President Immediately Issues Executive Orders Impacting Historic Preservation
February 04, 2025
A Message from Carol Quillen, President & CEO, National Trust for Historic Preservation
In the past several days, President Trump’s Administration has issued a number of directives whose broad language reaches across many areas of preservation work. National Trust staff are working to understand the implications of these directives. This will take time, and we expect further clarification from the administration. As we learn more, we will share information with you.
In the meantime, our work continues, with you as our trusted partners, supporters, and friends. Together, we activate the power of historic places to serve the public good, improve people’s lives, and enable a shared future in which all people can thrive. Thank you for your ongoing commitment to that work.
President Trump Immediately Issues Executive Orders Impacting Historic Preservation
By the National Trust Government Relations Team
Current as of February 4, 2025
On day one of his return to the Oval Office, President Trump signed a series of executive orders that have significant implications for historic preservation and environmental policy.
The executive orders address a broad scope of activities, but several in particular directly affect historic preservation efforts.
These include Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture, that seeks to advance a policy that federal public buildings should be identifiable as civic buildings and respect regional, traditional, and classical architectural heritage, and Celebrating America’s 250th Birthday, the purpose of which is to celebrate America’s Semiquincentennial and to honor the history of the nation. In addition to creating a White House Task Force (Task Force 250) headed by the Department of Defense, the executive order reinstates past efforts to establish a National Garden of American Heroes. The order also seeks to protect America’s monuments from vandalism and cites recent pro-Hamas-related vandalism to specific sites in Washington, D.C.
President Trump also issued an executive order declaring a National Energy Emergency, which seeks to increase domestic energy production by expediting review and approval of energy generation projects.
This executive order threatens to disrupt efforts to balance energy development with the protection of historic and natural landscapes, potentially endangering culturally significant sites and the broader environment.
This declaration halts offshore wind leasing and freezes federal agency approvals for new or renewed wind energy projects. It also includes language placing a temporary moratorium on the wind project in Lava Ridge, Idaho due to potential impacts on the landscape for which the Idaho congressional delegation and preservation advocates have expressed concerns. The proposed project was near the Minidoka National Historic Site, which prompted it to be on the National Trust’s America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list in 2022.
In week two of President Trump’s second term, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memo to Federal Agencies ordering a temporary pause of agency grant, loan, and financial assistance programs pending a review to determine if federal financial assistance programs align with the Trump Administration’s priorities.
While the OMB memo was quickly rescinded, the Historic Preservation Fund and the federal historic tax credit were specifically referenced as requiring review.
As of January 31, a second federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump Administration’s freeze on federal aid funding, siding with 22 states that argued against the directive.
The executive orders and the freeze on federal spending continue to create uncertainty around the future implementation of historic preservation programs.
As the Trump Administration’s policy agenda comes into more specific focus, we will continue to support preservation priorities and work to ensure that historic and environmental protections are not weakened.
Stay connected with us with our frequent online posts as we continue to track these developments and sign up for our monthly advocacy newsletter, which will provide you with the updates from the Hill on historic preservation and include opportunities to take action whenever historic places are threatened.