How Reclamation Developed Programmatic Agreements: Alternative Form of Compliance with Section 106

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Managing Water, Protecting Heritage: Bureau of Reclamation Undertakings in the American West" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Over the last 10 years, the Bureau of Reclamation’s Provo Area Office, along with the Utah and Wyoming State Historic Preservation Offices, have developed programmatic agreements (PAs) as an alternative form of compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. These PAs allow the agency to complete two types of stream-lined projects. The first is for water-associated infrastructure such as actions through the WaterSMART grant program. Since January 2021, Reclamation has awarded $431.3 million in WaterSMART funding, and the program continues to grow. The second type are projects Reclamation considers to be minor such as routine maintenance. This paper describes the context in which these PAs were developed, challenges encountered, and suggestions for how these kinds of mitigation could be implemented in future land management elsewhere.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Managing Water, Protecting Heritage: Bureau of Reclamation Undertakings in the American West

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53187