FY2025 ABPP - Battlefield Restoration Grants

Historic battlefields and associated sites of armed conflict are powerful reminders of the shared heritage of all Americans. The National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program (NPS ABPP) promotes the preservation and interpretation of these important places. NPS ABPP supports community-driven stewardship of historic resources through four grant opportunities: Preservation Planning, Battlefield Restoration, Battlefield Interpretation, and Battlefield Land Acquisition. NPS ABPP administers the Battlefield Restoration Grant opportunity to provide assistance for the restoration of day-of-battle conditions within eligible Civil War battlefields listed in the Civil War sites Advisory Commission's (CWSAC) Report on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields (1993) and in the principal battlefields of the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 identified in NPS ABPP’s Report to Congress on the Historic Preservation of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Sites in the United States (2007) (Survey Reports). Restoration sites must be located outside the external boundaries of a unit of the National Park System and must have been protected with assistance from a NPS’s Battlefield Land Acquisition Grant (BLAG) established under 54 U.S.C. §308103(b), be owned by state or local government entities (e.g., state or local battlefield parks), OR owned by a nonprofit organization, and located within the boundaries of battlefields listed in the Survey Reports. Funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) will support planning and implementation activities for historic preservation projects at eligible properties and will be awarded competitively. Grants require a dollar-for-dollar non-Federal match. Two categories of grants are available for activities supporting the restoration efforts at eligible properties: Scoping Grants are available to fund early stages of project development, such as research, documentation, and evaluation to determine appropriate treatment options that meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties and Guidelines for the Treatment of Historic Landscapes; consultation with stakeholders; development of comprehensive treatment and management plans, schematic designs, and/or specifications. The Federal share for these planning grants should range from $30,000-$100,000 and have a period of performance of 1 to 2 years. Implementation Grants are available to applicants who have completed planning activities prior to application. These include evaluation of historic resources, and identification if preservation, rehabilitation, or restoration is the most appropriate and viable option according to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties and Guidelines for the Treatment of Historic Landscapes, prior to application. Proposed treatments may include reconstruction of specific features or elements within a landscape, provided there is adequate documentation and differentiation of new and historical elements. Total reconstructions of buildings or landscapes that no longer retain any integrity to the period of the battle are not eligible, as they serve purposes of interpretation rather than historic preservation. The applicant must provide planning documentation as part of the application that sufficiently addresses the Standards and Guidelines and evaluation of historic resources (see Application Review). The Federal share for these grants should range from $50,000-$750,000 and have a period of performance of 2 to 5 years. Land developed with these funds will be subject to the LWCF non-conversion requirements. Nonprofit partners with title on eligible lands must convey a perpetual preservation easement on the land to the appropriate State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) or to another organization acceptable to the National Park Service and SHPO.