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Four Federal Agencies Honored For Preserve America Accomplishments

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Four federal agencies today received the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation’s (ACHP) Award for Federal Preserve America Accomplishment for creating exemplary historic property status reports in fulfillment of Executive Order 13287.

Executive Order 13287, Preserve America, is now six years old. Every three years, federal agencies are charged with reporting the status of historic properties in their ownership to the Secretary of the Interior and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. In turn, the ACHP reports this information to the President of the United States in its triennial report of federal historic property management. This effort is known as the Section 3 Report to the President.

The ACHP conveyed its second triennial report to the President last week. At its winter business meeting today, the ACHP recognized four agencies that created exceptional accounts of the status of the heritage resources they hold in stewardship.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Department of the Interior, provided data that illustrated successes with policies and programs in real property management accomplished within the past three years. In their report, the BLM provides clear evidence of how it actively uses partnerships with federal and non-federal organizations to meet stewardship responsibilities. BLM’s report also offered a glimpse into the next three years and how it intends to further expand its management of historic properties. BLM’s report was also commendable in its commitment to provide data and detail to support these efforts. The award was accepted on behalf of BLM by Edwin Roberson, Assistant Director for Renewable Resources and Planning, and Robin Burgess, Federal Preservation Officer (FPO).

The General Services Administration (GSA) produced an exceptionally well-organized, well-designed and visually stunning publication to report on its progress in identifying, protecting, and using historic properties within its inventory. Using success stories from the past three years, GSA demonstrated its achievements in an effective and compelling way. GSA’s report clearly demonstrates the strong commitment it has made to the stewardship of its historic properties and evidences its continued commitment to providing leadership in the federal preservation program regarding the management of the built environment. Rolando Rivas-Camp, Director of the Center for Historic Buildings and FPO, accepted the award on behalf of GSA.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) also responded in an exemplary manner. With the forthcoming phase-out of the Shuttle Program, NASA reported on tremendous strides it has made in the past three years to expand its efforts in identifying historic properties within its inventory. This expanded inventory has assisted the agency tremendously in improving its stewardship of properties under its control, identifying properties that can be rehabilitated to facilitate their continued use in future NASA programs. It is evident that the commitments made by NASA in its 2005 Section 3 Progress Report were followed through by NASA through a strategy to improve coordination between its 10 space centers across the U.S. Olga Dominguez, Assistant Administrator, Office of Infrastructure, and Tina Norwood, FPO, accepted on behalf of NASA.

The National Park Service’s (NPS), U.S. Department of the Interior, 2009 progress report provided detailed information illustrating policies and programs that exemplify identification, protection, and use of historic properties in some of our nation’s most cherished places. In doing so, NPS set a strong and positive example for other federal agencies that own unique and publicly recognized historic properties. For example, the NPS report demonstrates that the use of annual and comprehensive condition assessments allows it to gather condition and life cycle data about its portfolio of assets. This information has allowed NPS to make critical decisions about the use of this portfolio. The NPS report was also one of the few to provide an analysis of the economic impact of visitation to its resources on local economies. In doing so, the NPS demonstrates that a compelling case can be made for viewing the stewardship of our historic properties as a wise investment in local economies. Ernie Quintana, Acting Deputy Director for Operations, and Caroline Hall, Preservation Compliance Coordinator, Heritage Preservation Services, accepted the award for the NPS.

Posted February 24, 2009

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