August 19, 2013 Dear Fellow Preservationists

Dear Fellow Preservationists,

As participants in America’s Voice for Conservation, Recreation, and Preservation (AVCRP), we are called upon from time to time to state our priorities and make our position known on Capitol Hill. Today we find ourselves at yet another critical juncture where your voice is needed to ensure the important work to preserve our nation’s historic resources continues unimpeded.

Congress is quickly approaching the end of its fiscal year giving rise to the need to pass legislation that will fund the government and the programs we care about for the next twelve months. What we have seen for many years is increasing pressure to reduce the deficit by cutting spending for discretionary programs, such as the Historic Preservation Fund.

Consequently, the proposed House Interior, and Environment and Related Agencies appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2014 contains $24.3 billion in funding, which represents a cut of $5.5 billion (-19%) below FY 2013 enacted levels. These proposed reductions seriously threaten the viability of the programs that protect America's most important places. For example, funding for a number of economically important conservation programs, including the Land and Water Conservation Fund, was completely eliminated. The Historic Preservation Fund did not fare much better and was cut by 19 percent for a total of $45.2 million or $12.8 million below FY13 levels. The proposed cuts would also reduce funding for important historic and cultural resource protection programs administered by the National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management. The Senate released a draft of its Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations bill on August 1st that recommends funding the Historic Preservation Fund at $65.9 million. The final funding amount for the HPF and other important programs will be determined in large measure by the extent to which Congress hears from the preservation community.

Your assistance is needed to demonstrate support for Federal preservation and conservation programs. There are two ways to register your support; first, add your organization's name to the attached letter that AVCRP will send to House and Senate leadership by September 13th; and second, maximize your impact by contacting your Senators and Representatives directly to express support for strong preservation and conservation programs. Please refer to the AVCRP website (www.avcrp.org) for suggested talking points. Additionally, for your reference, please see the attached letter expressing concern about the decrease in funding for the HPF that national partners sent to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee on July 26th.

How to sign on to the AVCRP letter:

· The easiest method is to go to http://www.avcrp.org/take-action/take-action/. On the right-hand side of the page, there is a box with the heading “sign our letter to Congress”. Input the email address of the organization’s primary contact, hit “go” and when prompted, follow the instructions. (takes less than 2 minutes to complete)

· Alternatively, please email Shaw Sprague with the National Trust for Historic Preservation (ssprague@savingplaces.org) or Elizabeth Hebron (hebron@ncshpo.org) with the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Offices with your organization’s name and an email address for a primary contact. We ask that signatories be organizations rather than individuals to maintain consistency with the previous letter.

With your help and engagement, we will effectively demonstrate to Congress the strong support for the preservation, conservation, and recreation programs that make our country great.

Thank you,

Shaw Sprague

Associate Director for Government Relations and Policy

National Trust for Historic Preservation

Elizabeth Hebron

Deputy Director

National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers

D. Bambi Krauss

President

National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers

John LaRue

Interim Director

Preservation Action

Jo Ramsay Leimenstoll

Board Chair