A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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ACHP (Advisory Council for Historic Preservation)
The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) is an independent Federal agency that promotes the preservation, enhancement, and productive use of our Nation's historic resources, and advises the President and Congress on national historic preservation policy. They have statutory authority to review and comment on federal actions affecting properties listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The ACHP was established in 1966 by the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). More information on the ACHP can be found here: http://www.achp.gov/.

Adverse Effect
One of the three categories of effect under §106 compliance. An adverse effect diminishes the integrity of the characteristics that qualify a cultural resource for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.

Air Quality
A measure of the health-related and visual characteristics of the air often derived from quantitative measurements of the concentrations of specific injurious or contaminating substances.

Alternative
One of at least two proposed means of accomplishing planning objectives.

Archeological Resource
Any material remains or physical evidence of past human life or activities which are of archeological interest, including the record of the effects of human activities on the environment. They are capable of revealing scientific or humanistic information through archeological research.

Area of potential effect
The geographic area or areas within which an undertaking may cause changes in the character or use of cultural resources, if any resources exist there. This area always includes the actual site of an undertaking, but may also include other areas where the undertaking will cause changes in land use, traffic patterns, or other aspects that could affect cultural resources, including visual, atmospheric, or audible changes.

ARPA (Archeological Resources Protection Act of 1979)
ARPA prohibits unauthorized excavation on Federal and Indian lands, establishes standards for permissible excavation, prescribes civil and criminal penalties, requires agencies to identify archeological sites, and encourages cooperation between Federal agencies and private individuals.

Assessment of Effect form (AEF)
"Assessment of Actions Having an Effect on Cultural Resources" form, also known as a XXX form, is used to describe and document proposed actions that may affect cultural resources.

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Building
An enclosed structure with walls and a roof, consciously created to serve some residential, industrial, commercial, agricultural, or other human use.

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CA (Cooperating Agency)
For more information, refer to Memorandum No. ESM02-2 Cooperating Agencies in Implementing the Procedural Requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act.

CE (Categorical Exclusion CE/CX)
An action that would not, under normal circumstances, individually or cumulatively have significant impact on the environment. A CE may be upgraded to an EA for unusual or extraordinary circumstances.

CEQ (Council on Environmental Quality)
Congress established the Council on Environmental Quality within the Executive Office of the President as part of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). Additional responsibilities were provided by the Environmental Quality Improvement Act of 1970. CEQ coordinates federal environmental efforts and works closely with agencies and other White House offices in the development of environmental policies and initiatives. In addition, CEQ reports annually to the President on the state of the environment; oversees federal agency implementation of the environmental impact assessment process; and acts as a referee when agencies disagree over the adequacy of such assessments. More information on the CEQ may be found here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/ceq/.

Character-defining feature
A prominent or distinctive aspect, quality, or characteristic of a historic property that contributes significantly to its physical character. Structures, objects, vegetation, spatial relationships, views, furnishings, decorative details, and materials may be such features.

Concern
A concern is a statement that summarizes the interpreted voice of the public.

Connected actions
Any actions that are closely related. They automatically trigger other actions that have environmental impacts, they cannot or will not proceed unless other actions have been taken previously or simultaneously, or they are interdependent parts of a larger action and/or depend on the larger action for their justification.

Consultation
The process of seeking, discussing, and considering the views of other participants and, where feasible, seeking agreement with them regarding matters arising in the §106 process.

Cooperating Agency
A federal agency other than the one preparing the NEPA document (lead agency) that has jurisdiction over the proposal by virtue of law or special expertise and that has been deemed a cooperating agency by the lead agency. State or local governments, and/or Indian tribes, may be designated cooperating agencies as appropriate (see 1508.5 and 1502.6).

Cultural landscape
A geographic area, including both cultural and natural resources and the wildlife or domestic animals therein, associated with a historic event, activity, or person or exhibiting other cultural or aesthetic values.

Cultural Landscape Inventory (CLI)
The CLI is a computerized, evaluated inventory of all cultural landscapes in which NPS has or plans to acquire any legal interest. Its purpose is to identify cultural landscapes in the system and provide information on their location, historical development, character-defining features, and management. The CLI assists park managers in planning, programming, and recording treatment and management decisions. CLI forms, including maps, drawings, and photographs, are completed and maintained at the regional offices, with copies provided to the parks.

