NATHPO Advocacy

COMMENT LETTERS & PRESENTATIONS

Upcoming comment letters NATHPO is drafting:

None currently, more to come soon.

2025:

03-04-25 NATHPO Comment letter on Nullifying BOEM Rules for the Protection of Marine Archaeological Resources.
01-30-25 NATHPO Comment letter on the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony Act (STOP Act) Funding for 2025.

2024:

11-25-24 NATHPO Comment letter as part of the Information Collection Review of proposed regulations published on October 25, 2024, to implement the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony Act (STOP Act).
11-08-24 NATHPO Comment letter regarding regarding the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) proposed National Programmatic Agreement (NPA).
10-09-24 NATHPO Comment letter regarding the ACHP Proposed Program Comment on Accessible, Climate-Resilient, Connected Communities.
10-01-24 NATHPO Comment letter regarding the National Park Service’s (NPS) work on a planning study to outline the significance and fundamental resources and values of the Transcontinental Railroad.
09-25-24 NATHPO comment letter regarding the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation’s proposed Exemption for Indigenous Knowledge-Informed Activities by Native Hawaiian Organizations (NHOs).
09-23-24 NATHPO comment letter regarding the termination of Section 106 consultation for the Bureau of Land Management’s Lava Ridge Wind Project in Idaho.
09-23-24 NATHPO comment letter regarding the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation’s (ACHP) proposed environmental justice strategic plan.
07-31-24 NATHPO comment letter regarding the National Park Service’s (NPS) proposed Tribal Consultation Policy-DO-71C.
07-29-24 NATHPO Amicus Brief in support of the Tohono O’odham Nation and the San Carlos Apache Tribe in their lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) for failing to properly consult with the Tribes under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).
06-28-24 NATHPO comment letter on the the National Park Service’s (NPS) proposal to develop a Section 106 Program Alternative (PA) for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) state and local assistance programs.
06-22-24 NATHPO comment letter regarding how the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Environmental Justice Strategic Plan may impact Tribal Nations in accordance with Executive Order 13175, Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments, and President Biden’s “Memorandum on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships.”
06-10-24 NATHPO comment letter to the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service’s Bear Ears National Monument Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
04-30-23 NATHPO comment letter to NPS on the 2022 Draft Revisions to National Register Bulletin 38: Guidelines for Evaluating and Documenting Traditional Cultural Properties
04-12-24 NATHPO comment letter regarding the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative.
04-09-24 NARF & NATHPO Joint Memorandum on The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Unlawful Adoption and Use of 33 C.F.R. Part 325, Appendix C, to Fulfill Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.
04-09-24 NATHPO comment letter in Support of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Rescind 33 C.F.R. Part 325, Appendix C.
04-08-24 NATHPO comment letter to the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council’s implementation of Executive Order (E.O.) 13175, “Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments.”
03-25-24 NATHPO comment letter to NPS on the November 6, 2023, Draft Revisions of National Register Bulletin 38, Identifying, Evaluating, and Documenting Traditional Cultural Places.
02-16-24 NATHPO comment letter to the National Park Service (NPS) on their proposed National Programmatic Agreement (NPA) for Section 106 reviews for Cultural Resources Financial Assistance programs.
02-09-24 NATHPO comment letter to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) on his draft Create Offshore Leadership and Livelihood Alignment by Operating Responsibly and Together for the Environment (COLLABORATE) Act, offshore wind bill.
02-06-24 NATHPO Presentation on new Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Regulations: Immediate Concerns for Indian Tribes

2023:

10-30-23 NATHPO comment letter to the Department of Homeland Security on the proposed NPA program alternative to Section 106 for Climate Resilience and Sustainability.
10-17-23 NATHPO support letter to the Southeastern Archaeological Conference (SEAC) on their image policy that requires authors to consult with descendant communities if they want to include images of burial items in articles in SEAC’s journal.
09-29-23 NATHPO comment letter to U.S. Department of Energy on the Coordinate Interagency Transmission Authorization and Permits (CITAP) Program to accelerate Federal environmental review and permitting processes for qualifying onshore electric transmission facilities.
09-29-23 NATHPO comment letter to the White House Council on Native American Affairs on the National Plan on Native Language Revitalization (Dear Tribal Leaders Letter).
09-27-23 NATHPO comment letter to the Council on Environmental Quality on the new National Environmental Protection Act revisions.
09-27-23 NATHPO comment letter to the White House Council on Native American Affairs on the proposed Sacred Sites best practices guide.
09-15-23 NATHPO comment letter to the Bureau of Land Management on the revision to the National Programmatic Agreement (NPA) for the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).
04-17-23 NATHPO comment letter to National Park Service on NPS’ intent to create a Nationwide Programmatic Agreement (NPA) to provide consistency in the application of Section 106 compliance procedures for federal cultural resources financial assistance activities.

FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS

Per the 1992 amendments to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, federally recognized Tribal governments were able to create and operate Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO) programs by officially entering into agreements with the National Park Service on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior. Among other tasks, THPOs may assume the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) responsibilities on Tribal lands and also receive funds for this purpose from the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF), also administered by the National Park Service. The HPF is supported by annual revenues from Outer Continental Shelf oil leases and assists states, local governments, and Indian Tribes with their historic preservation activities nationwide.

NATHPO FY25 Tribal Budget Consultation Comments

FY2020 Federal Appropriations for Tribal Cultural Preservation

NATHPO Testimony to House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee
NATHPO submitted written testimony for the record on the Tribal line item of the Historic Preservation Fund ($20 million); NAGPRA Grants ($2.3 million); NPS NAGPRA Program ($1 million); BIA for cultural resource work ($3.965 million); and Smithsonian repatriation work ($1.25 million).

Click here for a copy of NATHPO’s FY20 testimony that was submitted on March 7, 2019

Click here for handout on FY20 THPO HPF Funding Request

FINAL FY2019 Budget

On February 14, 2019, the President signed into a law a bill that funds the Department of the Interior for the remainder of FY 2019. Included in the appropriations package were increases in the line items for the Historic Preservation Fund, including a $250,000 increase for THPOs, as well as increases in other federal programs that support tribal preservation efforts.
Click here for final FY19 budget

FY2019 Federal Appropriations for Tribal Cultural Preservation

NATHPO Testimony to House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee
NATHPO submitted written testimony for the record on the Tribal line item of the Historic Preservation Fund ($15 million); NAGPRA Grants ($2.3 million); NPS NAGPRA Program ($1 million); BIA for cultural resource work ($3.965 million); and Smithsonian repatriation work ($1.25 million).
Click here for copy of NATHPO’s FY19 testimony that was submitted on May 18, 2018

U.S. Senate Appropriations
Twenty-nine U.S. Senators added their names to the sign-on letter to Senators Murkowski and Udall, led by Senators Gillibrand and Cassidy, that seeks a total of $110.5 million in funding from the Historic Preservation Fund that includes $15 million for Indian tribes. The increase in the request is due to the two-year budget deal (not reflected in the requests below, but this was a matter of the budget deal timing).
Click here for copy of the signed Senate Dear Colleague letter, dated April 27, 2018
NATHPO thanks all the Senators who supported the increased appropriations.

U.S. House of Representatives
The co-chairs of the (U.S. House) Historic Preservation Caucus — Rep. Michael R. Turner (R-OH/10) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR/3) — circulated a member sign-on letter that supports increased federal appropriations for the Tribal line of the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF). Our thanks to the caucus co-chairs for their leadership and vision.
Click here for copy of the final Dear Colleague letter, dated March 16, 2018
A record number of Representatives from across the political spectrum signed the letter, 117 signers (16 more than last year).

Here is the one-page document that details the $13.5 million Tribal line item request for the FY2019 HPR:
Click here for Tribal request (part of the above consensus process)

President Trump Budget Request for FY2019 Budget Presented to Congress

On Feb. 12, 2018, President Trump released his Fiscal Year 2019 budget request that will cover the period of Oct. 1, 2018, through Sept. 30, 2019. Drastic cuts in federal cultural preservation programs were included in his request — reducing the Tribal line item of the Historic Preservation Fund from $10.49 million to $5.74 million and eliminating the NAGPRA Grants line item.
Click here for final FY18 budget and the President’s FY19 request for the Historic Preservation Fund

The President requested $0 for NAGPRA Grants (reduction of $1.657 million in grants to Indian tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations, and museums), which are administered by the National Park Service, Interior Department.
Click here to review the National Park Service 417-page President’s FY19 Budget Request

The President requested funds to close down the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Click here to read the IMLS statement on the FY19 budget request
Click here to read the NEA statement on the FY19 budget request
Click here to read the NEH statement on the FY19 budget request

FINAL FY2018 Budget

On March 23, 2018, a final FY2018 federal budget was approved by the Congress and signed by the President. Included in the omnibus appropriations package were increases in the line items for the Historic Preservation Fund, including a $1 million increase for THPOs, as well as substantial increases in other federal programs that support tribal preservation efforts.
Click here for final FY2018 HPF

The FY18 budget increased federal support of the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the National Endowments for the Arts and for the Humanities.

