Best Practices

Location of SHPO Offices by Department | Satellite Offices | Section 106 Review Fees | Digitization Funds
| State Preservation Plans |

Location of SHPO Offices by Department

In 34 states (in red and bold) the SHPO is located within the state’s principal historical agency. In 12 states, the SHPO is located within the state’s parks or natural resources department. In Maryland and the District of Columbia, the SHPO is part of the state’s planning department. In Delaware and Florida, the SHPO is part of the department of state (as are other state historical functions). In New Jersey, the SHPO is part of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.

Alabama: Alabama Historical Commission, Historic Preservation Office
Alaska: Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Parks, Office of History and Archeology
Arizona: Arizona State Parks, SHPO
Arkansas: Department of Arkansas Heritage, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program
California: California State Parks, Office of Historic Preservation
Colorado: Colorado Historical Society, Office of Archeology
Connecticut: Connecticut Commission of Culture and Tourism, Historic Preservation and Museum Division
Delaware: Department of State, Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs
District of Columbia: Office of Planning, Historic Preservation Office
Florida: Department of State, Division of Historic Resources
Georgia: Department of Natural Resources, Historic Preservation Division
Hawaii: Department of Lands and Natural Resources, State Historic Preservation Division
Idaho: Idaho State Historical Society, SHPO
Illinois: Historic Preservation Agency
Indiana: Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archeology
Iowa: Department of Cultural Affairs, State Historical Society of Iowa
Kansas: Kansas State Historical Society
Kentucky: Kentucky Heritage Council
Louisiana: Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, Division of Historic Preservation
Maine: Maine Historic Preservation Commission
Maryland: Department of Planning, Division of History and Cultural Programs, Maryland Historic Trust
Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Commission
Michigan: Department of Housing and Community Development, SHPO
Minnesota: Minnesota Historical Society, SHPO
Mississippi: Department of Archives and History, Historic Preservation
Missouri: Department of Natural Resources, SHPO
Montana: Montana Historical Society, SHPO
Nebraska: Nebraska Historical Society, SHPO
New Hampshire: Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Historical Resources
New Jersey: Department of Environmental Protection, Historic Preservation Office
New Mexico: Department of Cultural Affairs, Historic Preservation Division
New York: Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, SHPO
North Carolina: Department of Cultural Resources, Office of Archives and History
North Dakota: State Historical Society of North Dakota, Historic Preservation Division
Ohio: Ohio Historical Society, Office of Historic Preservation
Oklahoma: Oklahoma Historical Society, SHPO
Oregon: Parks and Recreation Department, Heritage Programs Division
Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Historic Preservation Bureau
Rhode Island: Historic Preservation and Heritage Commission
South Carolina: Department of Tourism and Economic Development, South Dakota State Historical Society
Tennessee: Tennessee Historical Commission
Texas: Texas Historical Commission
Utah: Department of Community and Culture, Utah Division of State History
Vermont: Division for Historic Preservation
Washington: Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation
West Virginia: Division of Culture and History, SHPO
Wisconsin: Wisconsin Historical Society
Wyoming: Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources

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Alabama: The Alabama SHPO office does not have any staff members located outside the main office.

Alaska: Alaska has only one SHPO office (in Anchorage).

California: CA SHPO staff work in one office in Sacramento. We had, however, state offices throughout the state that we frequent on a regular schedule to meet with folks to discuss their projects (106, HTC, Registration, etc) that we rotate staff through every three months. The economy does not allow us to provide this local service since 2007. We also have 11 Information Centers scattered throughout the state at universities, county museum and tribal land that house the State's resources inventory. Go to www.ohp.parks.ca.gov and drop down

Colorado: Colorado SHPO staff are all located in Denver.

Florida: Florida is all in Tallahassee at the main office. There used to be three additional regional offices but they were abolished several years ago as part of budget cuts and cost savings measures.

Georgia: GA maintains our underwater archaeology office at an oceanographic institute

Hawaii: not in Hawaii

Illinois: Illinois only maintains staff in Springfield.

Kansas: Kansas does not have any satellite staff.

Louisiana: Our SHPO is located in Baton Rouge and we have 5 regional archaeologists stationed across Louisiana. After hurricane’s Katrina and Rita, we started our Historic Building Recovery Grant Program in New Orleans to manage the federal recovery monies. Over the last three years we have had approximately 7 SHPO staff working the New Orleans office. That will continue for another year or so.

Nevada: The Nevada SHPO has one satellite office in Las Vegas, Nevada. This staff person directs the archaeological site stewardship program for the State of Nevada. We also have another satellite office in Virginia City, a national historic landmark, with staff that serve the Comstock Historic District Commission.

New Hampshire: New Hampshire only has staff working at our main office.

New Jersey: In New Jersey all SHPO staff work out of a single office in our state capital city (Trenton NJ).

New Mexico: None outside of the main office in New Mexico.

New York: New York has 2—one in a central NY location and one downstate; and at one time there were 3 others in as many additional locations.

North Carolina: North Carolina has four staff members located in our Eastern Office in Greenville (created in 1984), which is 1.5 hours east of our Raleigh office and three staff members located in our Western Office in Asheville (created in 1978) which is 4 hours west of Raleigh.

North Dakota: North Dakota is all in one office.

Ohio: Ohio doesn’t.

Oklahoma: The Oklahoma SHPO has no staff members located outside our main office in Oklahoma city.

Oregon: Oregon SHPO only has one office in Salem. All staff members work out of this single office.

Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania houses most of our staff in the Harrisburg office, but has 2 positions (currently only 1 filled) to serve the western side of the state.

