Alaska tribes face Monday deadline for federal heritage preservation grants

Alaska tribes, Alaska Native villages and qualifying Native organizations have until Monday evening to apply for a National Park Service grant program supporting cultural and historic preservation work.

The National Park Service says applications for the Tribal Heritage Grants Program are due July 27 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time. In Alaska, that is 7:59 p.m. Monday.

The competitive program is funded through the Historic Preservation Fund and administered by the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service. Congress has appropriated about $900,000 for the program, according to the Park Service. The grants do not require a nonfederal match.

Eligible applicants include federally recognized Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages or corporations, and Native Hawaiian organizations. The program supports cultural and historic preservation projects, including oral-history work, traditional cultural practices, protection of sacred and historic places, and the establishment or support of tribal historic preservation offices.

The Park Service says the program has awarded more than $17 million to more than 460 Indian and Alaska Native communities since 1990.

The eligible work reaches well beyond buildings. The Park Service describes the program as focused on the cultural resources tribes are most concerned with protecting, including oral histories, plant and animal species important in tradition, sacred places and historic places.

Application packages must be submitted through Grants.gov under Assistance Listing 15.904. The Park Service says full application requirements are in the notice of funding opportunity posted to Grants.gov, listed as P25AS00501.

Applicants should check the Grants.gov notice before submitting. The Park Service program page is a summary, not the full application package.