» In 2020, GSA launched the Historic Building Documentation Resource (HBDR) to serve as the principal repository of building-specific documentation and guidance on GSA historic buildings. The HBDR makes Building Preservation Plans, Historic Structure Reports, and related documents available online to employees to streamline evaluation, project planning, and Section 106 compliance efforts, including decisions regarding the eligibility of unevaluated buildings. » In FY 2022, TVA launched its new information system. The Cultural Resource Management System (CRMS) utilizes the Environmental Systems Research Institute’s GIS software which centralizes, standardizes, and automates many processes for TVA’s day-to-day management of cultural resources. Enhancements include improved reporting meeting federal and state documentation standards. Information can be collected and managed in CRMS for all TVA cultural resource types and documents transferred to consulting parties in compliance with EO 14028, “Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity.” » During the reporting period, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) created a cultural resources management-specific GIS application for archaeological survey and site information. Access to the archaeological site layers is controlled and released on a need-to-know basis to protect site location information. » Since the 2020 progress report, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a series of public-facing web pages detailing the identification of their historic portfolio and essential documents documenting best practices concerning stewardship of properties, landscapes, and settings with significance relating to events in the science of measurement. » The USACE Rock Island District archaeology staff have implemented a geographically-based digital filing convention that allows for more expedient compliance reviews for historic properties. The Rock Island District is exploring ways to link digitized or digital data sources within a single searchable geospatial database, as recommended by the ACHP’s 2007 and 2018 Section 3 reports and the National Geospatial Advisory Committee in 2019. Program Alternatives In addition to identification under Section 110 and for individual Section 106 reviews, agencies responded that they completed identification as a requirement of or in preparation for the development of programmatic agreements. As recommended in the 2018 Section 3 report, agency- or facility-wide surveys paired with program alternatives reflects a mature planning approach to the management of historic property inventories rather than reactive Section 106 compliance on a case- by-case basis. While most federal agencies use programmatic agreements to address complex projects, several large land-managing agencies have used them to implement a consistent approach to NHPA compliance across the country. A greater number have used programmatic agreements to tailor Section 106 review to the management needs of specific regions or units. The past three years have seen greater increase in the initiation and development of tailored approaches. Agencies reported on a variety of program alternatives, executed during the reporting period and currently undergoing consultation, and provided data on the benefit of implementing such agreements.
HIGHLIGHTS
» The ACHP has recently approved two exemptions that release federal agencies, in certain circumstances, from the Section 106 requirement to consider the effects of certain types of their undertakings on historic properties. For additional information, see Case Study on page 8. » The Department of the Air Force (DAF) executed a programmatic agreement for the replacement of all land-based Minuteman III missiles with the Sentinel weapon system in December 2022. As the project is a schedule-driven national security project, the DAF had to compress many of the normal Section 106 timelines. To facilitate and expedite future consultations over dozens of reports annually, the DAF developed the Cultural Resources–Common Operational Picture as a collaborative tool. This new cultural resources tool standardizes reporting, serves as a data repository, provides real- time tracking of field crews, and provides a workflow tracking system (see Case Study on page 30). » In the last three years, the Department of the Army has developed two program comments for historic housing: Program Comment for Department of the Army Inter-War Era Historic Housing, Associated Buildings and Structures, and Landscape Features (1919-1940), and the Program Comment for Department of the Army Vietnam War Era Historic Housing and Associated Buildings and Structures, and Landscape Features (1963–1975). These program comments apply to the growing inventory of actively used historic housing.
Diagram showing the process and suggested timing when using the USFS Phasing National Programmatic Agreement (adapted from USFS)
» The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) executed the Phasing National Programmatic Agreement in December 2021 to provide an effective way to advance important projects, such as landscape-level restoration efforts to support resilient forest ecosystems and forest-adjacent communities, while considering historic properties. » The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, under the jurisdiction of the Maritime Administration (MARAD), executed a programmatic agreement between the agency, New York SHPO, and the ACHP to assist in evaluating operations, maintenance, and development activities at the Academy in April 2022. The programmatic agreement will improve consistency in consultation and agency accountability in fulfilling responsibilities in compliance with Section 106.
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IN A SPIRIT OF STEWARDSHIP: A Report on Federal Historic Properties • 2024 | 27
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