National Trust for Historic Preservation: Return to home page

Previously, the National Trust and the National Preservation Partners Network (NPPN) released Issue Briefs on four key topics facing the preservation movement:

• Affordable housing and density
• Diversity, inclusion, and racial justice
• Preservation trades and workforce development
• Sustainability and climate action

Designed to highlight key challenges related to each topic and identify opportunities for solutions and new approaches, the Issue Briefs, and other resources are available on the new Preservation Priorities Task Force website (https://www.preservationpriorities.org).

The Issue Briefs were developed through the Preservation Priorities Task Force—a partnership between the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the National Preservation Partners Network. Formed in 2020, this two-year project is designed to support statewide and local organizations by providing new resources and grants to tackle these issues. The task force includes four working groups, one for each issue, plus a steering committee and a communications subcommittee. To date, more than 50 preservation practitioners have joined working groups, representing 23 states and dozens of organizations.

Not intended as comprehensive studies, the four Issue Briefs are designed to build mutual understanding, spark conversation, and inspire action. Preservation organizations and advocates are encouraged to use the Issue Briefs in any number of ways—as guides for discussions with community leaders and stakeholders, background for outreach to potential partners, support materials for fundraising efforts, and more.

The Preservation Priorities Task Force is supported by the Moe Family Fund for Statewide and Local Partners, which is providing grants for innovative demonstration projects related to the four priorities. The first round of grant recipients will be announced later this fall. The Preservation Fund for Eastern Massachusetts of the National Trust for Historic Preservation is supporting production of these Issue Briefs.

Infographics Available

The Preservation Priorities Task Force has released infographics on: affordable housing and density; diversity, inclusion, and racial justice; preservation trades and workforce development; and sustainability and climate action.

These graphics are meant for organizations and advocates to use as starting points for discussions with community leaders and stakeholders, quick overview of topics for outreach to potential partners, support materials for fundraising efforts, and more.

See and download the infographics on the PPTF website. A marketing kit is also available to learn how to use these and spread the word through your channels!

On June 28th, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a highly anticipated decision overturning the 40-year-old Chevron doctrine, which had previously required courts to be extremely deferential to federal agency decisions when interpreting statutes, based on the expertise of the administrative branch of government. As a result, courts will now be given a lot more leeway to overturn federal agency decisions, including regulations.

While there has been much anxiety about the potential implications of this decision by the Supreme Court, federal historic preservation law is likely to be less threatened than other arenas, for several reasons.

First, the regulations implementing Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act have been specifically upheld by the courts, and the new Supreme Court decision states, “we do not call into question prior cases” that upheld agency actions and regulations.

Second, the new Supreme Court decision states that, “when a particular statute delegates authority to an agency . . . , courts must respect the delegation . . .” In the case of Section 106, Congress has specifically directed the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to “promulgate regulations as it considers necessary to govern the implementation of section [106] in its entirety.” [54 U.S.C. § 304108(a).

Third, it is important to keep in mind that historic preservation advocates are often in the position of challenging federal agency decisions, and urging courts to be less deferential to agencies whose decisions are inconsistent with the Section 106 regulations. We have also successfully challenged regulations themselves on occasion, including surface mining regulations, FCC regulations, and the Army Corps of Engineers’ notorious Appendix C regulations (recently revoked by the Corps, after a number of court decisions declaring them unlawful).

The National Trust will be featuring this important topic at our upcoming conference on historic preservation law on September 12, and we encourage you to register for the conference.

Meanwhile, we are conferring with our partners to determine the most effective course of action going forward and will keep our colleagues and partners informed along the way. We remain fully committed to ensuring that preservation laws are there to benefit future generations.

Earlier in 2022, the National Trust wrote in opposition to New York State’s Pennsylvania Station Area Civic and Land Use Improvement Project—an effort to demolish eight National Register-eligible buildings and build 10 towers totaling over 18 million square feet.

While we and our partners, New York Landmarks Conservancy and Preservation League of New York State, agree that Penn Station needs major improvements, we disagree with New York State designating the surrounding area as “blighted.” With numerous irreplaceable historic resources and significant commercial and business activity, the area is not blighted by any reasonable definition, and we continue to urge better, more thoughtful solutions that combine historic rehabilitation and possibly new construction.

The amicus brief was filed on February 21, 2023. It can be downloaded with full citations here.

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.