On Saturday, October 31, the American Swedish Historical Museum is hosting the annual New Sweden History Conference, which explores the history of the New Sweden Colony (1638-1655) and its legacy in colonial America. This year's conference, which is being held virtually, will focus on vernacular architecture in the Delaware River Valley prior to 1767. The presenters on the panel, listed below, include Wade Catts from ACRA member firm South River Heritage Consulting.

Panelists:

Registration is $35, and registrants will receive links to view each speaker’s recorded presentation prior of a live panel discussion. Participants may submit any questions they have for the presenters in advance which will be answered during the live panel discussion webinar on Saturday, October 31 from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm EDT. Register here!

Your Congress in Action is a series that highlights the Capitol Hill news that affects CRM firms the most. Be sure to subscribe to the ACRAsphere to ensure you don't miss an update.

Normally, Washington is a pretty sleepy place a week before the election as the nation’s focus turns to the campaign trail. As we know, 2020 is not a normal year, and several major policy battles are still being waged, even as voting has already begun.

The main action is around an economic relief bill to extend unemployment insurance, provide relief for state and local governments, and aid small businesses. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin are trading proposals in the (slim) hopes of getting a bill passed before the Election. The main sticking point remains the overall price tag: Democrats want a package totaling $2.2 trillion, while Senate Republicans have pushed for a lower amount.

Even if Pelosi and Mnuchin strike a deal, it’s not clear what the Senate would do. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) has said he would bring to the Senate floor a bill that was approved by the House and had the support of the White House. But he also has reportedly told the White House to hold firm on not agreeing to a deal. For their part, Senate Republicans brought a “skinny” $500 billion COVID relief bill to the floor last week, which Senate Democrats opposed, killing it. It is likely that any bill, if enacted, won’t happen until a lame-duck session after the election.

Meanwhile, the Senate is moving forward with the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans voted unanimously to send her nomination to the full Senate Thursday, in a session that Democrats boycotted. The Senate is expected to vote on the nomination on Monday, which would enable Barrett to be seated before the election – and possibly vote on matters related to the election itself.

Speaking of the election, a record number of Americans have already cast ballots, either absentee or via early voting. As of Thursday, 45 million Americans had already voted; that number equals 33 percent of all the votes cast in the 2016 election. In Texas alone, the number of early votes is two-thirds the amount of all votes cast in 2016. Does this portend a record turnout overall, or is it a function of the pandemic prompting people to vote early? It’s hard to say, but all these absentee vote means that we probably won’t know who wins the White House, or control of the Senate, for a few days, if not longer.

Once the election is over (even if the counting isn’t), Congress still has a fairly large to-do list in a lame-duck session. The current funding agreement for the federal government expires on Dec. 11, meaning Congress and the White House need to extend it to avoid a government shutdown. Congress also needs to pass a Defense authorization bill, which they have done every year for the last half century. And a COVID relief package will need to be debated, assuming it doesn’t happen before the election.

There’s a fair chance that all of this – government funding, a defense bill and COVID relief – will be wrapped into a single massive bill. This is what DC folk call a “Christmas tree,” since it gives lawmakers the chance to exchange their “Yes” vote for getting leadership to attach their pet legislative projects onto the bill. This means anything could sneak into an end-of-year bill, including items not favorable to the CRM industry. Vigilance is key.

Naturally, the political environment in a lame-duck session will depend on the election’s outcome. If President Trump wins re-election and Republicans maintain control of the Senate, then Republicans have an incentive to “clear the decks” by passing legislation quickly so they can start a second Trump term with a clean slate.

On the other hand, if President Trump loses, will he and Senate Republicans try to push through as much legislation as they can before January? And will Democrats try to block everything, waiting for Joe Biden to enter the White House? It’s also entirely possible that a lame-duck session will happen in an environment when the election outcome isn’t even known, adding to the uncertainty.

No matter who wins, we expect the Trump administration to accelerate their regulatory reform. This could include further attempts to curtail NEPA, or even touch Sec. 106. If Biden wins, he could undo these regulations, and Democrats could use the Congressional Review Act to overturn them. But even if Democrats retake the White House, efforts to “streamline” regulations to speed up infrastructure projects could imperil Sec. 106.

The possibility of regulatory action post-election is just one of the trends that ACRA is following closely as we approach Election Day. In meetings last week with members of Congress and their staff, ACRA heard loud and clear that the future of preservation policy hinges a great deal on the outcome of the election. If Democrats win back the Senate, there will be new leadership and direction at every Committee. Regardless of who wins, there will be pressure on federal agencies to cut “red tape” in order to get people back to work. Does this mean that policymakers will try to exempt projects from Sec. 106? Anything is possible, which is why ACRA has been sending the clear message that Sec. 106 is a win-win for the economy and for protecting our heritage.

Regardless of who wins, the ongoing pandemic and economic crisis means the urgency among business of all sizes to get some relief from Washington will continue. Programs like the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) help, but what’s really needed to get the economy moving again is a plan to combat COVID-19 and, ultimately, a vaccine. Putting the county’s physical and economic health back on track is something all sides should agree on.

Wear a mask. Practice social distancing. And make a plan to vote. If you need help with the last one, visit www.vote.org.

Within the field of cultural resources management, there has been increased interest and attention focused on harassment and discrimination issues at both national and local levels within the last several years. In December 2019, ACRA conducted a survey on organizational policies regarding harassment and discrimination policies at CRM firms. As a follow up, we are now conducting a survey on the individual experiences of those in the CRM field.

This survey seeks to collect information on the experiences that CRM practitioners have had with sexual harassment and gender equity while working specifically in the private and public sectors of cultural resource management. We ask questions about your individual experiences, reporting of those experiences and associated outcomes, and your archaeological training experiences. We also ask about your observations of harassment and discrimination in field, laboratory, and office settings within cultural resource management.

This survey should take approximately 20 minutes. It is completely anonymous and does not ask any questions that would compromise your identity. You may stop the survey at any time, and you may choose to answer only some of the questions. ACRA’s Executive Director is the only one with administrative access to the survey results. ACRA will use the data to inform the creation of new initiatives as a part of our Health & Safety program.

The deadline to complete the survey is Tuesday, December 1. If you have any questions or comments, please contact Dr. Sarah Herr (sherr at desert dot com). Please feel free to send this survey to other contacts in the industry, and thank you in advance for your participation.

Share Your Experience Now

     

The American Cultural Resources Association and the Society for American Archaeology understand that these are challenging and rapidly-changing times that more than ever require the close collaboration of those who care about protecting and preserving the nation’s shared cultural past.

ACRA is the national trade association supporting and promoting the common interests of cultural resource management (CRM) firms of all sizes, types, and specialties. ACRA member firms undertake much of the legally mandated CRM studies and investigations in the United States and employ thousands of CRM professionals, including archaeologists, architectural historians, historians, and an increasingly diverse group of other specialists. Using free market business practices, ACRA firms deploy skilled teams to provide clients with the best service while fulfilling ethical and professional commitments to people and cultural resources, as well as providing communities with a voice in development processes.

The SAA is an international organization that, since its founding in 1934, has been dedicated to research about and interpretation and protection of the archaeological heritage of the Americas. With nearly 7,000 members, SAA represents professional and avocational archaeologists, archaeology students in colleges and universities, and archaeologists working at Tribal agencies, museums, government agencies, and the private sector. SAA has members throughout the U.S., as well as in many nations around the world.

Our organizations will continue to work together and with other like-minded professional organizations to represent the interests of cultural resources management and conservation to all sectors of government, including Congressional representatives on both sides of the aisle, federal and state agencies, tribal governments and agencies, and state legislatures. Drawing together the voices of our collective members is essential to ensuring preservation initiatives are at the forefront of national discussions and are fostered in local communities. We are committed to accomplishing this goal jointly and look forward to future opportunities to do so.

From the ACHP:

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) today announced the findings of a task force working to promote the development of a robust workforce in the skilled preservation trades.

ACHP members adopted a policy statement prepared by the Traditional Trades Training Task Force, which is exploring ways to address the deficit of skilled workers, such as masons, carpenters, painters, plasterers, and others in the construction trades, who know how to—and why we should—preserve, repair, replicate, and maintain historic materials and finishes essential to historic preservation projects.

“Traditional trades are critically important to preserving the heritage and continued use of our historic built environment for future generations,” ACHP Chairman Aimee Jorjani said. “It is more important than ever, with the Great American Outdoors Act that is now law as well as the pandemic’s impact on employment, to increase the number of skilled craftspeople in traditional trades. These are skills that can be added to those currently in the construction field or for those interested in pursuing creative and skilled hands-on preservation work.