South Dakota: South Dakota SHPO is located in one central office in Pierre.

Utah: Utah's staff is all located in our main SLC office.

Virginia: Program staff are located in three regional offices (3 FTE each) and two satellite offices (one FTE each) outside Richmond HQ. A fourth regional office is co-located with Richmond staff. The State Archaeologist is co-located in one of the regional offices.

Washington: All of Washington State SHPO staff are housed at our office in Olympia.... I would add that the topic or question of establishing regional SHPO offices periodically surfaces here in Washington as I am sure happens in most other states. The topic occurs both internally to the office as well as from our stakeholders. Here, this discussion occurred most recently as we held public meetings for input on our state historic preservation plan and indeed, language was included in the plan for examining the feasibility of opening up a branch or two. Obviously, the abysmal budget situation at this point has put a damper on any idea of establishing regional offices, but it is still a concept that sparks interest and discussion.

Wisconsin: Wisconsin has one field service representative in Eau Claire, WI located in the northwestern corner of the state.

Wyoming: Wyoming has a Cheyenne and Laramie office. The Laramie office houses the
Wyoming Cultural Records Office and our planning program. Cheyenne has NRHP, Compliance, Tax Credit, and CLG programs. The Laramie office is affiliated with the University of Wyoming under an MOU and state statute. The Office of the Wyoming State Archaeologist, a section of SHPO, is also in Laramie with a contracting and research sections.

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Fees for Section 106 review

Summary of data concerning fees for 106 review and site file access 19 March 2010
Based upon a request sent out via NASA and NCSHPO, March 2010

Replies received from 20 states and the District of Washington D.C.

Nearly everyone charged for copying records and files – that fee is not considered in the following discussion.

106 report review – no one charges for this (although many State Archaeologist offices do not handle that responsibility; it would be handled by the separate SHPO office)

106 project review - no one charges for reviewing projects to determine if a historic properties survey is necessary.
one state does require that every 106 project be ‘registered’ and charges $100.00 for the registration. This fee pays for placing the project into the GIS and applies to every project that goes into Phase I.

Site file access

Non-GIS - a number of states do not yet have GIS systems. In some instances, staff is responsible for doing site file checks within project areas. If they charge a fee, it is based either on an hourly rate ($40 to $60 per hour with at least a $15 minimum charge), or on a per section fee ($8 to $30 per section). Some states offer bulk rates for data covering 50 or more sections.

GIS systems - most states provide free access, either in house or online.

Several states provide free access to the GIS at their offices but charge for external online access. One state charges for in-office use without an on-line access option.
Online access fees vary considerably, from $250/year/account to a maximum of $2200/year/account (which provides a variety of database and mapping services). Other states pro-rate the access fee by the number of subscribers attached to a specific account. These fees can range from $300/year for 1-3 accounts, to $1100/year for 4+ accounts. Some states also allow for partial year access (3 or 6 month terms), and/or offer different rates for government/academic/non-profit organizations and for-profit organizations.

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Funds for digtitization

Question: What funding sources have states used to digitize their historic structure files? Have any states partnered with other federal/state agencies in a collaborative effort towards the digitization of these files?

Arkansas: Arkansas hired a part-time person about three years ago. We have scanned about half of our 34,000-plus survey forms to date. We used state money.

Colorado: In Colorado we digitized all of our National and State Register forms using HPF funds from the bump we got at the end of the Clinton years. We keep up with the digitization of those (NR and SR) forms in house. It is 30% of one FTEs time, and they are able to keep up.We are exploring how to deal with the rest of our files. We have funding from the Colorado State Historical Fund to scan and clean up legacy forms, and have had some luck with volunteers dealing with negative reports, but are very interested in seeing how others have tackled this problem.

Kansas: In Kansas the initial phase of our historic resources inventory was funded with a Transportation Enhancement (TE) grant. Our Archeology database was also funded with TE money. A second phase of work that will make upgrades to the historic resources inventory (including GIS) will utilize HPF funds. Although the initial conversion to the digital format brought over some basic information and a single photo from the paper forms, we're working on pulling the remaining info and photos over from the paper files to the online database. This is being done through manual data entry/scanning by staff, interns, volunteers.

Maryland: Maryland has tapped various funding sources for digitization, the largest being FHWA Transportation Enhancement grants. Other major sources have been Coastal Zone Management (NOAA), NCPTT, and National Endowment for the Humanities. We have gone through two major phases of system development. The first was to develop GIS layers and databases for cultural resources; the second phase (ongoing) is the conversion of paper records to digital format, including document scanning. Getting those project plans in place has allowed us to go after funding to build the system using a modular approach. We have done all development in-house and have only contracted out document scanning to our state archives.

New Jersey: New Jersey has used a variety of funding for digitizing cultural resource records. We've primarily focused on GIS mapping the locations of resources listed or eligible for listing in the NJ and National Registers. This effort was initiated with Transportation Enhancement funds, then supplemented with state funds that paid for part time staff to create the GIS data. We've also initiated a project to scan National Register nominations and other survey documentation, participating with our department in an enterprise document imaging system. Funding for this is mostly provided by the NJDEP and our operating budget for staff time. This is just getting started, and it is not yet clear if we will need additional dedicated funding to complete this initiative.

Oklahoma: The Oklahoma SHPO has a cooperative agreement with Oklahoma state University for digitization of our survey and inventory data. OSU provides the 40% match for the HPF we allocate each year. Additionally, we received a Preserve America grant to facilitate the project, and OSU was our partner in that project too.