Part 13: National Park Service Cultural Resources Programs

The National Park Service Cultural Resources Programs are carried out at all levels of the bureau, including national program centers, regional offices, and the parks. Many of the programs are operated in partnership with other governmental entities and private organizations. The listing of programs below provides a sense of the organizational framework for cultural resources work within NPS, but is not definitive of the way in which the programs are implemented.

American Battlefield Protection Program supports the preservation of historic battlefields and related historic sites. The goals of the program are to protect battlefields and sites associated with armed conflicts fought on American soil that influenced the course of our national history and to encourage and assist all Americans in planning for the preservation, management, and interpretation of historic American battlefields and battle-related sites. The ABPP focuses on land use, cultural resource, and site management planning and public education.

Archeology and Ethnography Program provides guidance, information, national coordination, and technical assistance in archeology and ethnography. For archeology, the program provides national leadership and coordination, including encouragement and support for the interpretation, management, preservation, and protection of America's archeological resources inside the National Park System and beyond it. This function includes carrying out the role of the Departmental Consulting Archeologist. The Applied Ethnography function guides and fosters the cultural appropriate management, conservation, and use of park cultural and natural resources with traditional associations for Native American and other ethnic groups, including traditional park users. It also identifies, protects, and interprets cultural and natural resources that have traditional value for contemporary communities within existing and proposed units of the National Park System.

Certified Local Governments Program is a model and cost-effective local, state, and federal partnership that promotes historic preservation at the grassroots level across the nation. The program seeks to develop and maintain local historic preservation programs that will influence the zoning and permitting decisions critical to preserving historic properties and ensures the broadest possible participation of local governments in the national historic preservation program, while maintaining preservation standards established by the Secretary of the Interior.

Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) reflects the federal government's commitment to preserve important architectural, engineering, and industrial properties through programs that document outstanding examples of this county's heritage. Project teams produce measured drawings, large-format photography, and written histories.

Historic Landscape Initiative promotes responsible preservation practices that protect our nation's irreplaceable legacy of historic landscapes, including designed landscapes and gardens as well as vernacular historic landscapes, farms, and historic battlefields. The HLI develops and disseminates guidelines for historic landscape preservation; produces innovative tools to raise the awareness of the general public; organizes training symposia and workshops; and provides technical assistance.

Historic Preservation Fund provides matching grants-in-aid to the States, Territories, Indian Tribes, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation to assist in their efforts to protect and preserve properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places and otherwise expand and accelerate their historic preservation activities. HPF grants serve as a catalyst and seed money for preserving the nation's irreplaceable heritage for this and future generations. It requires that States develop a comprehensive statewide historic preservation plan that prioritizes the State's preservation goals and assists our communities and public leaders in making sound judgments about protecting cultural resources throughout the nation.

Museum Management Program supports development and coordination of servicewide policies, standards, and procedures for managing museum collections, including natural, cultural, archival, and manuscript materials. The program provides staff advice, technical assistance, and professional development pertaining to museum collections acquisition, documentation, preservation, protection, use, and disposal for the National Park Service. It provides similar services to Department of the Interior bureaus. The program develops and maintains a Servicewide catalog and other statistics on museum collections. The National Catalog of Museum Objects is a computerized listing of cultural objects, natural history specimens, and archival and manuscript collections, that are in park museum collections. Parks complete catalog records and submit electronic copies to the National Catalog for aggregation.

National Historic Landmarks are designated by the Secretary of the Interior and acknowledged as our nation's most important historic and archeological properties. The National Historic Landmarks Survey manages the process by which these nationally significant historic properties are identified, evaluated, and designated through historical theme and special studies for their exceptional value in illustrating the nation's heritage. Through its National Historic Landmarks Assistance Initiative, NPS monitors the condition of these properties, and provides technical assistance and training to their owners and support groups.

National Maritime Initiative inventories and evaluates historic maritime resources, develops standards and priorities for their preservation, identifies appropriate federal and private sector roles in addressing priorities, provides maritime history expertise and technical preservation assistance, and leads in establishing the National Maritime Heritage Grants Program.

National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the nation's cultural resources worthy of preservation. The program expands and maintains the National Register and provides standards and educational materials used nationwide at every level as the basis for identifying and evaluating cultural resources. It also makes information from the National Register widely available for use in planning, preservation, education, tourism, and research through demonstration projects, books, videotapes, the computerized National Register Information System (NRIS), travel itineraries, curriculum materials, the World Wide Web, and other means.

Park Historic Structures and Cultural Landscapes Program protects and preserves the historic and prehistoric structures and cultural landscapes in the parks of the National Park System through research to develop an adequate information base for the preservation of historic properties, planning to consider the historic values of all historic properties prior to assignment of use and determination of treatment, and stewardship to protect all historic properties for the next generation with no loss of integrity.

Park History Program provides leadership for historic preservation and the presentation of history throughout the National Park System. It promotes adherence to professional standards so that NPs effectively integrates the best of current historical scholarship into park research, education and interpretive programs, and park planning.

Preservation Tax Incentives is one of the federal government's most successful and cost-effective community revitalization programs. It fosters private sector rehabilitation of historic buildings, promotes economic revitalization, and provides a strong alternative to government ownership and management of such historic properties. The historic Preservation Tax Incentives are available for buildings listed in the National Register of Historic Places and certain local historic districts eligible for the National Register, which are rehabilitated according to standards set by the Secretary of the Interior.

Technical Preservation Services Program helps individuals, preservation professionals, organizations, and government agencies preserve and protect the nation's heritage by providing readily available education materials on preserving, restoring, and rehabilitating historic properties through such means as preservation briefs, technical notes, books, videos, and its home page on the World Wide Web. The Technical Preservation Services program is dedicated to improving the quality of work on our nation's historic structures; promoting their long-term preservation; and fostering the responsible use of both traditional and innovative techniques in their care and maintenance.

Tribal Preservation Program assists Indian tribes in preserving their historic properties and cultural traditions. The program originated in 1990, when Congress directed the National Park Service to study and report on the funding needs for the preservation of sites significant to Native Americans. The Tribal Preservation Program helps Indian tribes participate more fully in the national historic preservation program through direct grants that provide tribes with critical resources required to increase their capacity to protect their historic resources. Section 101(d) of the National Historic Preservation Act further provides for tribes to assume from State government a full range of statutory functions under that law on reservation land in recognition of tribal sovereignty in determining the future of cultural properties for future generations of tribal members.