“Engaging the Traditional Trades Training Task force has shown that these can be well-paying jobs that help revitalize communities, both physically and economically, and lead to pathways into the expanded field. The unanimous passage of this policy statement solidifies the ACHP’s involvement to encourage and help guide efforts for public and private partnerships to address this urgent need and highlight the value of this work.”

A 2019 Associated General Contractors of America survey showed 80 percent of construction firms reported having difficulty filling craft positions that represent the bulk of the construction workforce. This lack of skilled workers is further magnified for the specialized traditional trades often needed for historic preservation projects. Growing the ranks of skilled traditional trades workers would help to build preservation capacity and ensure historic resources are preserved, bolster local economies, helping to fill vacant jobs, and would allow people to acquire marketable knowledge, skills, and abilities that employers are seeking. Resulting jobs often are well paid and secure.

The policy statement points out these key concepts: training opportunities in traditional trades should be widely available; open-source training curriculum is important; apprenticeship programs are essential; and industry-recognized credentials and/or qualification standards are needed.

The policy statement outlines several recommendations:

• Integrate traditional trades into existing Department of Labor apprenticeship programs.
• Encourage states to use existing Department of Education career and technical education funding for traditional trades training in state Perkins Plans.
• Encourage recipients of existing Department of Housing and Urban Development funding to address traditional trades training when meeting workforce development requirements.
• Consider options for federal support in development of open-source traditional trades training curriculum.
• Develop federal qualification standards for the traditional trades.
• Include traditional trades training when addressing deferred maintenance of historic properties under the Great American Outdoors Act.
• Promote traditional trades training in the work of conservation corps.
• Explore use of COVID-19 recovery/stimulus funding to create jobs and job training in the traditional trades.
• Utilize the Historic Preservation Fund for traditional trades training grants, as authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act.
• Explore development of sustainable, dedicated funding that would be a continuing source of revenue for traditional trades training.

In conjunction with the Task Force’s continuing work to promote traditional trades training, the ACHP will explore opportunities for encouraging implementation of the Policy Statement’s recommendations.

Chairman Jorjani chairs the Task Force, with Moss Rudley, Superintendent of the National Park Service’s Historic Preservation Training Center in Frederick, Maryland, and Nicholas Redding, Executive Director of Preservation Maryland, as vice chairmen. Other members of the Task Force include the following: Casey Sacks, U.S. Department of Education Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Colleges; Ryan Hambleton, Department of the Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks; Katherine Wonson, Director of the National Park Service’s Western Center for Historic Preservation in Grand Teton, Wyoming; ACHP Vice Chairman Rick Gonzalez; James Turner, owner of Turner Restoration in Detroit, Michigan; Simeon Warren, Chief of Architecture and Engineering at the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training in Natchitoches, Louisiana; Benjamin R. Curran, Department Head of Savannah Technical College’s Historic Preservation and Restoration Program and Director of the college’s Center for Traditional Craft; Milan Jordan, Director of the HOPE Crew at the National Trust for Historic Preservation; and Brian Lusher, Historic Preservation Officer for the National Endowment for the Arts.

You can also view this release on the ACHP website.

ACRA member firm Mead & Hunt is undertaking a project for the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) that will focus on project-level Programmatic Agreements (PAs) and Post-World War II (postwar) commercial property types (NCHRP Project 25-62). The project has two main goals:

1. Review current and best practices for project-level PAs to develop strategies that enable state DOTs to streamline Section 106 responsibilities and decision-making.
2. Develop a structured, replicable methodology for developing historic contexts, conducting surveys, and completing National Register evaluations for postwar commercial properties built from 1945 to 1980.

Mead & Hunt is requesting your input through two online surveys, which will help them better understand these issues. Links to both surveys are provided below. The surveys should take 15-20 minutes to complete and the deadline is October 31:

Programmatic Agreements

Postwar Commercial Properties 

For information about this project can be found here. 

What is NCHRP? For more information, please visit the Transportation Research Board website.

Thanks in advance for your input!

Many of us struggle to find affordable healthcare for ourselves, our families, and our employees, but as many of you know, we now have our own option for you to consider. We have partnered with SALA (an industry trade association for organizations like ours) to offer an exciting healthcare solution for your firms and your employees - one that even temporary/seasonal employees and students are eligible for.

