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Within the omnibus bill passed by Congress on December 23, 2022, were major wins for Japanese American heritage. The provisions increase the authorization of appropriations from $38 million to $80 million for the Japanese American Confinement Sites (JACS) grant program, which supports the preservation of internment camps that were used to detain Japanese Americans during World War II. It also creates the Japanese American Confinement Education grant program within JACS to provide grants to Japanese American nonprofits to educate individuals about the historical significance of these events.

The package also establishes the Japanese American World War II History Network within the National Park Service that will interconnect sites across the country related to the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans and to increase recognition of this human rights tragedy which occurred on U.S. soil during World War II.

Included within the omnibus package passed by Congress on December 23, 2022, were a smattering of public lands bills, including the African American Burial Grounds Preservation Program. This program authorizes the National Park Service to establish a $3 million annual grant program to aid preservation efforts across the country to research, identify, document, preserve, and interpret historic African American burial grounds.

The provisions allow descendant-led and preservation organizations working to protect African American burial grounds to receive funding to preserve these sacred landscapes.

“Passage of the African American Burial Grounds bill sets a new precedent for how our nation values the cultural legacy and generational memory of African Americans and their contributions to society," says Brent Leggs, executive director, African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund and senior vice president, National Trust for Historic Preservation. "We thank Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Representative Alma Adams (D-NC), the late Representative Don McEachin (D-VA), and other advocates for their bold vision to acknowledge the role of descendant-led stewardship as part of this bill and for their leadership to ensure its passage.”

The National Trust supported this legislation in a House Natural Resources hearing, a Senate Energy and National Resources hearing, and a webinar, “Historic African American Cemeteries,” hosted by Cultural Heritage Partners.

We are so thankful to all of you who shared your stories of African American burial grounds with our leaders in Congress during the PastForward advocacy opportunity. We now look forward to working with the Secretary of the Interior, partner organizations, and members of the African American heritage community on the implementation of the grant program. If you are looking for resources to protect a historic cemetery, learn more about the Action Fund grant programs and consider applying.

A key advocacy ask of the National Trust and other partner organizations each year is robust funding for the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF). In the FY23 omnibus appropriations package passed on December 23, the HPF received a significant funding increase, reaching $204.5 million for the first time in the history of the program—a remarkable 18 percent increase over last year’s enacted funding level.

This funding includes much-needed increases for State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices (SHPO/THPO). SHPOs will receive $62.15 million, which alleviates any funding decreases for certain states as a result of the recently updated apportionment formula and ensures that SHPO offices will not receive less funding in FY 2023. THPOs saw a much-needed increase in funding as well, receiving a 44 percent increase over last year’s enacted levels, for a total of $23 million.

Several important HPF grant programs which help tell a more diverse American story also saw welcomed funding increases. The Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grant Program received a 25 percent increase, the African American Civil Rights Grant saw a 15 percent increase and the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Grant also received a 10 percent increase.

In early December, the National Trust led a letter with several preservation partners to Senate and House appropriators urging support of $191 million for the Historic Preservation Fund. We greatly appreciate our champions on the Hill for advocating for much needed HPF funding, especially retiring Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who has long been one of historic preservation’s strongest supporters in Washington.

As one of the final bill signings of 2022, President Biden signed into law the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony (STOP) Act (S. 1471 / H.R. 2930) on December 21. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation, strongly supported by the National Trust, would strengthen laws aimed at preventing trafficking in Native American cultural items and facilitate the voluntary return of sacred and cultural objects.

The Honorable Brian D. Vallo, Governor of Pueblo of Acoma—a National Trust co-stewardship site in New Mexico—testified as a witness in support of the bill at a May 2021 hearing before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States. The Senate passed the bill unanimously at the end of November, following House passage last year.

At the White House Tribal Nations Summit in early December, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) proposed to rescind Appendix C and instead follow the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation’s regulations and guidance for implementing Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. Appendix C procedures have proved problematic for decades by narrowly defining undertakings, minimizing the Area of Potential Effects, and limiting consultation with Tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations, State and Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, and other consulting parties. The Appendix C procedures have also been applied inconsistently, undermining the USACE’s ability to reliably steward America’s heritage. While the proposal is encouraging, the announcement is the first step of many and will likely take up to a year before Appendix C is rescinded.

President Biden nominated Charles “Chuck” Sams III to be the next director of the National Park Service on August 18. If confirmed by the Senate, Sams would be the first Native American to lead the agency and the 19th permanent director in the Park Service’s 105-year history, the first permanent director of the Park Service since 2017.

Nominated by Oregon Governor Kate Brown, Sams is a former longtime administrator of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon. Sams also previously worked in state and tribal government jobs and the nonprofit natural resource and conservation management field for more than 25 years.

Sams is the second Native American to hold a major post in Biden administration after Deb Haaland made history when she became the first Native American to become Secretary of the Interior.