Background on President’s Request:
In late May 2017, President Trump and his administration released their first federal budget proposal, which requests significant reductions to the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF), which supports both Tribal and State Historic Preservation Officers, as well as a Tribal Heritage Grant program. The FY18 Trump request for Indian tribes in the HPF is $8.96 million — a reduction of $1.5 million from FY17 (FY17 is $10.485 million). See detailed information in this chart:
Click here for the Trump FY18 budget request for the HPF
The U.S. Congress, starting with the House of Representatives, has now started deliberating on the federal budget.

Other noteworthy funding levels proposed in the FY18 budget request include:
* Level funding for NAGPRA Grants to Indian Tribes and Museums ($1.657 million)
* Consolidation of grants management within the National Park Service cultural division, that if enacted, would be referred to as Grant Administration, to include HPF and NAGPRA grants administration (move of $191,000 from NAGPRA grants management to Grant Administration)

Slated for elimination in the Trump FY18 budget request are the following federal programs that Indian tribes have participated over the years:
* Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS)
* National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and
* National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)

NATHPO is advocating for $13 million for Tribal Preservation Historical Officers (THPOs) to carry out the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act and to support the tribal competitive grant program.
Click here for information sheet

National Monuments and Indian Country

NATHPO has been supporting Tribal Nation efforts to preserve and protect their sacred places and landscapes. After years of collaboration between the Bears Ears Intertribal Coalition and others, along with the public comment process, President Obama named Bears Ears a national monument on December 28, 2016, and protected 1.35 million acres of land for one of the most significant cultural landscapes in our history. Unfortunately, Bears Ears is under threat. On December 4, 2017, President Trump announced his decision to revoke Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah and replace it with two much smaller monuments. This action removed protections from more than a million acres that include thousands of extraordinary archaeological sites vulnerable to looting and vandalism. On December 5, 2017, U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT), Rep. John Curtis (R-UT) and Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) unveiled H.R. 4532, the Shash Jáa and Indian Creek National Monuments Act and the Grand Staircase-Escalante Enhancement Act. The bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Mia Love (R-UT), codify in law requirements for local input in the management of President Trump’s newly-designated national monuments in Utah.

For more background information — including links to two House hearings on this bill — click on this Indianz.com link

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is actively working to oppose this action and developed a “sign-on” letter describing the reasons why not to support H.R. 4532. If you have questions about this initiative, please send an email message to Janelle DiLuccia, National Trust for Historic Preservation (jdiluccia@savingplaces.org) or call her at (202) 588-6140.
Click here for the sign-on letter, dated Feb. 13, 2018

2017 Advocacy Week for Historic Preservation

Historic preservationists from around the country are convening in Washington, DC, the week of March 13, 2017, to express their support of federal programs that support American cultural preservation, most urgently the National Historic Preservation Act and the Historic Preservation Fund. The majority of attendees will be State Historic Preservation Officers and members of local advisory committees.

Click here for agenda
Click here for Advocacy Guide & Briefing Packet

FY2017 Budget Request

NATHPO is advocating for $11.985 million for Tribal Preservation Historical Officers (THPOs) to carry out the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act and to support the tribal competitive grant program.
Click here for information sheet

NATHPO submitted testimony for the record to the House Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee on the President’s Fiscal Year 2017 Budget Request
Click here for copy of NATHPO testimony.

FY2016 Budget Request

On March 25, 2015, NATHPO testified before the House Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee on the President’s Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Request
Click here for copy of NATHPO testimony.

NATHPO is advocating for $15 million for Tribal Preservation Historical Officers (THPOs) to carry out the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act and to support the tribal competitive grant program.
Click here for 1 page information sheet.

FY2015 Budget Request

FY2014 Budget Request

FY2013 Budget Request

2011 NATHPO Testified before U.S. Senate Subcommittee on National Parks

2011 NATHPO Submitted Testimony to Senate Committee on Indian Affairs

2009 NATHPO Testified on NAGPRA to the U.S. House of Representatives Full Committee on Natural Resources

NATHPO Advocacy

COMMENT LETTERS & PRESENTATIONS

FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS

National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers