American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials

Special Committee on Research and Innovation

FY2023 NCHRP PROBLEM STATEMENT TEMPLATE

Problem Number: 2023-B-16

Problem Title

Addressing Traditionally Marginalized and Underrepresented Groups in Cultural Resource Management

Background Information and Need For Research

Environmental justice, racial equity, and the inclusion of traditionally marginalized and underrepresented groups in relation to historic preservation is an emerging topic and little specific or practical guidance exists to support FHWA and state DOTs relative to Section 106 review. This topic emphasizes the urgency of research and education and the risk of not properly addressing these groups in Section 106 review (and other historic perseveration regulations) for transportation projects. While there is a lot of literature and policy statements available, it is unclear how much or in what ways this literature and discourse is filtering into the on-the-ground practice of Section 106 review of how the existing information is actually addressing traditionally marginalized and underrepresented groups in Cultural Resource Management. In coming years, efforts to diversify the National Register of Historic Places will affect the Section 106 review process in ways that will create uncertainty for transportation projects, unless Section 106 (and NEPA) practitioners take a proactive role in understanding the issue and updating agency practices.

This research is directly responsive to Goal No. 1 of AASHTO’s Standing Committee on the Environment and Sustainability (CES): “provide technical support to members to increase their capacity to efficiently and reliably deliver environmentally sound transportation programs and services”, especially to “provide various forums and facilitate member information peer exchange of successful practices …”

Literature Search Summary

Professional and industry organizations have provided the most guidance and resources for this topic within the Section 106 regulatory context.

• AASHTO - The board of directors unanimously passed a resolution pledging to address issues related to race, equity, diversity, and inclusion .

• National Park Service - The Underrepresented Community Grant Program (URC) works towards diversifying the nominations submitted to the National Register of Historic Places and its “Telling All Americans' Stories” initiative includes numerous publications on Diverse and Inclusive. Also, NPS’s Heritage Initiatives, is aimed at recognizing several groups that are traditionally underrepresented.

• The National Trust for Historic Preservation - The Trust also focusing on raising awareness of properties associated with traditionally marginalized and underrepresented groups.

• American Cultural Resources Association - providing multiple webinars beginning in July 2021 and into 2022 on the topic and hosted a dedicated session on CRM and traditionally marginalized and underrepresented groups at its 2021 annual conference in which the ACHP and FHWA staff participated.

• American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) and the National Council on Public History (NCPH) - Co-developed The Inclusive Historian’s Handbook that aligns with AASLH’s and NCPH’s goals of building diversity and inclusion across the historical community.

Academia is the realm in which the most is being written and developed. One example is the Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures (BLC) Program at University of Wisconsin, Madison and Milwaukee which hosts a participatory action-research project that explores history and heritage of local neighborhoods. Other academic materials include sources such as “Issues in Preservation Policy, Preservation and Social Inclusion – Preservation’s Reckoning”. Further work to find relevant examples within academia would provide useful .

Research Objective

The goal of the research is to develop a guidance document on effective ways for state DOTs to identify traditionally marginalized and underrepresented groups, to appropriately evaluate properties associated with these groups , to develop pertinent mitigation within Section 106 or other regulatory processes.

Four elements are required: (1) identifying practices that lead to early and effective public involvement with these groups; (2) developing strategies to identify and evaluate properties with local significance by more comprehensively considering properties overlooked by current survey and evaluation methods, including integrity considerations; (3) finding new ways to integrate perspectives from such groups when considering adverse effects to historic properties; and (4) pinpointing best-practices, case studies and available training venues.

Work needed to accomplish these goals include the following tasks:

1. Researching and identifying creative and best practices for public outreach to traditionally marginalized and underrepresented groups, including looking at public outreach for NEPA, Section 106 outreach, and by cities and communities in urban planning and historic preservation. The result will develop a detailed resource guide to traditionally marginalized and under-represented groups that identifies key themes and topics based on available research and synthesizes the results. Research would include work completed by federal and state agencies, local governments, CRM NGO organizations, and academia. The resource guide would be organized around providing answers to common questions and needs related to meeting requirements under Section 106.

2. Complete a survey of FHWA, state DOTs, SHPOs, CRM NGO organizations, and academia of the topic as it relates to environmental regulations - specifically Section 106 - to understand the state of the industry on creative and best practices and existing agency policy practices, and training for public outreach and mitigation.

3. Compile the results of the survey and develop a document that captures the state of the industry, identifies existing resources and needs, and case studies on successful outcomes. Case studies would include successful projects regarding the identification and evaluation of properties and through public engagement and involvement in the consultation, evaluation, and mitigation processes. The results will include a list of best practices for outreach, evaluation of historic resources and mitigation.

Urgency and Potential Benefits

Urgent need to proactively address the needs of Executive Order Directing Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice, Minority Populations & Low-Income Populations that calls for a review of environmental regulations with a focus on the issue of environmental justice to consider environmental effects on low-income and minority communities across the United States and changes already underway in within the historic preservation field to understand how Section 106 and other historic preservation regulations can properly address traditionally marginalized and under-represented groups.

Benefits include:

1. Providing examples and effective practices on the identification and engagement with traditionally marginalized groups and under-represented groups as part of public involvement to reduce unanticipated discoveries.

2. Understanding how to creatively work within the existing regulatory environment (Section 106/ 110, NEPA) to engage traditionally marginalized and under-represented groups to initiate public involvement in regulatory processes and provide case studies of successful outcomes.

3. Providing examples on how the National Register Criteria for Evaluation were used to evaluate a range of property types associated with traditionally marginalized and under-represented groups and provide case studies of successful outcomes.

Implementation Considerations

The outcomes of this research would primarily be used by state DOT CRM programs, including planning and environmental programs, implemented through review and adoption of research results and participation coupled with a consultant with experience on the subject matter. Other organizations that might be interested in the research results and could help support implementation include:

● Federal Highway Administration

● Federal Transit Administration

● Federal Railway Administration

● Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

● State Historic Preservation Officers

Recommended Research Funding and Research Period

Funding: $250,000

Period: 2 years

Problem Statement Author(s): For each author, provide their name, affiliation, email address and phone.

Chad Moffett, Mead & Hunt, Inc. chad.moffett@meadhunt.com 916-993-4655;

Kyle Obenauer , Senior Architectural Historian , Vermont Agency of Transportation,

kyle.obenauer@vermont.gov, (802) 279-7040

Potential Panel Members: For each panel member, provide their name, affiliation, email address and phone.

AME60 Committee of the Transportation Research Board has a subcommittee that are active and assisted in development of the problem statement that could serve or identify panel members:

Kyle Obenauer, Vermont Agency of Transportation; Hannah Braun, Colorado DOT; Anthony Ross, Indiana DOT; Kristen Zschomler, Mead & Hunt, Inc.; Steve Archer, Maryland DOT; Terri Lotti, Georgia DOT; Althea Asaro, Caltrans; and Jessica Feldman, ICF.

Person Submitting The Problem Statement: Name, affiliation, email address and phone.

Kyle Obenauer

Senior Architectural Historian

Vermont Agency of Transportation

(802) 279-7040

kyle.obenauer@vermont.gov