Editing National Park Service (section)

==Special divisions==
[[File:NPS Preservation Training Center.jpg|thumb|right|Historic Preservation Training Center]]

Other special NPS divisions include the Archeology Program,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/archeology/index.htm |title=National Park Service Archeology Program |date=April 30, 1996 |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=October 15, 2009 |archive-date=August 31, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831012152/http://www.nps.gov/archeology/index.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Historic American Buildings Survey]], [[National Register of Historic Places]], [[National Natural Landmark]]s, the Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/ncrc/programs/rtca/|title=Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=April 5, 2008|archive-date=April 3, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080403090432/http://www.nps.gov/ncrc/programs/rtca/|url-status=live}}</ref> the Challenge Cost Share Program,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/ncrc/programs/ccsp/|title=Challenge Cost Share Program|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=April 5, 2008|archive-date=April 6, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080406064634/http://www.nps.gov/ncrc/programs/ccsp|url-status=live}}</ref> the Federal Lands to Parks,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/flp/|title=Federal Lands to Parks|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=April 5, 2008|archive-date=April 10, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080410213129/http://www.nps.gov/flp/|url-status=live}}</ref> the [[Hydropower]] Relicensing Program,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/hydro/|title=Hydropower Relicensing Program|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=April 5, 2008|archive-date=February 4, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070204095314/http://www.nps.gov/hydro|url-status=live}}</ref> the Land and Water Conservation Fund,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/lwcf/|title=Land and Water Conservation Fund|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=April 5, 2008|archive-date=April 15, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415103650/http://www.nps.gov/lwcf/|url-status=live}}</ref> the [[National Trails System (United States)|National Trails System]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/nts/|title=National Trails System|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=April 5, 2008|archive-date=April 10, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080410235357/http://www.nps.gov/nts/|url-status=live}}</ref> the Partnership Wild and Scenic Rivers Program,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/pwsr/|title=Partnership Wild & Scenic Rivers|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=April 5, 2008|archive-date=February 24, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080224172525/http://www.nps.gov/pwsr/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division]].,<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.nps.gov/orgs/1050/index.htm | title=Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division (U.S. National Park Service) | access-date=December 5, 2015 | archive-date=December 5, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151205225814/http://www.nps.gov/orgs/1050/index.htm | url-status=live }}</ref> and the Historic Preservation Training Center (HPTC).<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1098/index.htm | title=the Historic Preservation Training Center (U.S. National Park Service) | access-date=January 31, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151205225814/http://www.nps.gov/orgs/1050/index.htm | archive-date=December 5, 2015 | url-status=live }}</ref>

There is also an {{visible anchor|Investigative Services Branch}} (ISB), based at NPS headquarters in Washington, D.C. which has personnel distributed among the parks.
<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1563/index.htm |title=Investigative Services |website=www.nps.gov |access-date=8 November 2024 }}</ref>

===Centers===
The NPS operates four archaeology-related centers: Harpers Ferry Center, in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia; the Midwest Archeological Center, in Lincoln, Nebraska; the Southeast Archeological Center, in Tallahassee, Florida; and the Western Archeological and Conservation Center, in Tucson, Arizona. The Harpers Ferry Center specializes in developing interpretive media and in conserving objects. The others focus to various degrees on archaeological research and the curation and conservation of museum objects.

[[National Park Service training centers]] include the Horace Albright Training Center, Grand Canyon; the Stephen Mather Training Center, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia; the Historic Preservation Training Center, Frederick, Maryland; and the Capital Training Center, Washington, D.C.

The [[Submerged Resources Center]] catalogues and evaluates submerged resources in the National Park system.<ref name=RRR10261>{{cite journal |author1=Nimz, J |author2=Clark, T |title=Aquatic Research Opportunities with the National Park Service |journal=In: Steller D, Lobel L, Eds. Diving for Science 2012. Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences 31st Symposium |isbn=978-0-9800423-6-8 |year=2012 |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/10261 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130922223744/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/10261 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=September 22, 2013 |access-date=September 22, 2013}}</ref> The SRC's headquarters are at the Intermountain Region's headquarters, in Lakewood, Colorado.<ref name=RRR10261/>

The [[National Center for Preservation Technology and Training]], in Natchitoches, Louisiana, conducts research and training in archaeology, architecture, landscape architecture, and materials conservation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Center for Preservation Technology & Training (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/ncptt/index.htm |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=National Park Service |language=en |archive-date=November 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221108161841/https://www.nps.gov/subjects/ncptt/index.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Preservation Programs===
[[File:El Santuario del Senor Esquipula 113804pu.jpg|thumb|right|Photograph of El Santuario Del Señor Esquipula, Chimayo, New Mexico]]
[[File:Chicago River Bascule Bridge, LaSalle Street, Chicago.jpg|thumb|right|LaSalle Street Bridge, Chicago, Illinois]]

The oldest federal preservation program, the [[Historic American Buildings Survey]]/[[Historic American Engineering Record]] (HABS/HAER), produces graphic and written documentation of historically significant architectural, engineering and industrial sites and structures. Dating from 1934, the [[Historic American Buildings Survey]] (HABS) was chartered to document historic architecture—primarily houses and public buildings—of national or regional significance. Originally a [[New Deal]] employment/preservation program, after World War II, HABS employed summer teams of advanced undergraduate and graduate students to carry out the documentation, a tradition followed to this day. Many of the structures they documented no longer exist.