Cultural resource
An aspect of a cultural system that is valued by or significantly representative of a culture or that contains significant information about a culture. A cultural resource may be a tangible entity or a cultural practice. Tangible cultural resources are categorized as districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects for the National Register of Historic Places and as archeological resources, cultural landscapes, structures, museum objects, and ethnographic resources for National Park Service management purposes.
As stated above, National Park Service management policies characterize cultural resources as archeological resources, structures, cultural landscapes, ethnographic resources, and museum objects. The National Historic Preservation Act and ACHP refer to historic properties rather than cultural resources. Historic properties is an umbrella term for all entries in the National Register of Historic Places (any prehistoric or historic district, site, building, structure, or object included in, or eligible for inclusion in, the National Register). This includes artifacts, records, and remains that are related to and located within such properties, as well as properties of traditional religious and cultural importance to Native Americans that meet National Register criteria.

Cultural resource specialist
A person professionally trained in one of the cultural resource fields. Included are anthropologists (applied cultural anthropologists, archeologists, ethnographers, and ethnohistorians), architectural historians, architectural conservators, archivists, curators, historians, historical architects, historical landscape architects, landscape historians, and object conservators.

Cultural Sites Inventory (CSI)
Information documenting location, description, significance or cultural meaning, condition, threats to, and management requirements of park archeological and ethnographic resources. The CSI is compiled and maintained for all parks and provides necessary information for resource planning, interpretation, preservation, and protection. Consultation is required with traditionally associated groups. Original documents and records, including field notes, forms, reports, maps, and other related materials, are developed and maintained at regional offices or archeological centers with copies provided to parks. Data are entered into the CSI-Archeology's computerized database. The Ethnographic Resources Inventory (ERI) database is in the initial planning stages.

Cumulative actions
Actions that, when viewed with other actions in the past, the present, or the reasonably foreseeable future regardless of who has undertaken or will undertake them, have an additive impact on the resource the proposal would affect.

Cumulative effects
The culmination of a proposed action when added to past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions; action can be taken by anyone and can occur inside or outside the park.

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Determination of Effect
A finding that determines whether a proposed project affects a property included on or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

DEIS (Draft Environmental Impact Statement)

Direct effect
An impact that occurs as a result of the proposed action or alternative in the same place and at the same time as the action.

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EA (Environmental Assessment)
A brief NEPA document that is prepared to (a) help determine whether the impact of a proposal or alternatives could be significant; (b) aid NPS in compliance with NEPA by evaluating a proposal that will have no significant impacts, but that may have measurable adverse impacts; or (c) evaluate a proposal that either is not described on the list of categorically excluded actions, or is on the list but exceptional circumstances (section 3.5) apply.

EIS (Environmental Impact Statement)
A detailed NEPA document that is prepared when a proposed action or alternatives have the potential for significant impact on the human environment.

Endangered species
Any species that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range [16 USC §1532(6)].

Environmental screening process
The analysis that precedes a determination of the appropriate level of NEPA documentation. The minimum requirements of the environmental screening process are a site visit, consultation with any agency that has jurisdiction by law or special expertise, and the completion of a screening checklist. The process must be complete for all NPS actions that have the potential for environmental impact and are not described in section 3.3.

Environmentally preferred alternative
Of the action alternatives analyzed, the one that would best promote the policies in NEPA section 101. This is usually selected by the IDT members. CEQ encourages agencies to identify an environmentally preferable alternative in the draft EIS or EA, but only requires that it be named in the ROD.

EQD (Environmental Quality Division)

ESA (Endangered Species Act)
The act which requires federal agencies to insure that any action authorized, funded or carried out does not jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered or threatened species or result in the destruction or adverse modifications of critical habitat. Section 7 requires all federal agencies to consult with Interior and to “...insure that any action authorized, funded or carried out by such agenc(ies)...is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence or destruction or adverse modification of habitat of such species which is...critical.”

ESF (Environmental Screening Form)
Most parks use some type of form that initiates projects and tracks compliance needed and its status. The form documents the analysis that precedes a determination of the appropriate level of NEPA compliance, as well as other compliance steps needed. Also called project review record, project compliance log, etc.

Ethnographic resource
A site, structure, object, landscape, or natural resource feature assigned traditional legendary, religious, subsistence, or other significance in the cultural system of a group traditionally associated with it.

