horizontal banner with Preserve America logo and images of a historic downtown, farm, courthouse, and mountain

Laura Bush, Honorary Chair
Preserve America is a White House initiative in cooperation with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and in partnership with the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, and Transportation; U.S. General Services Administration; National Endowment for the Humanities; President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities; Institute of Museum and Library Services; and the President's Council on Environmental Quality.

The seal of the President of the United StatesAdvisory Council on Historic Preservation logoU.S. Department of Agriculture logoU.S. Department of Commerce seal
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development logoU.S. Department of the Interior seal

GSA IMLS

 

Preserve America Summit Status Update

The Preserve America Summit, held in October 2006, marked the 40th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act and explored opportunities to build on past achievements to enhance the national historic preservation program for the future. In August 2007, the ACHP issued recommendations based on the issues raised at the Summit. The 13 recommendations focus on actions the federal government should take to enhance the effectiveness of the national historic preservation program as it moves toward 2016, the 50th anniversary of the NHPA. (For details on the recommendations, see the Executive Summary or the Full Report) 

A year has passed, and the ACHP would like to mark this milestone by updating the preservation community and the general public on the status of implementation and by soliciting public comments to help guide future work.  

One or more federal agencies have taken the lead on each recommendation. Over the past year, the ACHP has provided general oversight for the implementation process as these agencies have coordinated with each other and non-federal partners to address the recommendations. The result is considerable progress on many fronts. Click on the links below to view agency status reports on each recommendation.  


Comprehensive Inventory (click to read report)
Agencies involved: NPS, ACHP (with NCSHPO)

Cultural Diversity (click to read report)
Agencies involved: NPS

Disasters (click to read report)
Agencies involved: DOI, DHS

Security (click to read report)
Agencies involved: DOI, GSA, DHS

Conserving Collections (click to read report)
Agencies involved: IMLS, NEA, NEH, ACHP

Innovation (click to read report)
Agencies involved: NPS

Preservation's Benefits (click to read report)
Agencies involved: DOC

Technical Assistance (click to read report)
Agencies involved: ACHP, NPS, HUD

Development Community (click to read report)
Agencies involved: NPS, ACHP

Heritage Education (click to read report)
Agencies involved: ED

Engaging Youth (click to read report)
Agencies involved: ACHP

International (click to read report)
Agencies involved: ACHP, NPS

Federal Program Structure (click to read report)
Agencies involved: DOI, ACHP

We encourage you to provide comments on the work to date by contacting preserveamerica@achp.gov. Please indicate which recommendation you are addressing, and your comments will be forwarded to the federal agency(ies) working on that recommendation. Comments may be provided at any time as implementation proceeds, but those received by October 1 will be shared with agencies in advance of the next Preserve America Summit implementation meeting, which is scheduled for October 9. 

Updated September 2, 2008

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