A "rags to riches" heritage journey

SPECIAL FEATURE: PART ONE

DR CHRIS BOWLES: HE LEFT CASH-STRAPPED SCOTTISH BORDERS COUNCIL TO OVERSEE THE LARGEST CONSERVATION FUND IN THE U.S.

For more than eleven years Colorado-born academic Dr Chris Bowles held the key post of archaeology officer at Scottish Borders Council where he played a key role in raising the profile of the region's wealth of history and heritage with decidedly meagre resources.

He also carried out archaeological assessments for a string of controversial planning applications, helped organise an annual conference where the latest discoveries from 'digs' were scrutinised and debated, and was involved in nationally important projects including the Battle of Flodden 500th anniversary.

Dr Bowles left his job at the council without much ceremony in December 2019 and returned to his native land to take up an exciting challenge with History Colorado, a state-run organisation which enjoys an annual revenue budget in excess of $30 million. He was soon making good use of the experiences gained from his lengthy stint surrounded by the rich heritage of the Borders.

Not Just Sheep & Rugby caught up with Dr Bowles to see how his radical career change was panning out.

He told us: "I'm now the Director of Preservation Incentives Services at History Colorado. I have oversight over our incredible State Historical Fund [SHF], the largest state fund for archaeology and historic building conservation in the US.

"Since 1991, the fund has benefited from tax on revenue from three casino towns in the Rockies. We've been able to show that for approximately $300 million in investment over 30 years in what we call 'Historic Preservation' in the States, there has been a direct $1.1 billion economic impact, and further $1.1 billion in indirect impact. This highlights the sheer power of heritage in the development of communities, most of which in Colorado are rural and share many of the issues of towns in the Borders."

Under the arrangement casino customers in the municipalities of Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek produce gambling revenues which are distributed to a number of state controlled organisations. For example the SHF received $26.6 million in 2017/18 from casino levies.

Dr Bowles explained: "As Director of the SHF - currently projected to allocate $8 million in grants for the coming year - I feel strongly that the money should be directed to those heritage projects that deliver real developmental impacts in the state. This also ties in with some of my other passions that I developed during my time at SBC."

In his relatively short time back home he has written Colorado's Historic Preservation Plan as a strategy for the next 10 years combining his love of heritage's power, its connection with place, and the ability for built and archaeological resources to add to the social development of communities, alongside  economic development. "In this, I'm tying our State Plan to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals."

A recent article published by The Southern Ute Drum, the Southern Ute tribe's bi-weekly community newspaper described the SHF's grant-making process and outlined some of the current schemes being financially supported by those casino taxes.

According to the newspaper: "SHF awards grants funded by limited-stakes gaming to foster historic preservation and support vibrant communities in all 64 counties of the Centennial State. The SHF estimates it will award at least $3 million to state-wide projects in the current grant round, with individual grant amounts totalling up to $250,000."

However, Dr Bowles acknowledged in the article that in the past there had not been an equitable share of grants from the fund across all Colorado communities.

He told The Drum: "Unfortunately, we can see that these benefits have been unequally distributed. As we continuously strive to be honorable stewards of public money, it is essential that we redress the imbalance from here on out by working to repair historic inequalities and improve the vitality of as many communities as possible in Colorado. We are eager to achieve this through new adjustments to our grant process, and also through conversations with communities to generate locally meaningful projects and help us reimagine what caring for treasured places should look like.”

The well resourced SHF awarded more than 100 grants state-wide in 2020 with 244 active projects in 55 Colorado counties at the end of last year.

Projects mentioned by the newspaper included Dearfield in Weld County, a farming community founded in 1910 and the only remaining Colorado example of the national African American colonisation movement inspired by Booker T. Washington, and the so-called Granada Relocation Center in southeast Colorado, better known by its postal designation, “Amache”, where Japanese American citizens and Japanese Nationals living in the United States were incarcerated during World War II.

Dr Bowles told Not Just Sheep & Rugby: "I've always felt that heritage needs to 'pay its own way' as a resource in order to remain relevant to communities and visitors alike.

"It's often subconscious, but without the surviving elements of our past all around us we lose a sense of ourselves, our communities and our place in the world."

IN PART TWO: STRONG VIEWS EXPRESSED BY DR BOWLES ON THE RELATIVE LACK OF EFFORT TO PROMOTE SCOTTISH BORDERS HERITAGE FOR ECONOMIC BENEFIT.