Councilmember Lambert accepts national heritage preservation award

Metropolitan King County Councilmember Kathy Lambert recently was invited to represent King County at the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions (NAPC) annual Excellence Awards to accept a Best Practices recognition.

King County was recognized for its groundbreaking Barn Again Program, which provides technical assistant to barn owners and offers grants for stabilization projects designed to retain these iconic structures. Councilmember Lambert, who represents District 3 in rural northeast King County, sponsored the development of the Barn Again program to preserve King County’s historic barns.

The first allocation to initiate the program was included in King County’s 2007 budget. In its first year, the program received more than 30 grant applications requesting more than $500,000 for preserving barns. The success of this program sparked broader barn preservation efforts at the state level.

“It is exciting to see our barns being preserved, and for our work here to be acknowledged on a national level,” said Councilmember Lambert, who appeared at the national awards ceremony to accept the Best Practices in Identification/Registration award. “Preservation is a way of recognizing our agricultural heritage with these barns that will help us learn from our past and contribute to our future. It is impressive that our Barn Again Program is becoming a model for heritage preservation efforts nationally.”

During the annual NAPC conference in New Orleans, Councilmember Lambert also had an opportunity to tour some of the areas damaged by Hurricane Katrina and learn about the historic preservation and restoration efforts underway there. She interviewed several residents who told heart-wrenching stories about losing all of their possessions and being evacuated. She also met with local officials about the lessons that were learned during the response efforts to the hurricane and flooding damage.

“After nearly three years of recovery efforts, some areas still looked as if the devastation occurred only a few months ago,” said Lambert. “Some New Orleans residents had no place to live for more than a year. A lot of questions about the long-term impacts from contaminated soil have yet to be answered. In some places, rebuilding has not yet begun. Many homes, apartments and stores are still vacant, and tourists have been slow to return. It was clear that the economic impacts from this kind of a disaster continue for years.

“In person, it was far worse than the clips you see on television. When you see miles at a time that are totally flat, the impact is overwhelming,” she added. “Because of this opportunity to learn first-hand about the response challenges, I want to make sure a number of items are included in our policies.”

For instance, although help poured in from many people and organizations, it was not always well directed, she learned. Some clean-up efforts actually damaged historic restoration, and safety issues caused additional problems. But she brought back a number of practical tips for rescuing historic structures and items after a disaster, for instance, documents that get wet can be frozen to preserve them.

Councilmember Lambert will present more details about the New Orleans experience at an upcoming meeting of the Law, Justice and Human Services Committee, which she chairs.