On 63 Amado acres in the picturesque Santa Cruz Valley, Stewart Loew raises cattle and grows organic lettuce, onions, pumpkins and other produce. But the way of life he inherited from his father is in some ways under siege as development, rising property values and escalating costs leave some family farmers struggling.

“We’re not rolling in dough doing this,” Loew said.

He and others say a proposal before Congress to designate the Santa Cruz Valley a National Heritage Area would help preserve the historical, cultural and agricultural identity of a region stretching from the border around Nogales through the Tucson area and into Marana.

To Loew, the designation would be a marketing vehicle for farmers, helping connect them with area grocers and restaurants and attracting people to events such as the pumpkin patch and hay maze he offers each fall at Agua Linda Farm.

“That’s the kind of representation that those of us who are doing isolated work need to get the word out that this is what we’re doing,” he said.

There are 49 National Heritage Areas around the country, including Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area, the only place in Arizona with the designation.

Heritage status would make available federal funds for projects, provided that local organizers raise private money to cover half of the amount. The designation wouldn’t affect communities’ or property owners’ decisions on land use.

Ordinarily, an area would organize an administrative body to oversee projects after receiving heritage status, but this region’s communities, tribes and businesses, hoping to make their bid more attractive and get off to a faster start, have already established the nonprofit Santa Cruz Valley Heritage Alliance.

“Now is the time to be designating heritage areas because they stimulate the economy by using a little bit of federal funding to spur much more private investment,” said Vanessa Bechtol, the group’s executive director.

Using the private donations, the alliance has already created a brochure featuring historically and culturally significant sites and a food catalog promoting local farms, restaurants and markets. Bechtol said heritage status would help give small businesses and farmers a niche by promoting what makes the area unique.

“There’s a lot of media coverage on violence at the border and a lot of negative public perception about the borderlands area, but with the heritage designation we can promote the unique history and culture of the area,” she said.

Jonathan Mabry, the group’s chairman and the historic preservation officer for Tucson’s Department of Urban Planning & Design, said he hopes the designation would spur efforts to protect the area’s natural beauty.

“I anticipate the awareness will promote an ethic of stewardship that will foster voluntary preservation,” he said.

Yuma’s heritage status, granted in 1999, has allowed the community to improve an area where Native Americans and those who came after them took advantage of a narrow point to cross the Colorado River.

Officials there were able to leverage federal funds to purchase property, restore wetlands, remove invasive plants, establish a park and encourage private investment, said Ann Walker, a spokeswoman for the Yuma Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“Before this project you couldn’t get down to touch the river, but now in the summer if you want to go to the river for the day you have to get there early to get a spot on the sand,” Walker said.

U.S. Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, D-Ariz., whose district includes much of the Santa Cruz Valley, introduced a bill that would create a National Heritage Area here. The measure won House of Representatives approval last month and was awaiting action in the Senate.

Cronkite News Service made repeated phone calls and sent several e-mails to Grijalva’s office in Tucson, but a reporter was unable to obtain an interview with the congressman or an aide.

Nan Walden, vice president of Farmers Investment Co., which produces pecans on 7,000 acres in the Santa Cruz Valley, said heritage status would make the area a natural draw for residents of other parts of the state.

“Making people aware that something they can go to and enjoy is right here in their backyard is a great benefit,” Walden said. “And then they maybe stop and have lunch, shop at local stores or stay overnight at a bed and breakfast _ that makes it a good thing for business.”

Another advantage, she said, is being able to educate the public about the importance of agriculture to this area.

“As businesspeople, we want people to appreciate all of the hard work that goes into growing products for consumption,” Walden said.

Sahuarita Mayor Lynne Skelton said it’s vital to promote and preserve the history of the Santa Cruz Valley as a route for Spanish explorers and outposts such as San Xavier Mission and as a site of Native American communities well before that.

“I think it’s important that we not lose focus of who we were,” Skelton said. “If we can preserve just a little piece of our rich history, I think it will help keep it alive and relevant.”