Forest Service seeks comments

Agency to improve management of facilities through Program Comment under National Historic Preservation Act

A picture of Chittenden Nursery with several workers wearing hard hats in a group just outside the front of the building. — Chittenden Nursery located near Wellston, MI supplied seedlings and transplants for regional planting from 1934 until 1973. With the help of contractors, partners, and volunteers, the Forest Service is restoring and repurposing the building to serve the new ranger station. This program comment aims to redirect resources from historically insignificant facilities to maintaining facilities that are historically significant and can serve the agency mission.

The Forest Service is exploring ways to address the $5.2 billion deferred maintenance backlog by conscientiously decommissioning or disposing facilities that are no longer critical to the agency mission and directing more resources to maintain facilities that are.

Under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the agency must take into consideration the effects that a proposed project may have on historic properties. If there might be an effect, the agency proceeds with what is known as the Section 106 review process, which involves identifying and assessing what could be affected by the project with interested parties. When decommissioning facilities, the agency must first determine whether it has historical or cultural value and then assess how the project will affect the facility. If there is a negative effect, the Forest Service works with parties to resolve it and provides an opportunity to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) to comment on and participate in development of the resolution.

Given that the Forest Service manages about 40,000 buildings and is targeting about 13% of its building stock to decommission, this is a daunting and resource-intensive task. Fortunately, the standard Section 106 review process can be tailored and documented in program alternatives which are mutually beneficial for the agency and parties involved. One type of alternative, called a Program Comment, groups multiple projects of the same category with similar foreseeable effects and provides the ACHP an opportunity to comment on them as a whole. By pursuing a program comment, the agency will require fewer resources for buildings with no historic or agency-mission value and redirect those resources to historically significant, mission-critical buildings.

The Program Comment would apply nationally to decommissioning and alternate-use projects involving Recreation, Administration, and Research and Development facilities constructed by the Forest Service between 1933-1980. The process will not apply to facilities or resources with traditional religious or cultural importance to tribes.

A picture of Dale Ranger Station; a single story building with a single car garage on the right. — Dale Ranger Station is a typical example of administrative buildings that were built according to standard mid-centurydesigns. It served as both a district office and residential compound for Forest Service employees for over 40 years.

In order to save time and resources from analyzing facilities that are not critical to the agency mission and direct resources back to maintaining facilities that are, the Program Comment will:

Exempt certain minor facilities, such as sheds and small utility buildings, from further Section 106 review.
Require the Forest Service to use consistent and efficient tools to determine which facilities have historic value
Develop a more informed internal review process involving qualified Forest Service staff.
Mitigate adverse effects by investing in the preservation of other Forest Service facilities.

Learn more

A recording of two informational webinars will soon be available online.

How to comment

A picture of a small storage facility building. One picture is from 1965 and the other is from 2011, both of the same structure. — 3 Excess utility and storage facilities, like this flammable storage building in Utah, could move through the Section 106 process much more quickly by being exempted from consideration. This will provide the Forest Service more time and resources to maintain historically significant buildings that support the agency mission.

Members of Public and Other Interested Parties:

Members of the public may download the consultation package and submit comments directly to SM.FS.gen.pc@usda.gov.
Meetings with Forest Service representatives are also welcome until DATE TBD.

Tribes:

Tribal consultation is expected to begin in Summer 2020 until Winter 2020.
Tribal representatives may download the proposed program comment and supporting documents under the agency’s tribal consultation schedule.
Tribal representatives are encouraged to submit comments directly to SM.FS.t.PC@usda.gov.
Tribes are also welcome to schedule meetings with Forest Service representatives.