore’s first piece of legislation he has independently led to pass the House.
The Bear River Heritage Study Act has received broad support from several groups, organizations, and individuals including:
- Bear River Association of Governments
- Cache Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum
- Cache Valley Center for the Arts
- Cache Valley Chamber of Commerce
- Cache Valley Visitors Bureau
- City of St. Charles, Idaho
- Folklore Society of Utah
- Franklin Relic Hall Museum & Historical Site
- Friends United for Bear Lake
- Gail Griswold, exhibit designer
- Idaho Commission on the Arts
- Lisa Gabbert, Associate Professor of Folklore and American Studies at Utah State University
- Randy Williams of the Utah Humanities Board of Trustees and Cache Refugee and Immigrant Connection Board
- Southeast Idaho High Country Tourism
- Stokes Nature Center
- Utah Cultural Alliance
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