On Sept. 16 Mountain View County handed out a new self-guided history tour pamphlet to citizens who attended the municipality's 50th anniversary celebration.While guests received a taste of the county's historical resources, there are still scores of lost and forgotten pioneer rural buildings, institutions and points of interest that did not make the list.This is largely because the county is challenged in gauging what is in its own backyard. There is no official policy in place when it comes to heritage sites.ìThis is certainly interesting. I am going to talk it over with our deputy reeve and members on the 50th anniversary committee,î said Reeve Bruce Beattie. ìI will have conversations with councillors and residents about it.ìIt is about value here, recognizing heritage and history,î added the reeve. ìI certainly will follow up on this.îMountain View County has never conducted a comprehensive heritage management plan. There are scores of historical sites out there, but without the benefit of a thorough survey and inventory process there is a real danger they could become permanently lost.But that is not the case in the towns of Olds and Didsbury, or Red Deer County; the latter now the most influential rural municipality in the province for heritage management.The plans in the three municipalities are either firmly in place or are in an advanced stage of development. They were helped with significant support from both the federal and provincial governments. The process included comprehensive surveys and inventories detailing exactly the number of remaining heritage sites along with their current condition. As well, there are strategic long-term plans.Property owners are a critical part of the process. In Red Deer County there is even a plan to make the hamlet of Markerville a Heritage Special Zone that would forever turn the community into a historical resource jewel, not to mention a magnet for tourism dollars.But in Mountain View County an accurate account of its historical resources and putting it all into a comprehensive plan have not been on the municipality's radar.ìTo date it has never come up at council or been requested,î said Jeff Holmes, the county's director of legislative, community and agricultural services, when asked if the municipality has ever considered creating a heritage preservation policy. ìWe have never pulled it together in a full management plan.îHolmes added, however, the county does provide funding to historic community halls, has an identification process for pioneer rural schools and is devoted to the Century Farm Awards, which honours families who have had farms in the county for 100 years with a plaque.And of course there was the pamphlet handed out on Sept. 16, a 12-page effort that gave the public some details on 11 heritages sites spread across the county.ìSome people showed interest in seeing some of these sites,î said Michelle Honeyman, the county's community and parks service coordinator. ìBut it is definitely not all of the sites. It is only a portion of them.ìThe county has not done a historical resources inventory. We haven't done a program where we go out and catalogue everything,î added Honeyman. ìSome of the towns do it. Didsbury and Olds have designated landmarks. We haven't done any of that.îThe Town of Didsbury has just finalized an exhaustive process of surveying and selecting 25 sites, from an original list of 163, that have potential historic significance. The Didsbury Heritage Preservation Project, which came with substantial help and guidance from the provincial government's heritage resource department, was an extension of the town's 2008 Central Core Heritage Plan. By next summer Didsbury, through co-operation with property owners, could have up to 25 designated municipal heritage sites.ìPlanning for the future and respecting the past is my tag line,î said Mayor Brian Wittal, who moved to town in 1996 in large part because of its commitment to heritage preservation. ìWe have to grow but maintain the history of what we have. That's what set Didsbury apart, trying to maintain that historical integrity.îThe Town of Olds has gone through a similar process, entering into a funding agreement with the provincial Municipal Heritage Partnership Program. Since 2008 the town has conducted a heritage survey and inventory, and last year completed a Heritage Management Plan. To date there are 23 locations in Olds that form the core of its historic places inventory.ìIt is extremely important. The work done in the plan was extraordinary, exceptional work was laid out as well as a number of strategies,î said Norm McInnis, the chief administrative officer for Olds.As admirable as they are the plans in place in Didsbury and Olds are for urban centres. If Mountain View County ever becomes interested in finding a template for a sound rural heritage management plan it needs to go no further than its immediate neighbour to the north.Red Deer County finalized and approved its Heritage Management Plan in 2009. Its 47-page report has set the bar for rural heritage management.ìThis was brand new for the county,î said Jo-Ann Symington, the county's community services manager who took the lead on the plan for the municipality. ìThere were other urban centres that completed surveys and inventories but there weren't any rural municipalities that went through the process of a survey, inventory and a heritage management plan.îSince the release of the Red Deer County plan Symington and other county officials have fielded calls from other rural municipalities about the process. None of those calls came from Mountain View County, said Symington.The Red Deer County plan concludes with a thorough list of short- and long-term recommendations, including the creation of a Heritage Advisory Board, the adoption of the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada, establishing a Register of Historic Resources, creation of a Historical Special Zone (Markerville), appointing a heritage officer position and an overall review of the entire plan five years after its implementation. As well, 27 historical sites have been identified for the Red Deer County heritage inventory, including the ACR trestle bridge at Mintlaw, the old Alberta Pacific grain elevator near Lousana and the former hotel at the ghost town of Ardley.The plans in place do not guarantee survival for historical resources. While most may receive municipal and even provincial heritage designation, it is ultimately up to the property owner to decide whether a historical resource is protected for future generations.In the meantime, Mountain View County property owners whose land or buildings might have a chance to receive municipal heritage designation can only hope and wait.ìI think it would be good to have a management plan,î said Scott Bales, owner of the Bergen Store, a valued historical site whose original commercial structure was torn down in 1981. ìHistory is important. As long as we can hang on to them many of these places would otherwise get knocked down to make room for a plaza.îBut if the day comes for Mountain View County to join other municipalities to save its history it will come at a cost. Heritage management plans are not cheap, even with provincial help.ìI certainly wouldn't rule it out,î said Beattie of a future county initiative. ìThe first thing though is the cost. We have to see where it fits in the current economic situation.î
