The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) is advancing a sweeping and damaging plan to rewrite the regulations for Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the part that requires federal agencies to evaluate the effects of federal projects on historic properties.

In late July, the ACHP hastily approved sweeping deregulatory revisions to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), sending the revisions to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for critical review before they are published to the Federal Register for public comment.The ACHP is an independent federal agency charged with historic preservation leadership within the federal government. The revisions they have put forth are in contradiction to the protection of historic and cultural places: they curtail public participation, eliminate protections for Traditional Cultural Landscapes, and strip the regulations of the language that ensures meaningful consultation and requires projects to avoid, minimize, and mitigate harm. You can read the redlined version here and the draft here. 

New rules under this administration compel OIRA to rush decisions and prioritize deregulation, which does not lend itself to a considered review of this 400-page document with the potential for tremendous negative impact on stakeholder communities, entire industries, and the general public. 

During this review period, the heritage sector must rally to defend Section 106. , There are a few steps we can collectively take now:

Watch recordings of webinars hosted by Cultural Heritage Partners and National Trust for Historic Preservation to educate ourselves on what is at stake.

Write to your representatives to share how the revisions will negatively impact historic preservation efforts in your area. 

Call your representatives with these helpful scripts  from the Cultural Heritage Partners.

Urge your representatives or local organizations to schedule a meeting with OIRA, using the RIN: 3010-AA10, to share concerns about changes to Section 106. Currently, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is in a review process during which interested parties can request meetings to express their concerns regarding proposed changes to Section 106. Here are some suggested scripts and talking points to bring to the meeting: 

• Suggested Talking Points

• Script for meeting with your representative 

Get your organizations to sign the Open Letter to Congress about Section 106. Ask your organizations’ leadership (e.g., the museum you work at, your professional association, or the local historical society where you are a member) to join hundreds of other organizations around the country and sign a national coalition’s call for Congress to protect our cultural heritage.

Be prepared to submit comments to ACHP when the comment period opens! Watch the NTHP webinar linked above for great tips on writing an effective public comment. We will update this page when the comment period begins. 

Send examples to the National Trust for Historic Preservation of success stories where Section 106 led to win-win outcomes.

An email from Jay Trainer, National Archives and Records Administration chief operating officer, told employees that two National Archives locations, one in San Bruno, CA, and another in Chicago, IL, would be closed in the next few years and documents would be moved to other archival locations.

The San Bruno facility is officially called the National Archives at San Francisco, and, among other things, it serves as a unique hub for research into Asian and Pacific immigrant history in the United States. The Chicago facility houses records about Midwestern history and indigenous tribes, also critical for local research.

Records would be moved to the Seattle Federal Records Center, Trainer’s email read, and that process could begin within the next few months and render many records inaccessible to the communities most interested in them. The Organization of American Historians has posted a statement condemning this action.

Save Our National Archives, a group formed to stop a prior attempt to shut down the San Bruno archives location 28 years ago, is coming together once again to oppose the closure and start a letter-writing campaign against the decision.

Chicago Area Archivists have also posted a statement and call to action detailing ways you can help oppose the closure of their local facility, such as contacting NARA officials directly.

Take action today!  Sign a petition via change.org about both facilities, here, and send letters to Congress via Save OUR National Archives, here. Additionally, there is a petition for the Chicago facility you can sign via change.org here.

On July 13th, the Trump administration announced the decision to shrink the protected areas of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, two treasured areas in Utah, by almost 90%. National Monument designations are intended to safeguard areas of exceptional historic, scientific, cultural, or ecological value from resource exploitation and pollution. The designations for these two sites were hard-won by a coalition of many indigenous tribal nations, environmental advocates, recreation advocates, and public servants, and. These designations help protect numerous sacred indigenous sites, beloved recreational areas, local ecology, and critical water sources.

Many organizations have issued public statements opposing this decision, including the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, who reconfirmed their commitment to protect their ancestral homeland, and the environmental nonprofits Conservation Lands Foundation and American Rivers. 

Take action today by submitting a prepared, editable letter via the Conservation Lands Foundation, here. 

An opportunity to exercise your American rights this Independence Day weekend:

Our allies at the American Alliance of Museums are calling for a groundswell of public comments on some highly problematic, politically motivated proposed changes to the way federal grants are evaluated, awarded, and rescinded. They encourage feedback that describes specific potential impacts to your own institution, if possible. The deadline is July 13.

Here's the text of their call to action:

On May 29, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published a proposed rule that would negatively impact federal grants across all agencies. The National Council of Nonprofits has put together a summary chart of key provisions.

Some of the most significant concerns from the proposed rule include:

• Political appointees must review all award proposals and relegate peer reviewers to an advisory role.

• Political appointees will review all award proposals to ensure they align with “national interests” and Presidential policy priorities. (This will likely impact anything deemed DEI-related.)

• Any active grant can be cancelled by a political appointee with no chance of appeal.

• A grant can be put on a temporary hold for up to 90 days.

• Agencies can change the terms of the award at any time.

• Adds restrictions on voter registration drives, issue advocacy, and engaging with state governments.

Public comments are being accepted through July 13, 2026, at regulations.gov. AAM will be submitting comments, which you can view the draft here.

Submit Your Own Comments: See the June Advocacy Alert for guidance on submitting comments. A recent Center for the Future of Museums Blog post included some examples of how the proposed rules could impact museums. You can consider these examples as you prepare your comments, but remember, tailor your comments on the impact of the rule to your specific museum.

Our namesake cultural heritage site, Chaco Culture National Historical Park, is under imminent threat from the Trump administration, who want to lease the maximum possible public lands around it for fossil fuel and mineral extraction. Please take a few minutes TODAY to stand up for this unique sacred, historical, and naturally significant UNESCO World Heritage site and National Historical Park. The public comment period ends TONIGHT!

Only have 2 minutes? Use this form to submit a pre-filled letter to your reps and the Bureau of Land Management!

https://protectchaco.org/

You can also personalize it there, and/or submit a letter directly through the BLM website here:

https://eplanning.blm.gov/Project-Home/?id=D949F582-402D-F111-8341-001DD804183B

Previous activists fought long and hard to win a protective buffer zone around it to prevent pollution and damage to the archaeological complexes and ecosystem, but last week the Bureau of Land Management opened an insultingly brief comment period about a proposal to cancel this protection— a single week that ends TONIGHT!

Join cultural heritage professionals nationwide on Saturday, October 18, for the No Kings nonviolent protests. (Look up your local protests at nokings.org or mobilize.us.) Stand together in defense of free speech, the integrity of our work, and the institutions that safeguard our shared past. There is no culture without freedom of expression.

Fight censorship of our history by taking photos of all signs and historical markers at National Park Service-administered sites. Send them here!

Stand with your community this Labor Day by joining an organized action or demonstration.