Roadmap to a Plan

Recently, by act of Congress the Canal Corridor Association (CCA) was named the local coordinating entity for the Illinois & Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor (IMCNHC) and appointed to develop and submit to the Secretary of the Interior for approval a management plan for the Corridor (the “Plan”). The Plan is required to take into consideration State and local plans and involve residents, local governments, public agencies and private organizations in the Corridor. Among other things, the Plan is to present recommendations for the Corridor’s conservation, funding, management and development and to include actions proposed to be taken by units of government and nongovernmental and private organizations to protect the resources of the Corridor.
The first order of business is to complete a visioning process. Through a series of public meetings in November and December 2009, CCA has collected information and ideas on the vision, mission, guiding principles, and current and future projects that meet the purposes of the legislation.

The following committees are being formed to collect
additional information for the plan.

• Boundaries Committee
  
• Civic Engagement Committee
  
• Conservation/Natural Resources Committee
  
• Education/Interpretation Committee
  
• Heritage Development Committee
  
• Recreation Committee
  
• Tourism/Economic Development Committee

Once this information is collected, CCA will seek additional public input to establish the priorities for all projects identified. Among other things, the Plan must also describe a listing of key resources and themes of the Corridor, identify overall goals and the strategies and tasks to reach them and the parties proposed to be responsible for carrying out the work, a financial plan and other information on costs and sources of funds for the Plan, a description of the public process used to develop the Plan and include a bibliography of documents used to develop the Plan. It will also include a decision making framework for managing the Corridor in future years. Once all this has been accomplished and the projects indentified, described and prioritized, CCA will complete the Plan and submit it to the Secretary of Interior. After the Plan is approved, the projects identified in the Plan will be implemented. A graphical representation of the process is also included.

How You Can Participate

You can participate by attending workshops, joining blog discussions, and giving feedback on the latest documents.

Blog address: iandmcanal.wordpress.com

Upcoming workshops & forums

Public workshops to be held week of November 8th.
Check back for dates, locations, and times.