Ethnographic Resources Inventory (ERI)
Information documenting location, description, significance or cultural meaning, condition, threats to, and management requirements of park ethnographic resources. The ERI is compiled and maintained for all parks and provides necessary information for resource planning, interpretation, preservation, and protection. Consultation is required with traditionally associated groups. Original documents and records, including field notes, forms, reports, maps, and other related materials, are developed and maintained at regional offices or archeological centers with copies provided to parks. The Ethnographic Resources Inventory (ERI) database is in the initial planning stages.

Ethnography
Part of the discipline of anthropology concerned with the systematic description of lifeways, such as hunting, agriculture, fishing, other food procurement strategies, family life festivals and other religious celebrations. Ethnographic studies of contemporary cultures rely heavily on participant observation as well as interviews, oral histories, and review of relevant documents. Applied ethnography uses ethnographic data and concepts to identify contemporary issues and design feasible solutions.

Exceptional circumstances
Circumstances that, if they apply to a project described in the NPS categorical exclusion lists (sections 3.3 and 3.4), mean a CE is inappropriate and an EA or an EIS must be prepared because the action may have measurable or significant impacts. Exceptional circumstances are described in section 3.5.

 External Agency
The non-NPS party responsible for or with a direct connection to the proposal, or that has requested action from the NPS, e.g. the Federal Highway Administration requesting a right-of-way permit on park land, a cell tower company applying to construct cell tower facilities on park land, an oil and gas company seeking 36 CFR 9.9(b) approval for an operations plan, a photographer applying for a special use permit to film a commercial in the park.

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Feature (archeological)
Non-portable object, not recoverable from its surroundings (usually in an archeological site) without destroying its integrity. Examples are rock paintings, hearths, post holes, floors, and walls.

Feature (historic)
(1) a prominent or distinctive aspect, quality, or characteristic of a historic property; and (2) a historic property.

Filter
A filter is a mechanism to limit the amount of data that is returned in a list or report.

Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI)
A determination based on an EA and other factors in the public planning record for a proposal that, if implemented, would have no significant impact on the human environment.

Floodplain
A plain along a river, formed from sediment deposited by floods.

Filter
A filter is a mechanism to limit the amount of data that is returned in a list or report.

FMSS (Financial Management Systems Software)
FMSS is a facility management software program with a web-based user interface and an underlying Oracle database. Used by NPS and other federal agencies (e.g. U.S. Army Corp of Engineers), to track work orders and maintenance activities at facilities.
NPS uses the web application to enter, update and review budget information, work completion milestones, costs and invoices, material schedules and other information related to Park improvements.

FONSI (Finding of No Significant Impact)
A determination based on an EA and other factors in the public planning record for a proposal that, if implemented, would have no significant impact on the human environment.

FWS (United States Fish & Wildlife Service)
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a bureau within the Department of the Interior. Among its key functions, the Service enforces Federal wildlife laws, protects endangered species, manages migratory birds, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their international conservation efforts. More information on the FWS can be found here: http://www.fws.gov/.

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GPRA (Government Performance and Results Act)
The purpose of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA or the Results Act) is to hold agencies accountable for program performance by requiring that they think strategically and set, measure and report on goals annually.

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Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)/Historic American Engineering Record (HAER)
Architectural and engineering documentation programs that produce a thorough archival record of buildings, engineering structures, and cultural landscapes significant in American history and the growth and development of the built environment.

Historic character
The sum of all visual aspects, features, materials, and spaces associated with a property's history.

Historic district
A geographically definable area, urban or rural, possessing a significant concentration, linkage, or continuity of sites, landscapes, structures, or objects, united by past events or aesthetically by plan or physical developments. A district may also be composed of individual elements separated geographically but linked by association or history.

Historic document
Any recorded information in any medium-paper, magnetic tape, film, etc. -that has a direct, physical association with past human event, activity, observation, experience, or idea.

Historic landscape
A cultural landscape associated with events, persons, design styles, or ways of life that are significant in American history, landscape architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture; a landscape listed in or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

Historic property
A district, site, structure, or landscape significant in American history, architecture, engineering, archeology, or culture; an umbrella term for all entries in the National Register of Historic Places.
Note: National Park Service management policies use the term cultural resource rather than historic property, and characterize cultural resources as archeological resources, structures, cultural landscapes, ethnographic resources, and museum objects. The National Historic Preservation Act and ACHP refer to historic properties rather than cultural resources. Historic properties is an umbrella term for all entries in the National Register of Historic Places (any prehistoric or historic district, site, building, structure, or object included in, or eligible for inclusion in, the National Register). This includes artifacts, records, and remains that are related to and located within such properties, as well as properties of traditional religious and cultural importance to Native Americans that meet National Register criteria. Due to the familiarity of National Park Service personnel with the term cultural resources, cultural resources rather than historic properties was used throughout this manual.

