National Park Service awards over $603,000 to American Indian Tribes, Alaskan Natives

WASHINGTON - The National Park Service (NPS) announced $603,149 in grants today for 10 projects across the country to support the protection of America’s Native cultures.

“These grants help the National Park Service work with American Indian Tribes and Alaska Native organizations to preserve their cultural heritage and reconnect people with their traditions of the past that help inform their future,” said NPS Director Chuck Sams.

This year’s grants will support projects such as the stabilization of the Noow Hit Tribal House for the Chilkoot Indian Association in Haines, Alaska. This traditional gathering place for the Tlingit people is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

In Arizona, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community received $74,230 for the project: Survey of Significant Places: An Integrated Tribal Cultural Landscape Approach.

Another project is the Wyiot Tribe’s workshops to train tribal citizens in California to become tribal Monitors, so they can engage in site preservation and public education in a meaningful way.

The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation’s plan is to conduct oral histories of approximately 40 tribal elders in Kansas to preserve the historical account of the Nation and its people, their cultural heritage and traditional practices.

These projects are critical to preserving tribal heritage for future generations.

Other projects funded by these grants will locate and identify cultural resources, preserve historic properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places, support comprehensive preservation planning, preserve oral history and cultural traditions, provide training for building a historic preservation program, and support cultural and historic preservation interpretation and education.

Applications for at least $500,000 in 2023 funding will be available in winter 2023. For more information about the grants and the Tribal Heritage Grant program, please visit the Tribal Heritage grants website.

Congress appropriated funding for the Tribal Heritage Grant Program in 2022 through the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF).

Information provided by the National Park Service.