Bureau of Land Management Programmatic Agreement

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The Bureau of Land Management Programmatic Agreement

Introduction

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Programmatic Agreement (PA) dates to 1997. In light of the 2004 changes to the regulations governing Section 106 consultation, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (Council) has listed the PA as one which will need to be revised.

The western state SHPOs met at the annual NCSHPO meeting in February of 2005 to discuss the performance of the BLM under the nationwide PA. A round table meeting resulted in a wide variety of comments. At that time a NCSHPO task force was created to determine what, if any, changes were needed to the BLM PA.

The purpose of the BLM PA Task Force is to determine whether there are problems with the existing nationwide agreement between the NCSHPO, BLM and the Council, and suggest solutions. Second, because the Council has targeted the BLM PA for revision sometime in the future, the recommendations/solutions of the NCSHPO can be used in this revision process.

Update on the Revision of the Programmatic Agreement

In May of 2005, Kak Slick, the New Mexico SHPO stepped down as chair of the task force and Alice Baldrica, the Nevada Deputy SHPO agreed to replace her. A questionnaire was formulated based on BLM commitments within the nationwide PA and emailed to task force members on June 14, 2005 to determine:

Whether or not BLM is keeping its commitments;
Problem areas; and
Potential solutions.

Click here for the results of the questionnaire.

On August 31, 2005 the southwestern SHPOs met in Las Vegas, Nevada. Alice Baldrica presented the results of the questionnaire and asked for recommendations to take to the NCSHPO Board of Directors. She also solicited comments by email from NCSHPO Task Force members unable to attend the meeting in Las Vegas. The task force requested that the results of the questionnaire be forwarded to the NCSHPO Board of Directors and ask the Board to:

Accept the report recommendations to amend but not terminate the nationwide PA with BLM;
Post all state protocols on the NCSHPO website so that states could use other states’ solutions to modify their own protocols;
Request SHPOs to confer with their counterparts at the BLM to initiate changes that can be made now in the protocols;
Approve and send a letter to the Council requesting that the BLM PA be moved to the top of the list for amending as soon as possible;
In the same letter, request that the Council create a BLM liaison position at the Council, in the BLM Denver Office, for dealing with BLM issues similar to several other federal agency liaisons currently at the Council in Washington DC; and
Acknowledge that tribes and the National Trust for Historic Preservation have indicated a need to revise the BLM PA to comport with the 1992 amendments to the National Historic Preservation Act. Given tribal interests in government-to-government consultation, the NCSHPO as a State-based organization believes that the Council should take the lead in this area. Acting in a supporting role, SHPOs and the NCSHPO endorse the importance of tribal consultation.

For More Information

Questions on this effort should be addressed to Alice Baldrica, Nevada Deputy SHPO at ambaldri@clan.lib.nv.us.