Historic site
The site of a significant event, prehistoric or historic occupation or activity, or structure or landscape whether extant or vanished, where the site itself possesses historical, cultural, or archeological value apart from the value of any existing structure or landscape.

Historical context
An organizing structure created for planning purposes that groups information about cultural resources based on common themes, time periods, and geographical areas.

History
Study of the past through written records, oral history, and material culture. Evidence from these is compared, judged for veracity, placed in chronological or topical sequence, and interpreted in light of preceding, contemporary, and subsequent events.

Human environment
Defined by CEQ as the natural and physical environment, and the relationship of people with that environment. Although the socioeconomic environment receives less emphasis than the physical or natural environment in the CEQ regulations, NPS considers it to be an integral part of the human environment.

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IDT (Interdisciplinary Team)
NEPA requires that agencies use an interdisciplinary approach to insure the integrated use of the natural and social sciences and the environmental design arts. The IDT is used to identify issues or environmental problems that need to be addressed to reach park goals and objectives and resolve need for action. This is often the beginning of internal scoping, and it should involve a site visit (or familiarity of team members with the site) and discussions with appropriate agencies. The Environmental Screening Form (ESF) may serve as a guide in determining affected resources.

Impact topics
Specific natural, cultural, or socioeconomic resources that would be affected by the proposed action or alternatives (including no action). The magnitude, duration, and timing of the effect to each of these resources are evaluated in the impact section of an EA or an EIS.

Indian tribe
An Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, including a Native village, Regional Corporation or Village Corporation (as those terms are defined in section 3 of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, 43 U.S.C. §1602), which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians.

Indirect impact
Reasonably foreseeable impacts that occur removed in time or space from the proposed action. These are “downstream” impacts, future impacts, or the impacts of reasonably expected connected actions (e.g., growth of an area after a highway to it is complete).

In-kind
In the same manner or with something equal in substance having a similar or identical effect.

Integrity
The authenticity of a property's historic identity, evidenced by the survival of physical characteristics that existed during its historic or prehistoric period; the extent to which a property retains its historic appearance.
Intensive survey: a systematic, detailed examination of an area designed to gather information about cultural resources sufficient to evaluate them against predetermined criteria of significance within specific historic contexts.

Interdisciplinary Team
NEPA requires that agencies use an interdisciplinary approach to insure the integrated use of the natural and social sciences and the environmental design arts. The IDT is used to identify issues or environmental problems that need to be addressed to reach park goals and objectives and resolve need for action. This is often the beginning of internal scoping, and it should involve a site visit (or familiarity of team members with the site) and discussions with appropriate agencies. The Environmental Screening Form (ESF) may serve as a guide in determining affected resources.

Issue
In NEPA, issues are environmental, social, and economic problems or effects that may occur if the proposed action or alternatives (including no action) are implemented or continue to be implemented.

Internal Scoping
Internal scoping is simply the use of NPS staff (at the SSO, regional, park, or National Program Center level) to decide what needs to be analyzed in a NEPA document. It is an interdisciplinary process, and at a minimum it should be used to define issues, alternatives, and data needs. The IDT may also be used to formulate purpose and need; brainstorm any connected, similar, or cumulative actions associated with a proposal; decide on an appropriate level of documentation; put together a public involvement strategy; and decide other features of the overall NEPA process. According to the CEQ elements of scoping (1501.7), internal scoping should be used to:

• Eliminate issues that are not important.
• Allocate assignments among park IDT members or other participating agencies.
• Find/read any other NEPA documents related to this one.
• Identify any other permits, surveys, or consultations required by other agencies.
• Create a schedule that allows plenty of time to do NEPA well before a decision on the proposal is required.

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Lead agency
The agency either preparing or taking primary responsibility for preparing the NEPA document.

