RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVING TRIBAL-FEDERAL CONSULTATION

Mission Statement: The ACHP promotes the involvement of Native youth in historic preservation as both a means to protect places of religious and cultural significance to them and as a career path. Download full document here

Section 304 of the NHPA protects certain sensitive information about historic properties from disclosure to the public when such disclosure could result in a significant invasion of privacy, damage to the historic property, or impede the use of a traditional religious site by practitioners.

Section 800.4(b)(1) of the Section 106 regulations states that federal agency officials shall make a “reasonable and good faith effort” to identify historic properties.This guidance was developed to assist federal agencies and consulting parties in determining what constitutes a reasonable and good faith identification effort. 

  The Relationship Between Executive Order 13007 Regarding Indian Sacred Sites and Section 106 Introduction

The consideration of Native American traditional cultural landscapes in Section 106 reviews has challenged federal agencies, Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations for some time. There has been confusion regarding what makes a place a traditional cultural landscape, whether they can be considered historic properties, and whether the size of such places influences their consideration under the National Historic Preservation Act.

Since 1992, when Congress amended the National Historic Preservation Act to clarify that historic properties of religious and cultural significance to Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations (NHOs) may be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (National Register), the ACHP has seen a steady increase in the number of Section 106 reviews involving such historic properties. Improvements in federal agency consultation with Indian tribes and NHOs and greater recognition of their expertise in identifying historic properties of significance to them have likely contributed to this increase. It is equally likely that there have also been increasing development pressures in places not previously developed. An early 2011 Tribal Summit co-hosted by the ACHP in Palm Springs, California, underscored the fact that the nation’s renewed emphasis on the development and transmission of renewable energy, as well as the continued focus on conventional energy, is placing additional pressures on landscapes throughout the country, and particularly in the west.

Introduction Consultation is the heart of the Section 106 process. Federal agencies are required to identify and engage a variety of consulting parties during the steps they follow to meet their legal obligations. Principal among these consulting parties are State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPOs) and Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs). Federal agencies also have special consultation responsibilities with respect to Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations (NHOs).