Program Comment on Stewardship and Management of NPS Mission 66-Era Facilities (1945-1972)
In late 2024, after more than a year of formal consultation and preparation by both the NPS and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), including government to government consultation by both agencies, the membership of the ACHP voted to issue the Program Comment on Stewardship and Management of National Park Service Mission 66-Era Facilities (1945-1972) (Program Comment). The Program Comment was published in the Federal Register on December 9, 2024.
The Program Comment is an optional tool that can be used by parks to address compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (54 U.S.C. § 306108) for certain straight-forward Mission 66-era focused undertakings. Its purpose is to facilitate the reuse and preservation of historic facilities from this era by reducing or eliminating certain external reviews. It also allows superintendents to consider Mission 66-era facilities as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) when they reference the NRHP Multiple Property Documentation Form (NRIS #64501248).
The massive NPS “Mission 66” building campaign that occurred between 1945 and 1972 improved and standardized the public’s national park experience with new facilities including comfort stations, picnic shelters, campgrounds, visitor centers, park staff housing, maintenance buildings, warehouses, roads, and other infrastructure. This period of feverish construction was called “Mission 66” because it was supposed to have been completed by 1966, in time for the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the NPS. In 2007, a monograph was published on this era, Mission 66: Modernism and the National Park Dilemma, by Ethan Carr. In 2000, NPS also published MISSION 66 VISITOR CENTERS: The History of a Building Type by Sarah Allaback, Ph.D., which provides additional context.
The regulations set forth at 36 CFR Part 800, “Protection of Historic Properties,” were issued by the ACHP in 2004 and set forth the standard review process federal agencies use to comply with Section 106. They allow the Section 106 review process to be tailored for a group of undertakings or an entire program that may affect historic properties. Program comments (36 CFR § 800.14(e)) are intended to give the ACHP flexibility to issue comments on a federal program or class of undertakings in lieu of commenting on such undertakings on a case-by-case basis, and to allow a federal agency to comply with Section 106 in a consistent way for a class of undertakings rather than addressing each undertaking individually.
Visit the National Park Service's Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) site (see below) or the ACHP's dedicated page to learn more about the Program Comment.
PEPC Project Page
Last updated: December 10, 2024