IX. USING NHL DOCUMENTATION

Once the Secretary of the Interior designates a property as a NHL, the nomination form and any accompanying information becomes a permanent public record. The NPS maintains these records in the National Historic Landmarks Survey located in the National Register, History and Education office, Washington, D.C. The property's file is available to researchers and members of the public.

Although the information in the NHL Survey files and the National Register of Historic Places are a part of the public record, Section 304 of the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended in 1992 and Section 9(a) of the Archeological Resources Protection Act provide the legal authority for restricting information about archeological and traditional cultural properties. In general, information can be restricted from public disclosure if its release is likely to cause a significant invasion of privacy, risk harm to the historic resource, or impede the use of a traditional religious site by practitioners.

Data on the property is entered into the National Historic Landmarks database and the National Register Information System (NRIS). Information on properties may be extracted from these databases.

Information on designated properties may form the basis for managing a historic property and assist in planning projects that may affect the property. The information also may be used for interpretive and other educational purposes, such as travel guides, brochures, lesson plans, videotapes, or publication on the Internet in order to inform the public why a property is nationally significant and why it merits stewardship and public interest. The text of the nomination form, photographs and other illustrations from the nomination, and theme studies also may be used in publications. Using nomination documentation in publications is a particularly effective way to educate the public on subjects that may not have been published or made available. In this way, the significance of the tangible evidence of national historical themes may be interpreted to the public.

Linear Property: Going-to-the-Sun Road, Flathead and Glacier Counties, Montana This road, which still defines the basic circulation pattern in Glacier National Park, is an example of "landscape engineering," an essential component in making scenic areas accessible to the motoring public without marring the features that people came to see and without destroying natural ecological systems. This linear resource, begun in 1921, was an early laboratory for policies and practices in other road engineering projects.