Historic Preservation Fund

About the Historic Preservation Fund

The Historic Preservation Fund provides funding for the Maryland Historical Trust and other State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPO) across the country.   These funds are matched by the state and are used to support activities including:

• implementation of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA),
• administration of federal historic rehabilitation tax credits,
• nomination of resources to the National Register of Historic Places,
• development and implementation of state historic preservation plans, and
• provision of technical assistance to local government and community organizations, the private sector, and federal agencies.

In addition, the HPF provides funding for Maryland’s Certified Local Government Subgrant Program which supports local government research, survey, planning and educational activities involving architectural, archeological or cultural resources. 

Where does the Historic Preservation Fund Come From?

The HPF's sole source of revenue is income from off-shore oil and gas leases.  The Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) is authorized at $150 million per year.  Congress has never appropriated the full amount. In fact, they have rarely appropriated even one-half of that amount, leaving preservation programs in virtually every state underfunded.

Graphic: The pink (top) line shows HPF appropriations from the fund's inception in 1968 through FFY2009. The blue (bottom) line shows those same appropriations adjusted for inflation to 1968 dollars. Adjusted for inflation, the appropriations have remained flat since 1982.

Source: National Park Service and National Conference of State Historic Preservation Offices.

The impact of the HPF in Maryland

While Maryland has experienced extraordinary success in developing effective historic preservation programs over the past forty years, the state’s investment in historic preservation activities has significantly outstripped the federal government’s willingness to match those dollars as originally intended when the National Historic Preservation Act was passed in 1966. 

In fiscal year 2009, for example, Maryland contributed approximately 82% towards SHPO operations compared to the federal government’s investment of 18%.  In this way, Marylanders subsidize the federal duties and responsibilities required of the SHPO by the National Historic Preservation Act.   Full, permanent funding of the HPF would make a dramatic, positive difference for preservation efforts in Maryland, reaching into every community in the state.

Graphic: This chart shows the HPF appropriations that Maryland recieved between 1989 and 2009, and those some grants adjusted for inflation to 1989 dollars. The contrast is dramatic - Maryland's FFY2009 appropration of $724,323 is equal to $516,633 in 1989 dollars - nearly $100,000 less than Maryland actually recieved in 1989.

Why Support Full Funding of the HPF Now?

In the fall of 2009, bills were introduced in the Senate (S. 2747 Land and Water Conservation Authorization and Funding Act of 2009) and the House (H.R.3534 Consolidated Land, Energy and Aquatic Resources Act of 2009) that would amend the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 to provide full and permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. 

Currently, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, draws from the same off-shore oil revenues as the Historic Preservation Fund.  Long considered “sister funds,” both follow the same principle – using revenues from non-renewable resources (oil and gas), to enhance and preserve other non-renewable resources (historic, cultural and natural resources). 

With enough grassroots support, the Coalition believes that we will be successful in obtaining amendments to one or both of these bills to include full and permanent funding for the HPF.