information about its full inventory of historic properties and how they are being used and protected. Further, there is also no evidence in the reports that land managing agencies are actively seeking to adjust the FRPP to meet their needs. Following the Preserve America Summit in 2006 and in a variety of circumstances thereafter, the ACHP and other preservation organizations and stakeholders have urged federal and non-federal partners to support the development of a nationwide inventory that would include information about historic properties and past cultural resource surveys. Further investment in the development and completion of such a system would provide a significant return on investment in the form of providing accessible and consistent information to inform future project planning and development and, in doing so, assist applicants and federal agencies in better avoiding and managing impacts to historic properties in the future. The ACHP’s recommendations have urged the development of such a system within State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices, which have already built substantial inventories of historic properties within their respective boundaries in part to comply with the requirements of the matching funding they receive through the Historic Preservation Fund. While many SHPOs and THPOs have made great strides in the development and management of their own systems, they lack a broad mandate, guidance, and predictable resources to ensure these systems meet national standards and remain electronically available. To meet the long-range goal of a more comprehensive inventory of the historic properties owned by the government, it will be critical that these various databases and tracking systems be able to communicate with each other, account for all kinds of historic properties using common metrics, and address rights of access, information content and ownership, and numerous other issues. Recommendations: ›› NPS, DoD, GSA, and the ACHP, in consultation with NCSHPO and National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, should review currently available systems and take steps to promote the development of an electronically available inventory of previous surveys and the presence of historic properties that meets national inventory standards. ›› The ACHP should continue to work with federal agencies as part of the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council to identify more efficient and effective ways to share secure information about the location and significance of historic properties. ›› Agencies should strive to identify and commit regular funding to meet the requirements of this EO and Section 110 of the NHPA to complete their inventory of historic properties under their ownership or control. FINDING: Partnerships can leverage limited federal resources and provide important benefits to federal agencies in the identification, protection, and use of historic properties. As set forth in Section 2 of the Preserve America EO, federal agencies should be encouraged to build and foster preservation partnerships consistent with agency missions. As has been made abundantly clear throughout this report, federal agencies rely on cooperative partnerships and relationships with the other federal agencies, states (and not just with SHPOs), Indian tribes, NHOs, and the private sector to achieve preservation objectives they otherwise could not meet by themselves. Generally speaking, federal agencies partner with other entities because they share or have adjacent cultural or natural resources; often are within the same
IN A SPIRIT OF STEWARDSHIP: A REPORT ON FEDERAL HISTORIC PROPERTY MANAGEMENT 2018 | 57
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