ELECTRONIC COPY OF THE ORIGINAL United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL PARK SERVICE 1849 C St. NW Washington, D.C. 20240

The centennial of the Antiquities Act is nearly upon us. This anniversary offers the National Park Service and Department of the Interior an opportunity for commemoration of the achievements of 100 years of public conservation and preservation made possible by the Act. It also gives us a chance to consider how the national monument authority of the President in the statute can be best applied in a manner that involves affected communities consistent with the principles of Cooperative Conservation before a designation is made.

President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act on June 8, 1906. This law, the first national historic preservation statute, established legal and policy foundations for public archeology and historic preservation in the United States. The Act is one of a suite of some of the most important conservation laws in American history. Few other laws have had such a wide-ranging influence on the national policies of preservation for America’s cultural and natural heritage.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the Federal, state, tribal, and local governments, professional and scholarly organizations, and communities cooperated in a broad and diverse set of partnerships to care for cultural and natural resources. The 2006 centennial provides opportunities to reflect on and commemorate what has been achieved. More importantly, we are presented with the chance to consider how we can maintain the achievements and improve public involvement and cooperative conservation and preservation for future generations.

Very soon 2006 will be here; activities and products for the commemoration of the Antiquities Act should have special emphasis and priority. We must begin now to plan activities and products in order to take advantage of this opportunity. We will use the anniversary to reflect on the historic conservation and preservation accomplishments important to all Americans, the historic and current views on how the Act is applied, to build on the application of Cooperative Conservation and coordination with local communities, tribes and governments in the designation and management of new monuments, and to consider the challenges for cultural and natural resource preservation in the 21st century. Several of you already are developing plans for activities and products to commemorate this landmark.

I support these activities; however, we need close coordination and cooperation among the Washington office, regional offices, centers, and parks, and with other public agencies and partners to ensure that our message is clear and consistent. I am designating Associate Directors Jan Matthews and Mike Soukup, and Chief of Policy Loran Fraser as the core group in the Washington office to coordinate servicewide activities for planning and implementation of the commemoration.

I am asking each Regional Director and Associate Director to designate a representative to coordinate our activities for this commemoration. Your representative should be familiar with the park and regional planning for commemorations in your region. Please have your representative supply their contact information to Rasheedah Morgan at 202-208-7625 before March 18, 2005. We will schedule a conference call of the regional and WASO representatives in the last week in February or early March to coordinate park and regional efforts and to develop a plan for our national effort for 2006.