List of Classified Structures (LCS)
A computerized, evaluated inventory of all historic and prehistoric structures with historical, architectural, or engineering significance in which NPS has or plans to acquire any legal interest. Included are structures that individually meet the criteria of the National Register or are contributing elements of sites and districts that meet the National Register criteria. Also included are other structures - moved, reconstructed, and commemorative structures, and structures achieving significance within the last 50 years - that are managed as cultural resources because of decisions reached through the planning process. The LCS assists park managers in planning, programming, and recording decisions of appropriate treatment. The LCS forms, including attachments, are completed and maintained at the regional offices, with copies provided to the parks. The LCS data base may also be given to a park.

Local government
A city, county, parish, township, municipality, borough, or other general purpose political subdivision of a state.

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Major federal action
Actions that have a large federal presence and that have the potential for significant impacts to the human environment. They include adopting policy, implementing rules or regulations; adopting plans, programs, or projects; ongoing activities; issuing permits; or financing projects completed by another entity.

Memo to File
A memo to the planning record or statutory compliance file that NPS offices may complete when (a) NEPA has already been completed in site-specific detail for a proposal, usually as part of a document of larger scope, or (b) a time interval has passed since the NEPA document was approved, but information in that document is still accurate.

Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)
A document executed by consulting parties pursuant to the Section 106 review process that sets forth terms for mitigating or eliminating adverse effects on historic properties resulting from agency action. The MOA is signed by NPS, the state historic preservation officer/tribal historic preservation officer and, if participating, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

Mitigated EA
An EA that has been rewritten to incorporate mitigation into a proposal or to change a proposal to reduce impacts to below significance.
Mitigating measures: Constraints, requirements, or conditions imposed to reduce the significance of or eliminate an anticipated impact to environmental, socioeconomic, or other resource value from a proposed land use.

Mitigation
A mitigation is a modification of a proposal or an alternative that lessens the intensity of its impact on a particular resource.

MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) -
A document executed by consulting parties pursuant to the Section 106 review process that sets forth terms for mitigating or eliminating adverse effects on historic properties resulting from agency action. The MOA is signed by NPS, the state historic preservation officer/tribal historic preservation officer and, if participating, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

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National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
Our nation's environmental charter for protection of the environment. The law requires that decision-makers and the public know the consequences of an action before taking it.

National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA)
National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA): declares a national policy of historic preservation, including the encouragement of preservation on the state and private levels; authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to expand and maintain a National Register of Historic Places including properties of state and local as well as national significance; establishes the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation; requires federal agencies to consider the effects of their undertakings on National Register properties and provide the Advisory Council opportunities to comment (§106).
The full text of the Act can be found at: http://www.cr.nps.gov/local-law/FHPL_HistPrsrvt.pdf.

National Historic Landmark (NHL)
A district, site, building, structure, or object of national historical significance, designated by the Secretary of the Interior under authority of the Historic Sites Act of 1935 and entered in the National Register of Historic Places.

National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)
The comprehensive list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects of national, regional, state, and local significance in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture kept by NPS under authority of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.

Native American
Pertaining to American Indian tribes or groups, Eskimos and Aleuts, and Native Hawaiians, Samoans, Chamorros, and Carolinians of the Pacific Islands. Groups recognized by the federal and state governments and named groups with long-term social and political identities who are defined by themselves and others as Indian are included.

Native Hawaiian organization
Any organization that serves and represents the interests of Native Hawaiians; has as a primary and stated purpose the provision of services to Native Hawaiians; and has demonstrated expertise in aspects of historic preservation that are significant to Native Hawaiians. Native Hawaiian also mean any individual who is a descendant of the aboriginal people who, prior to 1778, occupied and exercised sovereignty in the area that now constitutes the State of Hawaii.

NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act)
NEPA is a procedural law (vs. a substantive law) to establish a national policy for the environment, to provide for the establishment of a CEQ, and other purposes. By nature of being a procedural law, an agency is free to select any alternative for implementation regardless of the severity of environmental impacts, as long as the procedural requirements have been followed in good faith and the resulting decision is "well reasoned" and based on full and appropriate disclosure of environmental impacts.

Substantive environmental laws usually have regulatory agencies with authority to enforce compliance. Penalties for substantive laws involve injunctions and often civil and criminal penalties. Most lawsuits involve one or more NEPA violations; which introduce delay through injunction (the requirement to do or refrain from doing a specific act) and one or more substantive law violations.

NEPA Document
A Categorical Exclusion (CE), Environmental Assessment (EA), Finding of No Significant Impact (FoNSI), Draft and Final Environmental Impact Statements (EIS), Record of Decision (ROD), or other document prepared in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

NEPA process
The objective analysis of a proposed action to determine the degree of its environmental and interrelated social and economic impacts on the human environment, alternatives and mitigation that reduce that impact, and the full and candid presentation of the analysis to, and involvement of, the interested and affected public.

