Background:
Established in response to the
National Historic Preservation Act of
1966, the American Samoa Historic
Preservation Office (ASHPO) identifies,
evaluates, registers, interprets and
protects American Samoa's historic and
cultural properties, from star mounds to
shipwrecked vessels. The ASHPO provides
communities and preservation
organizations with a variety of services,
and maintains an inventory of historic
properties. It also reviews nominations
to the National Register of Historic
Places and oversees sites on that
register. Under Section 106 of the
National Historic Preservation Act, the
ASHPO reviews all Federal undertakings
for impacts on historic properties.
Mission
Statement:
It is the responsibility of the American
Samoa Historic Preservation Officer to
administer the Territorial Historic
Preservation Program. American Samoa's
strong indigenous culture and traditional
system of communal land ownership impose
special conditions of cultural
sensitivity upon such an endeavor. A
primary concern of the ASHPO is to
fulfill its responsibilities in a manner
that recognizes and honors these inherent
cultural conditions.
In
addition, the ASHPO sees itself as a
service organization, working in
partnership with Federal and Territorial
agencies, village and district councils,
private organizations and individuals to
assist in compliance with applicable
Federal and Territorial historic
preservation laws and to raise the
community's consciousness about historic
preservation and its role in cultural
maintenance. Specific areas of
responsibility in the administration of
the Territorial Historic Preservation
Program include:
-
conducting an on-going comprehensive site
identification of historic properties in
the Territory and maintaining an
inventory of such properties;
-
identifying and nominating eligible
properties to the National Register of
Historic Places;
-
advising and assisting Federal and
Territorial agencies in carrying out
their historic preservation
responsibilities;
-
consulting with appropriate Federal
agencies on all undertakings that may
affect historic properties in order to
protect, manage, reduce or mitigate harm
to such properties;
-
ensuring that historic properties are taken into
consideration at all levels of planning
and development;
-
providing public information, education
and training, and technical assistance in
historic preservation.
In order to fulfill these mandates in a
manner appropriate to the special
conditions with which we are faced here
in American Samoa, a comprehensive
historic preservation plan has been
designed to address individual problem
areas within the Program and to set
specific objectives toward the goal of
alleviating those problems. Input from
the American Samoa Historical Commission
and from the public garnered from annual
public meetings have been incorporated
into the plan. A realistic time frame for
meeting those objectives inside a
five-year planning cycle is provided with
the plan. The plan is available to the
public upon request.
The Director
and his staff
welcome your contributions to the upkeep
of Samoa's historic buildings and
cultural sites.
