Battlefield Restoration Grants

The 2024 Battlefield Restoration Grant Notice of Funding Opportunity is now available on Grants.gov!
Apply by May 15, 2024.

Battlefield Restoration Grants (BARE) support preservation partners across the country in their effort to restore eligible American Revolution, War of 1812, and Civil War sites to day-of battle conditions. By restoring landscapes, grant recipients can preserve important historic sites at the same time they are conserving open spaces, protecting natural resources, and providing public access to the sites of our shared heritage.

The grant program provides up to 50 percent in matching funds for scoping or implementation grants, allowing preservationists, property owners, and local communities to define, articulate, and realize their shared vision for these special places.

Projects eligible for this grant opportunity include preservation, rehabilitation, and restoration activities for properties acquired with the assistance of an NPS Battlefield Land Acquisition Grant or properties that are owned/managed by state or local government entities, such as state or local battlefield parks. The American Battlefield Protection Program invites Tribal, State, and local governments and nonprofit organizations to apply for this funding opportunity. All grants will be evaluated and awarded through a competitive merit review process.


Battlefield Restoration Grants are administered using funds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which reinvests revenue from offshore oil and natural gas leasing to help strengthen conservation and recreation opportunities across the nation.

Please contact ABPP staff with any questions or more information about eligibility.

Woman in sun hat gestures over wheat field, trees and road in distance
A field brought back to day-of battle conditions at Gettysburg battlefield. NPS Photo

Eligibility

  • Eligible applicants: Tribal, state, and local governments, institutions of higher education, and non-profits.

  • Eligible properties are those that have been previously acquired through NPS Battlefield Land Acquisition Grants and have an executed/recorded easement or preservation letter of agreement OR properties that are owned/managed by state or local government entities, such as state or local battlefield parks.

  • Eligible properties must be within the boundary of a Revolutionary War, War of 1812 or Civil War battlefield. See reports below.

  • Eligible properties must be outside National Park Service boundaries.

  • The grants require a dollar-for-dollar non-Federal match.

BAREs are authorized by 54 U.S.C. §308103 and 54 U.S.C. §200305

What We Fund

Grants are available to fund projects at a scoping stage, or an implementation stage. The project’s treatment options must meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties and Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes.

It is not necessary to receive a scoping grant prior to applying for an implementation grant, but the application must show that equivalent preparatory work has been completed. 

Scoping grants fund the early stages of project development, such as research, documentation, stakeholder consultation, and evaluation to determine appropriate treatment options. The federal share for these grants will range from $30,000-$100,000 and have a period of performance of 1-2 years.

Implementation grants are for applicants who have completed planning activities, including identifying whether preservation, rehabilitation, or restoration is the most appropriate and viable treatment option for their project. The applicant must provide planning documentation as part of the application that sufficiently addresses the evaluation of historic resources in reference to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards of Historic Properties and Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes. The federal share for these grants should range from $50,000-$500,000 and have a period of performance of 2-5 years.

The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards of Historic Properties offer four distinct approaches and guidelines for the treatment of historic properties: preservation, rehabilitation, restoration and reconstruction.

Proposed treatments may include reconstruction of specific features or elements within a landscape, provided adequate historical documentation and differentiation of new and historical elements, but 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.  

Please follow the above link for more information.

The Secretary of the Interior’s Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes illustrates how to apply the four treatments of preservation, rehabilitation, restoration and reconstruction to a cultural landscape in a way that meets the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards. Please follow the link to the Guidelines for more information.

As defined by the NPS, cultural landscapes are geographic areas, including both cultural and natural resources associated with a historic event, activity, or person, or exhibiting other cultural or aesthetic values. Cultural landscapes reveal a place-based connection to historically significant sites, and strengthen our collective understanding of our nation’s history. For more information, check out the NPS Cultural Landscape Program.


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Last updated: March 28, 2024

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