NEPA Type
The level of compliance determined necessary for the project: CE, EA, EIS, Memo to file, Other. This field should be left unchecked until thie level has been determined.

NHPA (National Historic Preservation Act)
National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA): declares a national policy of historic preservation, including the encouragement of preservation on the state and private levels; authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to expand and maintain a National Register of Historic Places including properties of state and local as well as national significance; establishes the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation; requires federal agencies to consider the effects of their undertakings on National Register properties and provide the Advisory Council opportunities to comment (§106).
The full text of the Act can be found at: http://www.cr.nps.gov/local-law/FHPL_HistPrsrvt.pdf.

NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service)
More information on the NMFS can be found here: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/.

No adverse effect (NAE)
One of the three categories of effect under §106. There could be an effect, but the effect would not be harmful to those characteristics that qualify the property for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.

No historic properties affected (NHPA): one of the three categories of effect under §106. There are no cultural resources present in the area of potential effects or there are cultural resources present but the undertaking will have no effect on them.

NOA (Notice of Availability)
Separate notices submitted to the Federal Register that the draft EIS and the final EIS are ready for distribution.

NOI (Notice of Intent)
The notice submitted to the Federal Register that an EIS will be prepared. It describes the proposed action and alternatives, identifies a contact person in NPS, and gives the time, place, and descriptive details of the agency's proposed scoping process.

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Planning Documents
NEPA documents posted for public review and comment.

PMIS (Project Management Information System)
Project Management Information System (PMIS) is a service wide intranet application within the National Park Service (NPS) to manage information about requests for project funding. It enables parks and NPS offices to submit project proposals to be reviewed, approved and prioritized at park units, regional directorates, and the Washington Office (WASO).

In response to a budget call for a particular NPS program for a specific fiscal year (FY), project proposals are submitted, reviewed, approved, prioritized and then formulated under an available funding source by utilizing PMIS. During the formulation process for a budget call, a program manager at WASO or a budget officer at a regional directorate determines which project funding requests meet the eligibility criteria for the call to be considered as part of the NPS Budget for a specific FY.

PMIS is a centralized web-based relational database.

Preferred alternative
The alternative an NPS decision-maker has identified as preferred at the draft EIS stage. It may be the same as the initial proposal or proposed action, or it may be different. It is identified to show the public which alternative is likely to be selected to help focus its comments.

Programmatic agreement (PA)
A special type of memorandum of agreement typically developed for a large or complex project or a class of undertakings that would otherwise require numerous individual §106 actions. Procedures for developing a programmatic agreement are spelled out in 36 CFR Part800.14(b).

Programmatic documents
Broader scope EAs or EISs that describe the impacts of proposed policy changes, programs, or plans.

Programmatic exclusions
Under the NPS Section 106 servicewide programmatic agreement, certain types of actions that are unlikely to adversely affect cultural resources do not need to undergo review by the state historic preservation officer/tribal historic preservation officer or the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

Project Category
The user can choose from the following categories:
Air Resource
Alternative Transportation Systems
Amphitheatre
Archeological Site
Boardwalk
Bridge
Building
Campground Site
Cave or Karst
Coastal Feature
Dams
Dock/Pier
Electrical Generating System
Ethnographic Resource
Exhibits
Fortification
Fuel Storage Tank-AST
Fuel Storage Tank-UST
Geologic Resource
Geothermal and Volcano
Historic Asset
Housing
Interpretive Planning
Landfill Site
Landscape
Marine & Estuarine Ecosystem
Mineral
Monument
Mowable Area
Paleontological
Picnic Site
Plant Communities (Vascular and Non-Vascular)
Railroad/Trackbed
Reservoir
Riparian Area and Wetlands
River or Stream
Road Paved
Road Unpaved
Ruin
Sewer Line
Sign
Soil
Terrestrial Ecosystem
Trail/Walk-Paved
Trail/Walk-Unpaved
Tunnel
Wastewater/Water Treatment Plant
Water Line
Water Resource
Wilderness
Wildlife
Viewshed
Other

Project compliance log
(Also called project proposal review form, project compliance record, project initiation form): see Environmental Screening Form.

