The National Park Service (NPS) recently announced over $537,000 in Tribal Heritage Grants.

The grants will fund 11 projects throughout the United States to help protect the American Indigenous culture, an NPS news release said.

“These Tribal Heritage grants provide support for a variety of important projects that are critical to preserving unique cultural heritage and traditions for future generations," NPS Director Chuck Sams said in the release. "The National Park Service is committed to working with Indigenous communities to expand partnerships, share knowledge, and connect people with the traditions of the past.”

Charles F. "Chuck" Sams III, director, National Park Service | Wikimedia Commons (public domain); U.S. government

Programs the funding will invest in include historic preservation at the Pueblo of Zuni in New Mexico, an oral history documentation project at the Arrostook Band of Micmacs in Maine, and an archaeological survey of the Knik Tribe in Alaska, among others.

Those eligible to apply include federally recognized tribes, Alaska native villages or corporations, and Native Hawaiian Organizations; NPS said. 

Those ineligible for funding include tribes with a lack of a DUNS number, general language projects, Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) projects, project mitigation work that is pursuant to Section 106, non-federally recognized tribes, projects with a lack of Tribal Resolution; projects with costs above 25% that are indirect or administrative, property repair grants listed under the National Register of Historic Places, and moving historic structures; among others.