Federal Budget Cuts Threaten Historic Preservation

these tough economic times, everyone understands the necessity of budget cuts, but we need to be careful not to do long-term damage in exchange for short-term savings. National Trust for Historic Preservation President Richard Moe calls Save America’s Treasures “the country’s most significant preservation effort in over 40 years,” and the proposed 2011 budget has provided no money for funding, effectively shutting the program down for the foreseeable future.

Save America’s Treasures is the nation’s only bricks-and-mortar grant program and is one of the federal government’s most successful tools for preserving the places that tell America’s story. Over the past 10 years, Save America’s Treasures has worked to restore more than 1,100 structures and collections in every state in the nation, including $2.8 million in funding to Louisiana for projects ranging from cemetery stabilization to preserving historic Fort Pike and restoring the Grand Opera House of the South.

Nationally, Save America’s Treasures’ collection includes such iconic objects as the Star Spangled Banner and the Founding Fathers’ Papers, historically and architecturally significant structures, including the Acoma Pueblo, Lincoln Cottage, Taliesen, and the Conservatory of Flowers, as well as the autobiographical homes of Edith Wharton, Mark Twain, Louisa May Alcott, Harriet Tubman and Captain Frederick Pabst.

But saving these historic treasures is only one part of the program’s benefits. The Save America’s Treasures program required a one-to-one match, so that every federal dollar invested must be matched by one private dollar, successfully leveraging dollars from corporations, foundations and individuals in a prime example of a public-private partnership. There has been a push to create more of these types of partnerships, so why would you want to de-fund such a wonderful, working, proven example?

The program also contributes to the economy through job creation. It is estimated that Save America’s Treasures has added more than 16,000 jobs to state and local economies and given that these projects are typically 20-40 percent more labor intensive than new construction they employ a variety of craftspeople, not simply handymen. At a time when supporting sustainable communities and job creation are top priorities for Congress and the Administration, it is tragically shortsighted to overlook — or even cripple — the power and potential of historic preservation programs such as these.

Save America’s Treasures is an integral part of the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF), and elimination of the project would result in a 30 percent across-the-board cut to federal historic preservation. In fact the HPF has never been fully funded. Despite that it has an authorized annual budget of $150 million, it typically only receives one-third to one-half that amount, even though their funds come from Outer Continental Shelf oil leases, not taxpayer dollars.

Ultimately, Save America’s Treasures is a program that gives back far more than it receives, both to the economy and to our nation’s heritage. Please take a few moments to contact your representatives and tell them to fight to make preservation a priority. Click here to fill out a simple form that will look up your rep’s contact information and make it easy to let them know what you think.