“(a) Findings.—Congress finds that—“(1) Saint Croix Island is located in the Saint Croix River, a river that is the boundary between the State of Maine and Canada;
“(2) the Island is the only international historic site in the National Park System;
“(3) in 1604, French nobleman Pierre Dugua Sieur de Mons, accompanied by a courageous group of adventurers that included Samuel Champlain, landed on the Island and began the construction of a settlement;
“(4) the French settlement on the Island in 1604 and 1605 was the initial site of the first permanent settlement in the New World, predating the English settlement of 1607 at Jamestown, Virginia;
“(5) many people view the expedition that settled on the Island in 1604 as the beginning of the Acadian culture in North America;
“(6) in October, 1998, the National Park Service completed a general management plan to manage and interpret the Saint Croix Island International Historic Site;
“(7) the plan addresses a variety of management alternatives, and concludes that the best management strategy entails developing an interpretive trail and ranger station at Red Beach, Maine, and a regional heritage center in downtown Calais, Maine, in cooperation with Federal, State, and local agencies;
“(8) a 1982 memorandum of understanding, signed by the Department of the Interior and the Canadian Department for the Environment, outlines a cooperative program to commemorate the international heritage of the Saint Croix Island site and specifically to prepare for the 400th anniversary of the settlement in 2004; and
“(9) only 4 years remain before the 400th anniversary of the settlement at Saint Croix Island, an occasion that should be appropriately commemorated.
“(b) Purpose.—The purpose of this Act is to direct the Secretary of the Interior to take all necessary and appropriate steps to work with Federal, State, and local agencies, historical societies, and nonprofit organizations to facilitate the development of a regional heritage center in downtown Calais, Maine[,] before the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Saint Croix Island.