Historic Preservation Job Creation Federal Agency Staffing
Partnerships with Academic Institutions and Training Centers
In addition to partnerships with Tribes, nonprofit organizations, and local communities, agencies reported on the mutual benefits of partnerships with academic institutions in their efforts to protect historic properties and natural resources. Partnerships with academic institutions, including educational centers within federal agencies such as the NPS’s National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (see a Case Study on page 66), can be critically important to agencies with limited staff. As an example, facing major impacts to historic properties from drought, the USIBWC maintains an MOU with Texas A&M International University in Laredo, Texas, to have a qualified archaeologist available on scene to inspect sites in an emergency.
Over the past three years, Congress has passed several landmark pieces of legislation that have impacted the federal and domestic workforce as well as the nation’s infrastructure. During the reporting period, the passage of the IIJA and the IRA allocated billions of dollars for infrastructure projects addressing a wide variety of public needs, including nationwide public access to broadband Internet, improvements to America’s transportation network, and investments in the renewable energies industry. In order to realize the goals of these acts while also accounting for their impacts to the environment, including historic properties, the federal government will need to hire thousands of new employees, including historic preservation specialists. These new hiring milestones for the federal government are necessary to provide agencies with the expertise needed to advance critical infrastructure projects while protecting historic properties. As advised in previous reports, it is essential that federal agencies ensure the protection of their historic properties by taking steps to proactively manage the resources under their ownership or control. Their ability to do so depends on having qualified staff to manage historic resources. While some agencies reported that the number of their employees tasked with maintaining their preservation programs (including Section 106 compliance) have stayed generally consistent or grown, more reported unfilled vacancies due to an unprecedented number of retirements and significant challenges in hiring qualified staff. With a limited pool of applicants, there remains much competition between federal and state agencies and the private sector for qualified staff to meet demand. These challenges also include finding qualified applicants with practical experience and training. Facing these hiring challenges, agencies such as Presidio Trust and the Environmental Protection Agency have looked to train existing staff on compliance with the NHPA and related standards and guidelines, or, as reported by the USACE, sharing workloads and technical support regionally. Others reported the use of contractors to support projects or agency missions that require NHPA review. Agencies have also created new job positions for the implementation of special programs and timely agency initiatives. In 2022, the Department of the Treasury created a Climate Change and Sustainability Specialist position, serving as their key internal and external point of contact for Climate Action and Sustainability Programs. The Sustainability Specialist develops, recommends, and tracks department-wide climate change, environmental, energy, and sustainability objectives. Several agencies highlighted the use of internship opportunities to provide job training to current students and offering paths to federal service. For example, the BOR’s Western Colorado Area Office has been working to train the next generation of cultural resources professionals through BOR’s Resource Assistance Internship program. Students gain experience as part of their master’s thesis research, learning pedestrian survey, legacy collection curation, consultation letter drafting, and presentation to stakeholders and agency leadership.
An NCPTT program participant applies whitewash to a gravestone at the Cementerio Católico San Vicente de Paul, Ponce, PR. (James Barry/NPS)
These partnerships can also provide valuable educational experience to students and early career professionals who participate in agency partnership programs. DAF leverages its Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units and standing relationships between installations and universities to provide students opportunities to gain valuable historic preservation experience. Since 2021, DAF has hosted paid interns at multiple installations across the United States. These internships aid installation cultural resources managers in carrying out their day-to-day activities and provide students a unique experience of working within a land managing federal agency’s historic preservation program.
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