Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

By Mark Wolfe, Texas State Historic Preservation Officer; President, National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers

Just over a year ago, the Texas Historical Commission experienced one of the most heartbreaking events in our organization’s history. On April 13, 2019, an F3 tornado struck the community of Alto, in Cherokee County in east Texas. Ground Zero for the storm was our own Caddo Mounds State Historic Site, where members of the Caddo Nation and other celebrants had gathered for the site’s biggest annual event, Caddo Culture Days. Dozens of people were injured, some severely. One person was killed. And the visitor center was destroyed along with a recently-completed Caddo grass house.

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) Chairman Aimee Jorjani today welcomed Meridian, Idaho, Mayor Robert E. Simison as the ACHP’s new Mayor Member. Mayor Simison was appointed by President Donald J. Trump and was sworn in for a four-year term.

Born and raised in Idaho, Simison graduated from Whitman College where he majored in history. He has served as Meridian mayor since January 2020 and previously was the chief of staff to the mayor since 2007. From 1997 to 2007, Simison was a staff member for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. He worked with the general counsel on all legislative matters before the committee and handled all process and procedure matters for the committee.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) today announced the findings of a task force charged with formulating recommendations to improve the availability of digital and geospatial information about historic properties in an effort to inform federal project planning.  The Digital Information Task Force report was presented to ACHP Chairman Aimee Jorjani at the ACHP’s March business meeting.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) today announced free online distance learning opportunities to meet the needs of those working remotely during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) today issued a blanket extension through May 29, 2020, for federal agency use of emergency Section 106 procedures regarding undertakings that respond to emergency and disaster declarations on the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID -19). 

The extension applies to projects that respond to COVID-19 under the national emergency declared by President Trump on March 13, 2020, and other COVID-19 emergencies or disaster declarations that have already been issued by the President, a tribal government, or the governor of a state, or may be issued by any of them while the extension is in place.