Fed Council Votes to Gut Historic Preservation Protections - NHPA Sec. 106
- Ethical Archaeology - MEAS
- Aug 16
- 3 min read
The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) voted to gut essential steps that protect historic and archaeological sites through Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.
We have UNTIL AUGUST 24, 2026 to COMMENT AND FIGHT BACK
Go to this link to find out how, get scripts and talking points, fact checks agains misinformation by ACHP, and other strategy points - both for officials and for the general public: https://culturalheritagepartners.com/defend-section-106/
Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) sets out conditions that trigger environmental and historic preservation review processes. Without Section 106 protections, agencies and companies can destroy every kind of legacy without barrier.
On Friday, July 24, 2026 the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation voted to approve a draft revision of 36 C.F.R. Part 800. Cultural Heritage Partners lawfirm has created tools to fight back: You can read the redlined version here and the draft here.
While the proposed rule has not been published to the Federal Register there are a few steps we can collectively take now:
Contact your elected officials and help them understand the adverse effects of the proposed rulemaking. You can use these scripts and ideas for talking points to craft a personal message that highlights your concerns or the concerns of your community or organization.
Indigenous, Colonial, African American, and all other legacies are threatened by the action of ACHP. The Council voted to remove basic steps under Section 106 that require consultation with tribal preservation officers, state preservation officers, and other stakeholders to ensure that valuable shared resources belonging to the American people and to First Nations are not destroyed. This also applies to prime natural resources.
Some of the changes being recommended by ACHP include making consultation "optional," which means consultation will be completely ignored. To date, there have been serious issues with enforcement of consultation and earnest response from agencies and corporations. The demoting of consultation to an at-will step guarantees consultation will become rare.
The ACHP also voted to end public comment period on projects under Section 106. Public comment has been the one force that most consistently steers government agencies away from disastrous destruction because public comment puts elected officials on notice. Without public comment, there is nothing that can be used to pressure elected officials to pursue the interests of the American people over donors.
Section 106 only impacts what is defined as an "undertaking." ACHP has redefined what is an "undertaking," a move that hides destruction from public view entirely.
These changes also give almost all control regarding outcomes to agencies, not landowners, the voting public, tribal nations, or state preservation officers, but rather to disinterested agencies whose agenda is to demolish these treasures. ACHP also voted to narrow what constitutes "historic" to further disappear places of great heritage value.
Finally, ACHP has made cost the deciding factor. Whatever the value of a place to the People, ACHP has decided so set a price tag on preservation - and a discount price at that.
For more information, visit these links:
This is what happens without Section 106 consultation:
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