The ACRA Healthcare Program has several components to choose from to customize your healthcare. When each component is brought together, the result is a unique and affordable option for your healthcare.

The ACRA Healthcare Program is available for ACRA member firms and their employees. Whether you are a small firm that cannot afford to offer insurance to employees or a large company looking to provide benefits to seasonal staff, this program is available to all member firms and their employees at no additional cost.

We are holding two informational webinars for both members and prospective members to learn more about how the program works: 

If you are from an ACRA member firm, please encourage your employees to join!

To find out more about the program, please visit our website, review the information listed, watch the videos, and reach out to our partners at SALA for more information!

WARNING: SEDERA, INC. IS NOT AN INSURANCE COMPANY AND THE SEDERA MEDICAL COST SHARING MEMBERSHIP IS NOT ISSUED OR OFFERED BY AN INSURANCE COMPANY. WHILE EVERY EFFORT IS MADE TO MEET MEMBER'S MEDICAL NEEDS, SEDERA, INC. AND THE SEDERA MEDICAL COST SHARING COMMUNITY DO NOT GUARANTEE PAYMENT OF ANY MEDICAL EXPENSE.

Program Not Available in VT, AK, WA, IL, NY

Owning a small business can be tough.

Especially if you feel you have to solve every problem yourself.

But what if you could reach out to other people who have faced similar challenges? What if you could meet with other smart people to face problems and challenges together?

A mastermind group can help you do just that. In a mastermind, people lean on each other, give advice, and share connections. Small business owners, in particular, can benefit from this type of peer-to-peer mentoring.

ACRA is pleased to offer a mastermind group to help our small business members with goal setting, strategic planning, and accountability.

When: Monthly, beginning January 2021.
Where: Virtual, in real time.
Instructor: Lauren Simonis

The mastermind group will be customized to the attendees' needs, but will typically focus on goal setting, networking, and workshopping solutions to the common challenges that all of our businesses face. The mastermind will be twelve, 60-75 minute sessions, held in live online video chat (the attendees will work with Lauren to determine the specific schedule).

Fee (Includes all digital materials and an additional 30 minutes for the first and last sessions for introductions, expectations, and close-out): $400

The mastermind group is limited to 7 participants, and is only open to small firm membership levels. Save your space NOW!

Join the ACRA Mastermind Group

Do you have a great idea for a webinar for CRM professionals? Do you have a presentation you give regularly that you think would be great for a larger audience? If so, we want to hear your proposals - the call for 2021 ACRA webinar sessions is now open!

We are looking for expert providers to submit applications for online learning opportunities that will be offered on a regular schedule to ACRA members and to the public. We hope to offer a range of topics for sessions, from the technical aspects of cultural resource management to expanding general business skills and knowledge.

ACRA's 2021 online learning program continues the revenue sharing program in addition to the traditional honorarium. You can view the detailed requirements in the Request for Proposal here. Proposals are due on November 20, 2020.

You can help shape ACRA's continuing education program and bring your ideas to a larger audience - share your ideas with us by November 20!

From the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers:

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District is accepting public comments on its Draft Programmatic Agreement for the Corps’ operations, navigation and shore protection programs in Florida.

The Programmatic Agreement (PA) establishes the process the Corps will follow for compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservations Act (54 U.S.C. § 306108), which ensures the Corps’ decision on carrying out an undertaking associated with the operations, navigation and shore protection programs in Florida. Comments received will inform the Corps’ proposed review of effects to historic properties, the views of others regarding those effects, and the proposed actions to be taken under the PA for compliance.

Please submit comments by Nov. 12, 2020 to Ryan.Clark@usace.army.mil.

The PA is between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Florida State Historic Preservation Office, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Office of Renewable Energy and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation and other interested parties.

The PA is the product of multiple consultations with the Corps’ federal, tribal, and state partners and is intended to address the normal Section 106 review process, create program-wide allowances for undertakings not requiring additional Section 106 consultation, and in some cases, deferring the evaluation of historic properties and potential effects to historic properties arising from the Corps’ operations, navigation and shore protection programs in Florida until a project is in the pre-construction, engineering and design phase.

To view the document, visit https://usace.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getfile/collection/p16021coll7/id/15877.