House panel weighs heritage area reauthorization

WASHINGTON, D. C.—A House natural resources subcommittee heard testimony from National Aviation Heritage Area officials on Tuesday, April 31, as it weighed a bill to reauthorize the Heritage Area.
NAHA Chair Ted Prasse addressed the subcommittee in support of a bipartisan effort to renew authorization of the Heritage Area for seven years. Its current 15-year authorization expires at the end of September with the close of the 2019 federal fiscal year.
He also read testimony prepared by Amanda Wright Lane, great-grandniece of Wilbur and Orville Wright and a Heritage Area trustee.
Read Amanda Wright Lane’s testimony.
The Area encompasses aviation heritage sites of national importance across eight southwestern Ohio counties, including the areas where the Wright brothers lived and built their airplanes, and Wapakoneta, Neil Armstrong’s birthplace. In her testimony, Lane noted that Armstrong borrowed bits of the 1903 Wright Flyer from her family for the Apollo 11 mission and carried them in a spacesuit pocket when he stepped onto the moon on July 20, 1969.

“Essentially, three Ohio pioneers stepped on the moon that day,” she said.

U. S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, introduced the bill in March with Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Columbus.
“With Dayton being the birthplace of aviation, I am proud to be the lead sponsor of this legislation to preserve Dayton’s National Aviation Heritage Area,” Turner said in a press releaseThis bill will reauthorize NAHA for an additional seven years to ensure NAHA receives the vital federal funds they need to operate the Heritage Area and preserve our community’s rich aviation history.”