1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Nation’s Oldest Port National Heritage Area Act . 2. Congressional findings Congress finds the following: (1) The Nation’s Oldest Port region of northeast Florida holds a mosaic of cultures and maritime heritage that includes Native Americans, whose heritage reaches back some 9,000 years, and the descendants of European and American explorers and settlers, who shaped the region, its land, customs, and traditions from 1513 to the present day and have made indelible contributions to American and World history. (2) The Nation’s Oldest Port region expresses a combination of cultures, maritime heritage, Atlantic and World history, cultural diversity, traditions, arts, architecture, transportation corridors, and coastal and ocean resources that makes this geographic area a unique and distinctive coastal landscape in the United States. (3) The area contains the Nation’s Oldest Port, and a series of interconnected waterways that include the St. Mary’s River, the St. Johns River, Tolomato and Matanzas Rivers, Pellicer Creek watershed, and the numerous diverse and spectacular historic, cultural, natural, scenic and recreational resources, including the designated national treasures of Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve, Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve, the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, and Fort Matanzas National Monument. (4) There is broad support expressed as resolutions, letters, and in public meetings from local governments, State parks, and many local planning and community groups, chambers of commerce, business associations, museums, historical societies and associations, nature conservation groups, agricultural interests, private property owners, and other interested individuals to establish a National Heritage Area to coordinate and to assist in the preservation, interpretation, promotion, and enjoyment of these resources. (5) Establishment of a National Heritage Area in northeast Florida would assist local communities,