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Join us for another FREE members-only virtual happy hour on Tuesday, June 30 at 6:00 pm EDT.
There is no fixed agenda - we can talk about the industry trends, get ideas from your peers about continuing to operate in the current climate, or even just vent about the challenges you have experienced during the pandemic. All employees of ACRA member firms are welcome to join.
Both ACRA President Nathan Boyless and Executive Director Amanda Stratton will be providing updates on ACRA resources and news.
Simply sign up here and we will send you a link to join!
The Great American Outdoors Act, a bill that funds repairs at American’s national parks and fully funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), passed the Senate this week in a 73-25 vote. The bill now moves to the House, which is expected to take up the bill before July 4.
The Great American Outdoors Act will invest $1.9 billion annually for the next five years in deferred maintenance for lands managed by the National Park Service, USDA Forest Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Indian Education. Performing this work will also provide jobs in nearly every state.
The bill would also provide full and permanent funding of $900 million each year for LWCF. These monies come from offshore oil and gas revenues – not tax dollars. Since 1965, the LWCF has helped preserve historic sites, cultural parks, battlefields, and archaeological sites. Examples of these sites include: Fort Monroe National Monument, Gettysburg National Military Park, Nez Perce National Historical Park, San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, and Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
The bill is supporting by both environmental groups and oil and gas industry organizations alike. From the Washington Post:
Virtually every major environmental group supported the bill. So too does the oil and gas industry, happy to take credit for providing money to fix parks. “It highlights the role we already play in conservation,” said Kathleen Sgamma, head of the Western Energy Alliance. Despite that support, nearly half of Senate Republicans voted against the bill. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), long skeptical of the LWCF, decried the idea of the U.S. government seizing more land in states such as his, where federal agencies control nearly two out of every three acres. And some Southern representatives, such as Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), wanted more money to go toward shoreline restoration along the Gulf of Mexico, where so much oil drilling that generates money for the programs takes place. “The Senate missed an opportunity to invest in coastal resiliency to protect against flooding and hurricanes,” Cassidy said. “The coast needs this money for its communities to survive. This fight is not over.”
Virtually every major environmental group supported the bill. So too does the oil and gas industry, happy to take credit for providing money to fix parks.
“It highlights the role we already play in conservation,” said Kathleen Sgamma, head of the Western Energy Alliance.
Despite that support, nearly half of Senate Republicans voted against the bill.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), long skeptical of the LWCF, decried the idea of the U.S. government seizing more land in states such as his, where federal agencies control nearly two out of every three acres.
And some Southern representatives, such as Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), wanted more money to go toward shoreline restoration along the Gulf of Mexico, where so much oil drilling that generates money for the programs takes place.
“The Senate missed an opportunity to invest in coastal resiliency to protect against flooding and hurricanes,” Cassidy said. “The coast needs this money for its communities to survive. This fight is not over.”
Read the full Washington Post analysis of the bill here, and stay tuned to the ACRAsphere for more information as the House takes up the Great American Outdoors Act.
This post was submitted by AECOM, an ACRA member firm.
AECOM archaeologists and cultural heritage specialists work on projects throughout the world, and Cambridge Scholars Publishing is coming out with a collection of these studies titled The Business of Heritage on August 1.
Edited by AECOM Australian archaeologist, Darran Jordan, the intention was to collect diverse papers on AECOM projects to contextualise their work within a broader milieu of archaeological study and document the way in which an international business contributes to the development of academic knowledge on a global scale.
Contributors to The Business of Heritage include:
You can pre-order The Business of Heritage now from Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
The voting period for the 2020 ACRA Board elections opens today! The candidates in this year's slate are vying for 4 open positions, including:
Each candidate has submitted a biography and statement to help you make your selection. The slate of candidates is strong, and thus we urge you to review the statements carefully and choose those candidates who you feel best understand the needs of our industry and are committed to providing leadership on the ACRA board.
Read the Candidate Statements and Bios
Per ACRA's bylaws, each member firm gets one vote. Only member firms are eligible - student and associate members do not vote in elections.
Bundle administrators only should have received an invitation from SurveyMonkey this morning. If you do not receive your invitation by 5:00 pm EDT, please first check your spam folder. If you still do not see it, contact us. Voting will be open until July 3, 2020 at 11:59 pm EDT.
Your firm can help shape the future of ACRA - submit your vote before the deadline!
Earlier this month Congress passed the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act (PPPFA), which provided necessary updates for the program regarding the loan coverage period, eligible costs, and more flexibility for employee counts.
We previously outlined the specifics of the program here, and the Small Business Administration (SBA) just released their updated interim final guidance to implement the PPPFA, which is available here. The SBA also updated its PPP application forms to conform to the changes in the legislation. The new borrower application is available here.
If you have not applied for a Paycheck Protection Loan yet but are thinking of doing so, submit your application quickly. The new guidance confirms that the deadline for an application to be approved is June 30, 2020.
If you missed yesterday's webinar on resolving disputes in the section 106 process, it is now available on demand for you to watch on your own schedule!
The Section 106 review process is critical to informing federal infrastructure planning and decision making. Key findings within this review process, including an agency’s findings about the eligibility of historic properties to the National Register and effects to them, can be the subject of disputes among consulting parties. In this advanced webinar designed by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), Blythe Semmer, Senior Program Analyst, and Jaime Loichinger, Assistant Director for Permitting, Licensing, and Assistance in the Office of Federal Agency Programs explore the diagnosis and strategies for resolving such disputes.