Project Information
Project Information is information specific to a project, including meeting notices, status, announcements, etc.

Project Type
User may choose from the following project types:
Capital Improvement (CI)
Commercial Services Plan (COMM)
Cultural Resource Plan (CRP)
Development Concept Plan (DCP)
Environmental Management System (EMS)
Facility Maintenance (FM)
Facility Rehabilitation (FR)
Fire Management Plan (FMP)
General Management Plan (GMP)
Grants (GRT)
Implementation Plan (IMPL)
New Area Study (NAS)
Research Proposal (RP)
Resource Management Plan/Site Plan (RMP)
Rights-of-Way (ROW)
Special Resource Study (SRS)
Wilderness Plan (WILD)
Other

Proposal
The stage at which NPS has a goal and is actively preparing to make a decision on one or more alternative means of accomplishing that goal. The goal can be a project, plan, policy, program, and so forth. NEPA begins when the effects can be meaningfully evaluated.

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RD (Regional Director)

Reconnaissance survey or study
A synthesis of cultural resource information describing the kinds of cultural resources in a study area and summarizing their significance; sometimes called a cultural resource overview, and may include limited field investigations.

Reconstruction
(1) the act or process of depicting, by means of new work, the form, features, and detailing of a non-surviving historic structure or landscape, or any part thereof, for the purpose of replicating its appearance at a specific time and in its historic location; (2) the resulting structure, landscape, or part thereof.

Record of decision (ROD)
The document that is prepared to substantiate a decision based on an EIS. It includes a statement of the decision made, a detailed discussion of decision rationale, and the reasons for not adopting all mitigation measures analyzed, if applicable.

Rehabilitation
The act or process of making possible an efficient compatible use for a historic structure or landscape through repair, alterations, and additions while preserving those portions or features which convey its historical, cultural and architectural values.

Repair
Action to correct deteriorated, damaged, or faulty materials or features of a structure or landscape.

Response
A response is returned to each public individual or entity that submits comments or requests.

Request
A request is feedback received from the public that results in being added to a mailing list, receiving a certain document or announcement, etc.

Restoration
(1) the act or process of accurately depicting the form, features, and character of a historic structure, landscape, or object as it appeared at a particular period of time by means of the removal of features from other periods in its history and reconstruction of missing features from the restoration period; (2) the resulting structure, landscape, or object.


ROD (Record of Decision)
The document that is prepared to substantiate a decision based on an EIS. It includes a statement of the decision made, a detailed discussion of decision rationale, and the reasons for not adopting all mitigation measures analyzed, if applicable.

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Scoping
The procedure by which an agency identifies important issues and determines the extent of analysis necessary for an informed decision on a proposed action. Scoping, an integral part of environmental analysis, includes early involvement of interested and affected public, as well as internal and external agency contacts. Although formal scoping occurs for a specific time period, the EQD welcomes comments on projects while they are in the process of preparing plans.

Section 106 Assessment of Affect
Section 106 of NHPA requires federal agencies to consider the effects of their proposals on historic properties, and to provide state historic preservation officers, tribal historic preservation officers, and, as necessary, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation a reasonable opportunity to review and comment on these actions. Section 106 review and NEPA are two separate, distinct processes. They can and should occur simultaneously, and documents can be combined, but one is not a substitute for the other. They should, however, be coordinated to avoid duplication of public involvement or other requirements. The information and mitigation gathered as part of the 106 review must be included in the NEPA document, and the 106 process must be completed before a FONSI or an ROD can be signed on a proposal that affects historic properties.

Section 106 (§106)
Refers to §106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, which requires federal agencies to take into account the effects of their proposed undertakings on properties included or eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places and give State Historic Preservation Officers/Tribal Historic Preservation Officers and, as necessary, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation a reasonable opportunity to comment on the proposed undertakings.

Section 106 Four Step Process
See the flowchart which explains the 4 Step Process

Section 110 (§110)
Refers to §110 of the National Historic Preservation Act. §110 requires NPS to preserve and use cultural resources. Another primary focus of §110 is on surveying for resources, evaluation of the resources found, and nomination of eligible cultural resources to the National Register of Historic Places.

Section 401 (§401)
Refers to section 401 of the Federal Water Pollution Control (Clean Water) Act, which requires that any applicant for a permit to discharge into navigable waters give the Army Corps of Engineers a water quality certification obtained from the state.

