BLM Preservation Board

In 1997, the BLM's Director, the Council's Chairman, and the NCSHPO's President signed a national Programmatic Agreement (PA) explicitly framed "to emphasize the common goal of planning for and managing historic properties under the BLM's jurisdiction or control in the public interest." The national Programmatic Agreement (Section 5. b.) calls for cooperation and enhanced communication among SHPOs and BLM States as well as "a protocol specifying how they will operate and interact under this agreement."

In February 2009, the PA signatories executed an addendum to the 1997 PA.  The addendum outlines milestones for completing a tribal consultation outreach effort and revisions to the PA itself.

In the spirit of such cooperation and communication each BLM State's protocol may be found here. BLM States
                        Alaska
                        Arizona
                        California
                        Colorado
                        Eastern SO
                        Idaho
                        Montana
                        Nevada [Under Revision]
                        New Mexico
                        Oregon
                        Utah
                        Wyoming 

To implement the PA, BLM's Director established a Preservation Board to advise the Director, Assistant Directors, State Directors, and field-office managers in developing and executing BLM's policies and procedures for historic properties. Authority, responsibilities, and operating procedures for the Preservation Board are specified in the BLM Manual, the PA, and the Board's Charter.

The Preservation Board is chaired by the BLM's Preservation Officer and includes Deputy Preservation Officers from each State Office. The field organization is represented by four line managers (i.e., officials authorized to make land-use decisions), and two field office specialists fill out the Board, bringing the day-to-day, operational staff perspective.

The Preservation Board reviews issues and recommends to the Director and State Directors about policies and procedures, bureauwide program consistency, training, certification of field offices, monitoring of field offices' historic preservation programs, and responses to public inquiries. The Board holds meetings in June and December each year.