UPCOMING COMMENT DEADLINES, CONSULTATIONS, & MEETINGS HAPPENING JUNE 10 | NAGPRA REVIEW COMMITTEE PUBLIC MEETING: The NAGPRA Review Committee will hold a virtual public meeting on Tuesday, June 10, from 2pm to 6pm Eastern. You can register for the meeting, find videos of past NAGPRA Program webinars, and see dates for upcoming webinars HERE. HAPPENING JUNE 17 | VETERANS AFFAIRS PROGRAMMATIC AGREEMENT CONSULTATION: The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is consulting to develop a Nationwide Programmatic Agreement for the Major Leasing Program. The session for Federally recognized Indian Tribes, Indigenous people of the Hawaiian Islands, Native Hawaiian Organizations, and Alaska Native Corporations will take place June 17, 2025, at 2:30 PM ET. You can find more information about the sessions and how to register HERE. HAPPENING IN MAY AND JUNE | BIA WORKFORCE CONSULTATION SESSIONS: Over the next several weeks, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration (BTFA), and the Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs will hold a series of Tribal consultation sessions to discuss ways in which they can best implement the President's Executive Order (EO) 14210 establishing the "Department of Government Efficiency" Workforce Optimization Initiative and “to streamline operations while minimizing any potential impact on the quality of services provided to Tribes.” Details and sign-up information can be found HERE. DUE JULY 15 | EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL HISTORIC PRESERVATION FUND GRANT APPLICATIONS: Last week, the National Park Service (NPS) announced a grant opportunity through the Emergency Supplemental Historic Preservation Fund (ESHPF). $48,000,000 will be awarded under the ESHPF grant program for necessary expenses related to the consequences of natural disasters occurring in calendar years 2023 and/or 2024. Grants are awarded through a competitive process and do not require non-Federal match. There are separate funding announcements for capacity and survey grants to State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices and physical preservation projects. Applications are due July 15, 2025. You can find more information about the grants, how to apply, and whom to contact if you have difficulty accessing the announcement HERE. Additionally, NPS will host an optional, informal Q&A session for THPO staff on Thursday, May 29 from 4-5 pm Eastern using Microsoft Teams. There will not be a formal presentation, and attendees are welcome to stay for some or all of the time allotted. Attendees are encouraged to watch the recorded webinar in advance of the session and to bring any follow-up questions. You can find more details and join the Q&A session HERE (the Microsoft Teams meeting is linked to the text "FY25 ESHPF THPO Q&A Session"). NATHPO regularly submits comment letters to federal agencies advocating on behalf of Tribal communities and their THPOs. You can find several of our most recent letters HERE, and if you know of an upcoming deadline and want NATHPO to consider submitting comment, please contact Melissa Madrigal at melissa@nathpo.org. | NATHPO HAPPENINGS THPO Apportionment Update | Last week, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum was on Capitol Hill for a hearing before the House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. During the hearing, Ranking Member Chellie Pingree (D-ME) pressed the Secretary on the status of the federal funding for THPOs and SHPOs. Secretary Burgum assured Ranking Member Pingree and the Subcommittee he was pushing the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to release those funds as quickly as possible. The video of the exchange is linked in this Facebook post. Last week, NATHPO also joined a coalition of Preservation Partners in a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum calling on him to release the federal funding for THPOs and SHPOs as quickly as possible. NATHPO Is Growing! | Earlier this month, NATHPO was proud to welcome Ira Matt (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes) to the team. A former THPO himself, Ira has more than 25 years of experience working in Tribal and federal government. Most recently, Ira served at the Department of Energy in their newly formed State and Community Energy Programs office, as well as the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy as the Assistant Director for Indigenous Engagement and Native American Affairs. Prior to that, he served as the Director of the Office of Tribal and Indigenous Peoples at the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP). Ira will be advising NATHPO on a part-time basis. He has already joined Executive Director Valerie Grussing at several conferences and a THPO visit, and he is taking a leading role in the administration of our Protecting Native Places Grants. Ira was also the recipient of NATHPO's inaugural Federal Changemaker Award. Please join us in welcoming Ira to our team! CALTHPO/SHPO Summit | Last week, NATHPO Executive Director Dr. Valerie Grussing and Government Affairs Advisor Ted Monoson traveled to California to the annual CalTHPO/SHPO summit, where THPOs from across the state will gather with the State Historic Preservation Officer to discuss issues of concern to the preservation community. Valerie and Ted, joined by Ira Matt virtually, provided an update from Washington, DC, including the status of THPOs' FY 2025 apportionment grants, ongoing efforts to preserve THPO funding, and continued efforts to ensure the Federal Government continues to engage in meaningful consultation with Tribal Nations and their THPOs. WA Cultural Resources Protection Summit | Last week, members of Team NATHPO attended the Washington Cultural Resources Protection Summit, hosted by the Suquamish Tribe, virtually. During the summit. NATHPO Repatriation Advisor Dr. Timothy McKeown gave updates on NAGPRA developments, Indigenization Director Stacy Laravie (Ponca) shared some of her knowledge as a former THPO and cultural preservation professional, and others enjoyed the chance to learn from and connect with THPOs and others working in this vital field. THPO Visits, Fort Independence Edition | Last week, Team NATHPO visited Sean Scruggs, THPO for Fort Independence Community of Paiute Indians and a NATHPO board member. Stay tuned to NATHPO's Facebook page for photos from this fabulous trip in the coming days. | NATHPO RESPONDS TO INTERIOR DEPARTMENT SECRETARIAL ORDER ON HISTORY Last week, NATHPO responded to the Department of the Interior’s recently issued “Secretarial Order 3431 - Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” The full statement is available on NATHPO's website, including a quote from NATHPO Executive Director Dr. Valerie Grussing: Note: NATHPO will draft a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in the coming days to provide constructive suggestions about how best to ensure those stories continue to be told, including by engaging in meaningful nation-to-nation consultation with the descendant communities whose stories this Secretarial Order threatens to erase. We will make the letter available to you when it is ready. | ICYMI: NATHPO'S PROTECTING NATIVE PLACES GRANT PROGRAM HITS APPLICATION LIMIT IN RECORD TIME! As of May 22, 2025, NATHPO's Protecting Native Places program hit its 25-application limit after launching earlier this month. This is the quickest NATHPO has reached the maximum number of applications in the four-year history of the program. NATHPO is in the process of reviewing these first 25 applications. We will review additional applications as needed to ensure we distribute all 25 $40,000 grants this year. Many thanks to all the THPOs who applied for Protecting Native Places Grants this year, as well as the applicants and recipients in years past who made this program the success story it has become. We look forward to announcing the recipients once the list has been finalized. |
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