Section 404 (§404)
Refers to section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control (Clean Water) Act. Requires conformance to permit required under section 404 for actions that may result in discharge of dredged or fill material into a tributary to, wetland, or associated water source for a navigable river or excavation within those same areas.

Sensitive project
One that would be raised to the attention of the Regional Director, Director, or Secretary of Interior.

SHPO (State Historic Preservation Office)
An official within each state appointed by the governor to administer the state historic preservation program and carry out certain responsibilities relating to federal undertakings within the state.

Significantly
A subjective interpretation of the intensity of impact, in several contexts, of the proposed action or alternatives.

Stabilization
Intervention, treatment, or action taken to increase the stability or durability of an object when preventive conservation measures fail to decrease its rate of deterioration to an acceptable level or when it has deteriorated so far that its existence is jeopardized.

Structure
A constructed work, usually immovable by nature or design, consciously created to serve some human activity. Examples are buildings of various kinds, monuments, dams, roads, railroad tracks, canals, millraces, bridges, tunnels, locomotives, nautical vessels, stockades, forts and associated earthworks, Indian mounds, ruins, fences, and outdoor sculpture. In the National Register of Historic Places program "structure" is limited to functional constructions other than buildings.

Subsistence
The traditional use of natural plants and wild animals for personal or family consumption, for the making and selling of handicraft articles out of the non-edible byproducts of fish and wildlife resources taken for personal or family use or consumption, and for customary trade. In Alaskan and Pacific parks, subsistence is the significant economic and cultural dependence on the harvest of wild natural resources by local rural residents through traditional hunting, fishing, and gathering activities. In the Southwest and elsewhere, subsistence also can include mixed agricultural, pastoral, and wild-resource harvest techniques. The legislation for some parks defines what constitutes subsistence there.

1. Substantive Comments:
   Comments that do one or more of the following:
     (a) question, with reasonable basis, the accuracy of information in the EIS.
     (b) question, with reasonable basis, the adequacy of environmental analysis.
     (c) present reasonable alternatives other than those presented in the EIS.
     (d) cause changes or revisions in the proposal.

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THPO (Tribal Historic Preservation Office)
The tribal official appointed by the tribe’s chief governing authority or designated by a tribal ordinance or preservation program who has assumed the responsibilities of the state historic preservation officer (SHPO) for purposes of §106 compliance on tribal lands. The term also includes the designated representative of an Indian tribe that has not formally assumed the SHPO’s responsibilities when an undertaking occurs on or affects cultural resources on the tribal lands of an Indian tribe.

Threatened and endangered species
Any species of fish, wildlife, or plant that is listed as threatened or endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Tiering
The use of broader, programmatic NEPA documents to discuss and analyze cumulative regional impacts and define policy direction, and the incorporation by reference of this material in subsequent narrower NEPA documents to avoid duplication and focus on issues “ripe for decision” in each case.

Traditional cultural property (TCP)
A property associated with cultural practices or beliefs of a living community that are rooted in that community's history or are important in maintaining its cultural identity. Traditional cultural properties are ethnographic resources eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

Tribal lands
All lands within the exterior boundaries of any Indian reservation and all dependent Indian communities.

THPO (Tribal Historic Preservation Office)
The tribal official appointed by the tribe’s chief governing authority or designated by a tribal ordinance or preservation program who has assumed the responsibilities of the state historic preservation officer (SHPO) for purposes of §106 compliance on tribal lands. The term also includes the designated representative of an Indian tribe that has not formally assumed the SHPO’s responsibilities when an undertaking occurs on or affects cultural resources on the tribal lands of an Indian tribe.

TIC (Technical Information Center)
TIC is a document management system that contains over 200,000 records that index and catalogue documents, monographs, engineering drawings, and images associated with Parks from 1880 - Present.

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Undertaking
An undertaking means a project, activity, or program funded in whole or in part under the direct or indirect jurisdiction of a Federal agency, including those carried out by or on behalf of a Federal agency; those carried out with Federal financial assistance; those requiring a Federal permit, license or approval; and those subject to state or local regulation administered pursuant to a delegation or approval by a Federal agency [36 CFR Part 800.16(y)].

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Wetlands
Lands including swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas, such as wet meadows, river overflows, mud flats, and natural ponds.

Wilderness area
An area officially designated as wilderness by Congress. Wilderness areas will be managed to preserve wilderness characteristics and shall be devoted to “the public purposes of recreation, scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical use."

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