USDA Cultural Resource Protection — How USDA Agencies Identify, Preserve, and Manage Historic and Archaeological Resources
Legal Authority
- 54 U.S.C. § 300101 et seq. (National Historic Preservation Act) — Requires federal agencies to take into account the effects of their undertakings on historic properties; mandates Section 106 consultation with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) before approving projects that may affect historic properties
- 42 U.S.C. § 4321 et seq. (National Environmental Policy Act) — Requires federal agencies to analyze the effects of major federal actions on cultural resources as part of the environmental review process
- Executive Order 11593 — Requires federal agencies to inventory and protect cultural resources on federal lands
- 7 CFR Part 3100 — USDA implementing regulations for the identification, protection, and management of historic and archaeological resources across USDA agencies (Forest Service, NRCS, FSA, RUS, and others)
Key Mechanics
7 CFR Part 3100 establishes USDA's internal framework for complying with the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and other cultural resource protection laws across all USDA agencies operating on, or taking actions affecting, public and private lands. The core obligation is Section 106 of NHPA: before any USDA undertaking (land management plan, conservation project, loan guarantee, easement approval, research station construction) that may affect historic properties, USDA must identify and evaluate potentially affected historic properties, assess effects, and consult with the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs), and the ACHP to resolve adverse effects. Part 3100 also requires USDA agencies to inventory cultural resources on lands they manage (primarily National Forests), develop Programmatic Agreements with SHPOs for landscape-scale activities that would otherwise require individual Section 106 consultations, and protect archaeological sites from unauthorized excavation under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA). The Forest Service manages the largest federal cultural resource inventory in the country — millions of acres of National Forest land contain archaeological sites, traditional cultural properties, and historic structures. Failure to complete Section 106 review before approving a project can expose USDA to legal challenges under NHPA and NEPA.
Current Rule (2026)
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Citation | 7 CFR Part 3100 |
| Issuing agency | USDA Office of Environmental Quality |
| Statutory authority | National Historic Preservation Act (54 U.S.C. § 300101 et seq.); National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. § 4321); Executive Order 11593 |
| Last major amendment | No recent Federal Register amendments |
What This Rule Does
The federal government controls or influences enormous stretches of American landscape — national forests, grasslands, rural development project areas, agricultural easement lands — that contain irreplaceable evidence of human history. Archaeological sites, historic buildings, sacred Native American sites, Civil War battlefields, pioneer farmsteads, and prehistoric landscapes are all at risk when federal agency decisions disturb land or fund projects that do so.
Seven CFR Part 3100 Subpart C — Enhancement, Protection, and Management of the Cultural Environment — establishes the USDA-wide policy framework for protecting cultural resources. It implements Executive Order 11593 (which requires federal agencies to inventory and protect historic properties on federal land) and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's regulations at 36 CFR Part 800 (the Section 106 review process under the National Historic Preservation Act). The rule applies to all USDA agencies — Forest Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Farm Service Agency, Rural Development — whenever their programs or activities could affect cultural resources.
Key Provisions
- § 3100.40 — Purpose: requires USDA to protect, improve, and manage the cultural environment; implements E.O. 11593 and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's procedures in 36 CFR Part 800; provides USDA agencies with guidance on the specific steps required when federal actions could affect historic, prehistoric, archaeological, or architectural resources
- § 3100.41 — Authorities: lists the full range of legal authorities USDA must follow: the Antiquities Act (1906) for protecting antiquities and allowing scientific permits; the Historic Sites Act (1935); the Reservoir Salvage Act (1960) requiring data recovery at sites threatened by construction; the National Historic Preservation Act (1966) requiring Section 106 review of federal undertakings; NEPA (1969) for environmental review; the Historical and Archaeological Data Preservation Act (1974); the Public Buildings Cooperative Use Act (1976) encouraging reuse of historic federal buildings; and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (1978) protecting Native religious practices
- § 3100.42 — Definitions: "cultural resources" are physical remains or records of past human activity — sites, buildings, objects, neighborhoods, or significant events — that are historic, prehistoric, archaeological, or architectural and cannot be replaced once lost; "cultural environment" means the portion of the surrounding environment that contains evidence of human history or prehistory
- § 3100.43 — Policy: USDA will identify, protect, preserve, interpret, evaluate, and nominate prehistoric and historic cultural resources on lands it administers; the department supports preserving working farms, rural landscapes, and rural communities as themselves constituting cultural heritage; USDA will consult with American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians about traditional religious practices that may be affected by agency actions
- § 3100.44 — Implementation: cultural resource protection decisions must be balanced against natural resource management, food and fiber production, environmental protection, energy conservation, and rural development goals; irreversible losses of significant cultural resources may only be accepted when there is an overriding national interest and no reasonable alternative; before decisions affecting Native American sites or practices, USDA must consult with tribal religious leaders and other appropriate Native leaders or their representatives
- § 3100.45 — Direction to agencies: USDA agencies must maintain inventories of known cultural resources, nominate eligible properties to the National Register of Historic Places, conduct Section 106 review before undertakings that might affect eligible properties, and develop protocols for salvaging archaeological data when construction or other disturbance cannot be avoided
How It Affects You
Landowners with USDA easements or in USDA conservation programs should be aware that USDA's cultural resource protection obligations can affect how program activities are planned and permitted on their land. If a conservation practice installation, site improvement, or wetland restoration project is near a known or suspected archaeological site, USDA may require additional review before proceeding.
Rural development applicants and USDA loan recipients should expect that projects involving ground disturbance or demolition of structures may require USDA to conduct Section 106 review under the National Historic Preservation Act before loan approval. Historic structures and archaeological sites on project sites create legal obligations that USDA must satisfy before providing federal funds.
Forest Service and conservation program staff are responsible for maintaining inventories of cultural resources in their program areas and conducting required Section 106 consultations when planning projects. The rule's directive to consult with tribal leaders about Native American religious sites applies wherever agency activities could affect those sites — not only on lands with formal tribal sovereignty.
State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPOs) are key partners in USDA's Section 106 process. When USDA undertakings might affect properties eligible for the National Register, USDA must consult with the relevant SHPO and, where appropriate, Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs). Landowners and developers who receive USDA assistance are often brought into this process.
Archaeological salvage situations — where a project must go forward and a site cannot be fully preserved — require careful documentation and data recovery under USDA's authorities. If USDA discovers archaeological remains during a project, work typically must pause while the agency evaluates the find's significance and determines an appropriate path forward in consultation with the SHPO.
Statutory Authority
This rule implements:
- National Historic Preservation Act (54 U.S.C. § 300101 et seq.; formerly 16 U.S.C. § 470 et seq., recodified by Pub. L. 113-287 in 2014) — requires federal agencies to conduct Section 106 review for undertakings that might affect properties eligible for the National Register of Historic Places; authorizes state and tribal historic preservation programs
- National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. § 4321 et seq.) — requires environmental impact analysis for major federal actions; cultural resources are part of the human environment that NEPA review must address
- Executive Order 11593 — Protection and Enhancement of the Cultural Environment; directs federal agencies to inventory historic properties on federal lands, nominate eligible properties to the National Register, and avoid unnecessary damage to those properties
Recent Rulemakings
No major Federal Register amendments. The cultural resource protection framework reflects longstanding USDA policy implementing NHPA, NEPA, and Executive Order 11593.