HABS/HAER produces measured drawings, large-format photographs and written histories of historic sites, structures and objects, that are significant to the architectural, engineering and industrial heritage of the U.S. Its 25,000 records are part of the Library of Congress. HABS/HAER is administered by the NPS Washington office and five regional offices.<ref>NPS brochure A Heritage So Rich</ref>

====Historic American Buildings Survey====
In 1933, the NPS established the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), based on a proposal by Charles E. Peterson, Park Service landscape architect. It was founded as a make-work program for architects, draftsmen and photographers left jobless by the Great Depression. Guided by field instructions from Washington, D.C., the first recorders were tasked with documenting a representative sampling of America's architectural heritage. After 70 years, there is now an archive of historic architecture. HABS provided a database of primary source material for the then fledgling historic preservation movement.

====Historic American Engineering Record====
Recognizing a similar fragility in the national industrial and engineering heritage, the NPS, the Library of Congress and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) formed the HAER program in 1969, to document nationally and regionally significant engineering and industrial sites. Later, HAER was ratified by the [[American Society of Mechanical Engineers]] (ASME), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the [[American Institute of Chemical Engineers]] (AIChE) and the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers (AIME). HAER documentation, in the forms of measured and interpretive drawings, large-format photographs and written histories, is archivally preserved in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress, where it is readily available to the public.<ref>National Park Service Almanac, Edited and Compiled by Ben Moffett and Vickie Carson, Rocky Mountain Region – Public Affairs, 1994</ref>

'''Historic American Landscapes Survey'''

With the growing vitality of landscape history, preservation and management, proper recognition for historic American landscape documentation must be addressed. In response to this need, the [[American Society of Landscape Architects]] Historic Preservation Professional Interest Group worked with the National Park Service to establish a national program. Hence, in October 2000 the National Park Service permanently established the [[Historic American Landscapes Survey]] (HALS) program for the systematic documentation of historic American landscapes.<ref>{{cite web |title=About HALS {{!}} HABS/HAER/HALS |url=https://www.nps.gov/hdp/hals/ |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=National Park Service |archive-date=November 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221108112028/https://www.nps.gov/hdp/hals/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

====Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program====
The NPS Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance (NPS-RTCA) program is designed to assist local communities and the public with planning for conservation and outdoor recreation projects.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program |url=https://www.nps.gov/orgs/rtca/index.htm |access-date=2023-10-10 |website=National Park Service |language=en}}</ref> The NPS-RTCA program is able to work with local communities outside the borders of the nation's National Parks because of the second sentence of the NPS Mission Statement.<ref>{{cite web |title=What We Do (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/index.htm |access-date=2023-10-10 |website=National Park Service |language=en}}</ref> Unlike the mainline National Park Programs, these programs take place on non-federal property at the request of the local community. One of their better known programs is [[Rails to Trails]], where unused railroad right-of-ways are converted into public hiking and biking trails.<ref>Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program brochure; National Park Service, Department of the Interior</ref>

====Japanese American Confinement Sites====
The National Park Service is responsible for the management and upkeep of several sites where [[Japanese Americans|Americans of Japanese descent]] were [[Internment of Japanese Americans|forcibly relocated and incarcerated Japanese Americans]] during [[World War II]] between 1942 and 1946 under the order of President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. The [[List of Japanese American Confinement Sites|Japanese American Confinement Sites]] (JACS) grant program provides funding for applicants that preserve these sites and their memory.<ref>{{cite web |title=Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program |url=https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1379/index.htm |access-date=2023-04-26 |website=National Park Service |language=en |archive-date=April 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230426114952/https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1379/index.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Japanese American Confinement Education Act |url=https://jacl.org/japanese-american-confinement-education-act |access-date=2023-04-26 |website=JACL |language=en-US |archive-date=April 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423154847/https://jacl.org/japanese-american-confinement-education-act |url-status=live }}</ref>

===National Trails System===
The [[National Trails System]] is a joint mission of the NPS, the [[Bureau of Land Management]] and the [[United States Forest Service|US Forest Service]]. It was created in 1968 to establish a system of long-distance [[National Scenic Trail|National Scenic]] and [[National Historic Trail]]s, as well as to recognize existing trails in the states as [[National Recreation Trail]]s. Several additional trails have been established since 1968, and in 2009 Congress established the first [[Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail|National Geologic Trail]].<ref>National Trails System Map and Guide; National Park Service (DOI); Bureau of Land Management (DOI); Forest Service (USDA): Government Printing Office, 1993</ref>

===National Heritage Areas===
[[National Heritage Area]]s are a unique blend of natural, cultural, historic, and scenic resources. These are not considered units of the NPS, as they are maintained by state/territorial governments or non-profit organizations (described as ''local coordinating entities''). The National Park Service provides an advisory role and limited technical, planning and financial assistance. Designation of National Heritage Areas is done by an Act of Congress. As of 2021 there are 55 designated heritage areas, some of which cross state lines.