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Updated December 3, 2019
National Park Service Affiliated Areas: An Overview
In addition to managing the 419 units of the National Park
System, the National Park Service (NPS) manages or assists
other areas that are linked in importance and purpose to the
larger system. These related areas may be recognized by
Congress and may receive assistance from NPS but are
typically owned and administered primarily by nonfederal
entities. Among these related areas are 25 sites that NPS
has classified under the title of affiliated areas. NPS defines
affiliated areas as locations that preserve significant
properties outside the National Park System ... [and that]
draw on technical or financial aid from the National Park
Service (National Parks: Index 2012-2016, p. 118).
History of Affiliated Status
The standard by which NPS defines and categorizes
affiliated areas has evolved and changed over the years.
At times, Congress has attempted to clarify which areas fall
within this status. In 1970, Congress passed legislation that
defined units of the National Park System as any area of
land and water now or hereafter administered by the
Secretary of the Interior through the National Park Service
for park, monument, historic, parkway, recreational or other
purposes (P.L. 91-383). The 1970 law specifically
excludes from this definition miscellaneous areas
administered in connection therewith, that is, properties
and sites that are neither federally owned nor directly
administered by the NPS but that receive some federal
assistance. In 1975, NPS issued the National Parks: Index
(an occasional publication from NPS that serves as the
official list of National Park System areas), in which the
agency classified nine units for the first time under the new
title of affiliated areas.
Despite this new definition, affiliated status continued to
shift in the years following 1970. At times, the status
included designations such as national heritage areas, rivers
in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, and trails in
the National Trails System, while at other points NPS
excluded these areas from the affiliated categorization. In
1988, Congress passed legislation directing NPS to define
the criteria for the elements of national significance and
other factors necessary for a proposed area to be considered
appropriate for inclusion as an affiliated area (P.L. 100-
336). Later that year, NPS issued proposed regulations that
included a revised definition and set criteria for affiliated
area designation (53 Federal Register 32115). While these
regulations were not finalized, they are reflected in the
current standards for inclusion outlined in NPS's
Management Policies 2006 (see Designation Criteria).
In 1989, NPS issued a memorandum entitled Classification
of NPS Units and Related Areas that outlined some
difficulties in classifying areas where NPS does not directly
administer the area but has some special cooperative
arrangement. Many of these arrangements defy simple
formulas for defining what we administer, the memo
stated. A 1990 NPS report to Congress-delivered in
compliance with P.L. 100-336-reaffirmed this finding,
stating that, Areas have been classified as affiliated
because they did not fit the definition of a park system unit
rather than because they did meet some clearly defined
criteria. In response, the report recommended that
Congress recognize the affiliated area category and endorse
the criteria proposed by NPS for affiliated area status.
De-signation Criteria
The criteria recommended in the 1990 NPS report are
largely reflected in the NPS Management Policies 2006
(Section 1.3.4), which establishes eligibility guidelines for
affiliated area status. To be eligible, proposed areas must
* Meet the same standards for significance and suitability
that apply to units of the National Park System;
* Require some special recognition or technical assistance
beyond what is available through existing NPS
programs;
* Be managed in accordance with the policies and
standards that apply to units of the system; and
* Be assured of sustained resource protection, as
documented in a formal agreement between the service
and the nonfederal management entity.
Designation Process and Authority
The 25 existing affiliated areas were primarily established
legislatively, although some were established through
administrative action by the Secretary of the Interior under
the authority of the Historic Sites Act of 1935 (54 U.S.C.
§§320101 et seq.). Under the act, as amended, an
administratively designated site may not receive federal
funding unless Congress specifically appropriates funding
for that site.
Although many of the sites were established in statute, in
most cases the establishing laws did not identify them or
title them as affiliated areas. Instead, the sites were
designated with varying titles; they include 9 national
historic sites and 4 national memorials, as well as 12 sites
with other, often unique, titles.
The oldest existing affiliated area is the Jamestown
National Historic Site. The site was designated on
December 18, 1940, by administrative action in which the
Secretary of the Interior called for a unified program of
development and administration between NPS and the
Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities
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