In 1990, Congress established the
CWSAC after recognizing that the nation's Civil War heritage was in danger of
disappearing under the rapid development of land and construction of buildings,
highways, parking lots, etc. When I say that Congress "recognized"
the problem, I mean it in a literal sense. Not many people had stopped to
consider the impact that economic growth had on significant areas in American
history where soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice. On the other hand,
federal intervention to preserve historic battlefields fought on American soil
would be a massive monetary undertaking (more than 10,000 battles were fought
during the Civil War alone!), and therefore, unfeasible. In turn, the
ABPP was created to "encourage, support, assist, recognize, and work in
partnership with citizens, Federal, State, local, and tribal government, other
public entities, educational institutions, and private nonprofit organizations
in identifying, researching, evaluating, interpreting, and protecting historic
battlefields and associated sites on a National, State, and local level."
(16 U.S.C. 469k-1 (b)(1)) In order to
fulfill this obligation, the ABPP provides this support and assistance using
battlefield planning grants and Civil War battlefield land acquisition
grants.
The program’s battlefield planning
grants offer government-funded financial assistance to the aforementioned
entities, institutions, and organizations who desire to perform analytical,
scientific, educational, and/or preservation research on a historic battlefield
already recognized by the CWSAC. Each
year, Congress appropriates $3,000,000 towards the battlefield planning grant
program. To be sure, the competition is
immense. Not only is the grant program
open to the preservation of recognized Civil War sites, but to Revolutionary
War and War of 1812 sites resulting from its 2007 Report to Congress on the
Historic Preservation of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Sites in the United
States. Each application round can
expect to see between 50-75 proposals that range from basic to highly
technical. Since there is no limit on
what each awardee can receive, the number of award recipients typically drops
to 18-25 total awards with the annual appropriation divided between them.
The Civil War battlefield land
acquisition grant program operates quite differently from the planning grants
in that its appropriation levels can reach upwards to $10,000,000, and there is
no annual application round – prospective recipients can apply for grant
assistance at any time. The land
acquisition grant program obtains its funds from the Land and Water
Conservation Fund (LWCF) and helps states and local communities to purchase
Civil War, Revolutionary War, and War of 1812 land that would otherwise remain
unprotected. These entities can either
purchase land in fee simple (an outright purchase of the land and its resources
with no restrictions), or through the use of an easement (the right to use and
preserve the land without potential risk of future development). The frequency of land newly-available for
protection cannot be measured or speculated, which is why the application
period is constant.
In a nutshell, that is what the
ABPP does. It gets much more technical
from there. If you cannot already tell,
the National Park Service loves to
use acronyms and will become more prevalent in my next blog.
