Comments sought on Historic Preservation plan

The Historic Preservation Office, under the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs, is seeking the public’s input on its historic preservation goals for Fiscal Year 2005.

HPO is applying for a $387,718 grant from the U.S. National Park Service for Fiscal Year 2005 to support the CNMI’s Historic Preservation program and related community activities. The office is soliciting the community’s input on priorities, concerns, projects and activities in the HPO proposal.

Public hearings to solicit comments will be held at 6pm on the following dates: April 5 at the Tinian Gymnasium, April 7 at the Rota Office on Aging, and on April 12 at the Multi-purpose Center in Susupe, Saipan.

“We strongly encourage those individuals with a concern for historic preservation to share their thoughts on the goals of our office for next fiscal year,” said HPO director Epiphanio Cabrera, Jr. “We want to hear what the public thinks we should be focusing on and what projects should be funded. If they already support our objectives, we want to hear that, too.”

Work goals proposed under the plan include:
* Make video and audio recordings of ethnographic accounts

* Facilitate internet access to HPO photos, reports and publications

* Maintain significant cultural and historical sites

* Create interpretive signage and pamphlets for National Register sites

* Conduct an intensive survey of Pagan Islands

* Archive HPO’s photo collection

* Digitize HPO’s archaeological and ethnographic collection

* Reprint archaeological and ethnographic publications

* Implement and maintain the Geographic Information System

* Nominate significant sites to the National Register of Historic Places

* Provide a symposium on historic preservation policies and identification of cultural materials

* Develop a hazard mitigation plan for all significant historic sites

* Educate children about historic preservation through school visits, lectures, and fieldtrips

Written comments may be submitted to HPO by April 20,2005, and should be addressed to the director of the Historic Preservation Office, Division of Historic Preservation, Department of Community and Cultural Affairs, P.O. Box 500090, Saipan, MP 96950. Comments may also be faxed to HPO at 670-664-2139 or e-mailed to cnmihpo@vzpacifica.net or info@cnmihpo.com.

For more information, call the Historic Preservation Office at 670-664-2120. (PR)