As with the live session, this webinar is available to ACRA members at a discounted price. Members can get the discount code to access the presentation for free here.
Watch Resolving Disputes in Section 106 Now
Your Congress in Action is a series that highlights the Capitol Hill news that affects CRM firms the most. This information is sourced from the Coalition for American Heritage, news articles, and more. Be sure to subscribe to the ACRAsphere to ensure you don't miss an update.
Heritage Business International, L3C (HBI) has released the results of 2020 edition of their annual industry size report for CRM. From the press release:
The United States’ heritage compliance sector contracted in 2019 by about 10 million dollars. This contraction marks the ninth year in a row of negative growth for the sector since its historic high in 2011. The compliance sector of the heritage industry includes work performed by heritage and environmental firms to achieve compliance with environmental and cultural resource requirements. It is sometimes referred to as the Cultural Resource Management or CRM industry. These figures come from the just released 2020 edition of the annual industry size report published by Heritage Business International. The report contains a preface on COVID-19, key sector-size statistics, a breakdown of size by U.S. geographic region, historical graphs, and a data table of nominal and real size in dollars and percent annual change going back to 1971. This year’s report includes a new breakdown of size by client industry and key notes throughout the report to assist readers in understanding these data. The report is available for purchase and download from heritagebusiness.org. Dr. Christopher Dore, the report’s principal author, added that “While 2019 only showed a small decrease in size, the nine-year negative trajectory of the sector is of concern. Since 2011 the sector has lost 22.8 percent of its value. This is both the longest and largest decline in the industry’s history.”
The United States’ heritage compliance sector contracted in 2019 by about 10 million dollars. This contraction marks the ninth year in a row of negative growth for the sector since its historic high in 2011. The compliance sector of the heritage industry includes work performed by heritage and environmental firms to achieve compliance with environmental and cultural resource requirements. It is sometimes referred to as the Cultural Resource Management or CRM industry.
These figures come from the just released 2020 edition of the annual industry size report published by Heritage Business International. The report contains a preface on COVID-19, key sector-size statistics, a breakdown of size by U.S. geographic region, historical graphs, and a data table of nominal and real size in dollars and percent annual change going back to 1971. This year’s report includes a new breakdown of size by client industry and key notes throughout the report to assist readers in understanding these data. The report is available for purchase and download from heritagebusiness.org.
Dr. Christopher Dore, the report’s principal author, added that “While 2019 only showed a small decrease in size, the nine-year negative trajectory of the sector is of concern. Since 2011 the sector has lost 22.8 percent of its value. This is both the longest and largest decline in the industry’s history.”
ACRA members receive 50 percent off of U.S. and Canada CRM industry data reports from Heritage Business International. Get the discount code here.
The Coalition for American Heritage, of which ACRA is a founding member, has issued a new action alert for the Great American Outdoors Act, a bill that funds repairs at American’s national parks and fully funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). Congress is expected to vote on the bill this week, so you need to take action NOW!
Background on the Bill:
The deteriorating infrastructure at America’s national parks and public lands includes roads, trails, historic structures and artifacts, battlegrounds, and memorials. The Great American Outdoors Act will invest $1.9 billion annually for the next five years in deferred maintenance for lands managed by the National Park Service, USDA Forest Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Indian Education. Performing this work will also provide jobs in nearly every state.
Voicing your support for this bill is easy - simply visit the action alert page and follow the instructions to take action in just minutes. Urge your Members of Congress to support the Great American Outdoors Act now!
Take Action Now on the Great American Outdoors Act
Yesterday President Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to waive environmental regulations to speed up infrastructure projects under the auspices of responding to the “economic emergency” presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. The good news is that the Order does not attempt to create a blanket waiver of environmental regulations, but is limited to directing agencies to use existing emergency authorities to expedite projects.
Nonetheless, ACRA, along with its partners at the Coalition for American Heritage, has concerns that agencies will invoke the Order to limit public involvement in federal projects, to deprive tribal governments of their rights to consultation, and to limit consideration of impacts to historic properties and cultural resources.
The Executive Order directs agencies to use emergency authorities they already have under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the Clean Water Act (CWA), and to review all statutes, regulations, and guidance documents that provide emergency or expedited treatment—which includes the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) regulations at 36 CFR 800.12.
Our concerns include:
The Order puts considerable pressure on agency heads to expedite projects, requiring that they submit reports in 30 days of how they are using the Order.
Members of Congress have already expressed their disapproval (see Speaker Pelosi’s statement here and Chairman Grijalva’s statement here). ACRA and its partners in the Coalition will be communicating its concerns to Congress and to the agencies.
How You Can Help
Our greatest strength is our network of advocates across the country. Please let us know when you see agencies attempting to invoke this Order on projects on which you work, or even projects you hear about. We need to know how the Order is being applied so that we can formulate the most effective responses.
As we learn more about the implications of this Executive Order, we will continue to update you and the CRM community on this. Visiting the ACRAsphere is the quickest way to get the most up to date information, as well as following us on both Facebook and LinkedIn.
