2023 June Preservation ePost

State Historic Tax Credit Seeking Public Input

There is still time to participate in the public comment period for California’s first ever State Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit. Public input is sought on proposed regulations to provide the Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) the authority and discretion to regulate the State Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program in conjunction with the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee (CTCAC).

The State Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit Program provides a 20% California tax credit to property owners who rehabilitate their historical buildings, maintaining historic significance and contributing to the preservation of our shared California heritage.

Options for commenting as well as copies of the notice of proposed action, the initial statement of reasons, and the text of the proposed regulations can be accessed through our State Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit page.

Public comments will be accepted until June 20, 2023.

(Photo courtesy of Dusty Pixel/istock)

ACHP Training in Sacramento

A reminder to join us this summer in California’s capital city for Section 106 training offered by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP). We are honored to host the ACHP as they present in-person training sessions addressing the basics of Section 106 review and best practices for consultation, consensus building, and agreement documents. Click on the links below for details and to register:

July 12: Section 106 Essentials

8:30am-4:30pm Pacific

July 13: Section 106 Agreements Seminar

8:30am-12:30pm Pacific

Image: Training will take place at the new California Natural Resources Headquarters Building in downtown Sacramento (photo courtesy Turner Construction Co.).

History Day Champs

Each year, the OHP is honored to participate in National History Day - California, a program that encourages the exploration of history and creation of history projects by elementary, middle, and high school students. Our office, in collaboration with preservation partners, awards the California Historic Places Award, recognizing student projects focused on place-based history. We are inspired by the passion and creative work of this next generation of historians and preservationists! For 2023, we partnered with the California Preservation Foundation (CPF) to present the Historic Places award to two students:

Noah Holm, of Moreno Valley High School, was recognized for the Senior Division Individual Website project, The Second Gold Rush: The History and Work of the Citrus Industry in Riverside, California.

Yuran Jung, of North Hollywood High School, was recognized for the Senior Division Individual Documentary project, Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas: The California Frontier Where People's Anguish, Romance, and Myth for its Sacred Land Collided.

Both students received a cash award from the CPF and a book on the history of historic preservation for their school library from the OHP. Later this year, the State Historical Resources Commission will present each student with a resolution, which is read into the official record of the Commission. Congratulations to Noah and Yuran on their excellent projects!

(Photos and project links courtesy of Noah Holm, Yuran Jung, and NHD-CA)

News from the Climate Front

The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) recently announced the recipients of Round 1 Adaptation Planning grants. The fourteen awarded projects “will advance climate adaptation and resilience through planning, research, capacity building, restoration, and sustainable infrastructure.” The Adaptation Planning Grant Program is part of the Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program (ICARP) focused on organizing and supporting California’s response to climate change impacts.

Also in climate news, the OPR announced the inaugural Tribal Advisory Group for California’s Fifth Climate Change Assessment. As stated in the OPR announcement, the Tribal Advisory Group “will play a critical role in California’s Fifth Climate Change Assessment, a multi-year research effort to identify ways climate change is impacting California’s diverse communities and ways to adapt to those impacts.” In addition to the Tribal Advisory Group, the Fifth Assessment team continues to engage with tribes through consultation and listening sessions and will “continue to accept nominations and aspire for the Tribal Advisory Group to be reflective of the diverse tribal communities in California.”

For more on the ways California is addressing the challenges of climate change, visit the OHP Climate Action page.

Grant Deadlines Approaching

There is still time to apply for the following grants:

California Humanities Grant Programs (California Humanities). Grants support a variety of efforts by nonprofits and public agencies to preserve and educate about California's richly diverse heritage.

Deadlines for applications range from June to November 2023.

Hometown Grants (T-Mobile/Main Street America/Smart Growth America). Grants are awarded on a quarterly basis to support the preservation and revitalization of community spaces in towns of 50,000 population or less.

Deadline for applications: June 30, 2023.

The remaining quarterly grant cycles for 2023 take place July-September and October-December.

History of Equal Rights Grant Program (National Park Service). Funding supports efforts to preserve sites associated with the struggle for equal rights in America.

Deadline for applications: July 11, 2023.

Underrepresented Communities Grant Program (National Park Service). Grants support the survey, inventory, and designation of historic properties associated with communities currently underrepresented in the National Register of Historic Places and among National Historic Landmarks.

Deadline for applications: July 18, 2023.

Designating California!

This month, we wanted to give a nod to the Historic Context Statement, one of the important “tools” that supports the process of designating the many places, landscapes, and buildings that are part of California’s richly diverse heritage.

Historic context statements, often done in conjunction with resource surveys, provide communities with the foundation for preservation planning, and are critical for understanding, identifying, and evaluating historic resources. Context statements are based on one or more themes, a geographical area, and periods of significance. They describe the broad patterns of historical development of a community or region that are represented by the physical development and character of the built environment, identify important associated property types, and establish eligibility criteria and integrity thresholds.

California’s communities and public agencies have developed historic context statements on a broad range of themes and resources from Mid-Century Modern to Agriculture, Archaeology, Transportation, and an important and growing number of contexts focused on the history and contributions of California’s Native American, LGBTQ, Asian American, Latinix, African American, and Jewish American communities, among others. Links to many of these context statements can be found on our Historic Contexts Library page. To learn more about context statements and surveys, visit our Historic Contexts and Resource Surveys page. Finally, we encourage you to visit your local government’s Planning or Community Development pages to learn about historic contexts associated with the treasured heritage of your own communities.

Image: A few of the many historic contexts highlighting California's heritage.

State Historical Resources Commission

The SHRC meets quarterly each year. Commission meetings are open to the public and live-streamed through the Cal-Span network. Meeting dates, times, and agendas are posted to the SHRC Meeting Schedule and Notices page of the OHP website.

For upcoming nominations, visit the Pending Nominations page. Nominations already heard by the Commission are listed on the Actions Taken page, and video recordings of SHRC meetings are posted to the Meeting Recordings & Summaries page.

Learn more about the responsibilities and role of the SHRC.

News, Education, and More

CPF Webinars for June

The California Preservation Foundation (CPF) is hosting two free webinars this month:

June 13: Expanding the Focus: Community Informed Preservation and Interpretation

June 30: "Playing" with Place: Cultural Heritage and Video Game Design (this webinar is held in conjunction with the CPF Annual Meeting and Election)

Additional CPF webinars can be accessed via the Past Programming page of the CPF website.

HistoriCorps Projects for Summer 2023

HistoriCorps has a full schedule of hands-on preservation projects available this summer on public lands throughout the country, including California. The nonprofit organization trains volunteer crews of all ages the hands-on skills of restoring, repairing, and preserving historic resources. Meals, tools, and campsites are provided.

Online Trainings from NPI

The National Preservation Institute (NPI) is offering a variety of online trainings on all topics and areas of preservation. Both free and for-fee courses are offered.

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