Disaster Recovery Grants

On occasion, Congress appropriates Emergency Supplemental funding from the Historic Preservation Fund (ESHPF) for recovery from natural disasters, allowing State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs) and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs) to work on various recovery projects, including compliance activities, survey and inventory of historic resources in areas impacted by the disaster, recovery and repair of historic properties damaged during the disaster, and other disaster recovery related activities as approved by NPS. All funded repair work must substantially mitigate the threat and include steps to mitigate future damages.

Former ESHPF appropriations included grant funding to SHPOs for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, and to SHPOs and THPOs for Hurricane Sandy in 2013. Other disaster grant programs were funded through the President’s Discretionary Fund for Hurricanes Hugo and Tropical Storm Alberto.

The Historic Preservation Fund (HPF), derived from Outer Continental Shelf oil lease revenues, was established in 1977 as the primary source of funding to implement the Federal Preservation Partnership program. Annual grants are made to States, Tribes, and local governments under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).