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Congressional Research Service
pre meanInforming the IegisIative debate since 1914
Updated May 19, 2023
National Park Service Affiliated Areas: An Overview
In addition to managing the 423 units of the National Park
System, the National Park Service (NPS) manages or assists
with 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 27 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 Affiiated Area Status
The standard by which NPS categorizes affiliated areas has
evolved over the years. In 1970, Congress passed
legislation that specifically excluded certain miscellaneous
areas from the definition of National Park System units
(P.L. 91-383). These areas were generally considered to be
properties and sites that were neither federally owned nor
directly administered by NPS but that received some federal
assistance. In 1975, NPS issued the National Parks: Index
(an official list of system areas that NPS publishes from
time to time), in which the agency classified nine of these
miscellaneous areas under the new designation of affiliated
areas. In the years following, NPS published updated
versions of the National Parks: Index, each including a list
of sites categorized under the affiliated area designation.
Despite this, there was little consistency in how NPS
determined which sites fell into this categorization. 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; at
other points, NPS excluded these areas from the affiliated
categorization.
In 1988, Congress passed legislation directing NPS to
deliver a report defining 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
proposed regulations that would have defined and set such
criteria. The proposed regulations described affiliated areas
as a small group of nationally significant areas ... protected
and managed by other organizations and agencies but [that]
have some formal financial or legal relationship with the
National Park Service, (53 Federal Register 32115). To be
eligible for affiliated area status, NPS specified that, areas
must meet the same criteria for national significance as
national landmarks or potential units of the national park
system. However, NPS never finalized the proposed
regulations.
In 1990, NPS delivered a report to Congress in compliance
with P.L. 100-336, outlining some of the difficulties in
classifying areas where NPS does not directly administer
the area but has some special cooperative arrangement.
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, the
report stated. In turn, the report recommended that
Congress recognize the affiliated area category and endorse
the criteria set forth by NPS in the report, which largely
replicated the 1988 proposed regulations. To date, Congress
has not established a legal definition or criteria for the
affiliated area status.
Designation Criteria
NPS established eligibility criteria for affiliated area status
in the NPS Management Policies 2006 (Section 1.3.4).
These criteria are similar to those proposed in 1988 and
1990. 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
More than half of the 27 existing affiliated areas were
established legislatively through an act of Congress. Other
areas were established administratively, generally by the
Secretary of the Interior under the authority of the Historic
Sites Act of 1935 (54 U.S.C. §§320101 et seq.).
Historically, neither Congress nor the Secretary identified
these sites as affiliated areas in establishing laws or
secretarial orders. Instead, sites were designated with
varying titles (e.g., national memorial, national historic site)
with certain administrative and management responsibilities
for NPS specified on a case-by-case basis. Starting in the
late 1990s, Congress enacted some laws that specifically
established sites as affiliated areas. The Secretary has
similarly identified some recent administratively designated
sites as affiliated areas.
The earliest-designated existing affiliated area is the
Jamestown National Historic Site. The site was designated
on December 18, 1940, by an administrative action, in
which the Secretary of the Interior called for a unified
program of development and administration between NPS](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govelru0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)