Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar recently announced $26.7 million in grants from the Historic Preservation Fund to the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. territories, and three independent Pacific island nations.

The Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) is supported by revenue from federal oil leases on the Outer Continental Shelf. The National Park Service administers the fund on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior and uses the majority of appropriated funds to distribute matching grants to State and Tribal Historic Preservation Officers.

States officials use the grants to fund preservation projects, such as survey and inventory, National Register nominations, preservation education, architectural planning, historic structure reports, community preservation plans, and bricks-and-mortar repair to buildings.

Ten percent of each state’s allocation must be sub-granted to Certified Local Governments – city and county governments certified by the National Park Service and the state as having made a local commitment to historic preservation. These funds are spent on local projects, with selection decisions made at the state level.

Secretary Salazar also announced $4.4 million in grants from the Historic Preservation Fund to 117 American Indian tribes to assist with the preservation of important historic and cultural sites and to promote education and interpretation programs.

Tribes use the grants to fund projects such as nominations to the NPS’s National Register of Historic Places, preservation education, architectural planning, historic structure reports, community preservation plans, and bricks-and-mortar repair to buildings. HPF grants are also made to State Historic Preservation Offices.

Grants and programs funded by the HPF encourage private and non-federal investment in historic preservation efforts nationwide. Recent HPF achievements can be found in its annual report at www.nps.gov/history/hps/hpg/downloads/2010_HPF_Report.pdf.