The National Historic Preservation Act at Fifty: How a Wide-Ranging Federal-State Partnership Made its Mark in Oregon

Abstract

Since the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) was signed into law in 1966, its “benefit to the nation has been far-reaching.” In this introductory essay to a special section celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the NHPA, Elisabeth Potter explores how historic preservation incentives were adopted and advanced in Oregon. The NHPA established a nationwide framework for cultural resource management that is used by individual states to set preservation priorities. Oregon, for example, is notable for Goal 5 of Senate Bill 100, an early land-use law requiring comprehensive planning to include provisions for protecting historic resources. That law greatly expanded state inventories of historic resources until it was amended in 1995. Although Oregon's early historic preservation programs under the NHPA were productive, Potter suggests that “some of the most apparent challenges ahead for Oregon reservationists boil down to counteracting erosion of protective measures… and expanding state and local incentives for investment.”