Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

Members of the ACHP met March 22 in Washington, DC for their spring business meeting. They discussed the pending transition to a full-time chairman following the President’s announcement of his intent to nominate Aimee Jorjani to that position. Members will need to renegotiate the agency’s strategic plan and revisit the operating procedures and office structure. Chairman Milford Wayne Donaldson will be appointing a member task force to work on these issues in the near term.

The National Park Service issued its FY 2017 annual report on the federal historic tax incentives program. Commonly known as the Historic Tax Credit, the program provides a 20 percent federal tax credit for rehabilitation of historic buildings for business or income-producing uses. According to the report, FY 2017 saw more than $5.8 billion in private investment in historic preservation and community revitalization due to the Historic Tax Credit and the creation of almost 107,000 jobs.    

The ACHP today sent the fifth triennial report on the status of federal historic property to President Trump in accordance with E.O. 13287 “Preserve America.” The report offers findings and recommendations for agencies, states, tribes, and local organizations to protect and preserve historic property. Click here to read the report.

In the wake of the unprecedented destruction resulting from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the ACHP has been working to help address the impacts to historic properties. Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Puerto Rico, Texas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands were hard hit by the storms. (The impact on the island of St. John was particularly catastrophic.) The ACHP has reached out to the affected State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices and to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help coordinate how disaster recovery efforts are addressing historic properties and how review under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act will be expedited.

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) formally endorsed a plan to support the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at its Winter Business Meeting on March 1, 2013.

“This is an opportunity to promote better stewardship and protection of Native historic properties and sacred places, and in doing so helps to ensure survival of indigenous cultures,” said Milford Wayne Donaldson, FAIA, ACHP chairman. “The Declaration reinforces the agency’s principles and goals contained in our Native American Traditional Cultural Landscapes Action Plan and other works with Native Hawaiian organizations and tribes.”