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Congressional Research Service
SInforming the IegisIative debate since 1914
Updated December 26, 2023
National Park Service Affiliated Areas: An Overview
In addition to managing the 428 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 this system. These related areas may be recognized by
Congress and 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 1953, Congress passed
legislation distinguishing between the National Park
System and miscellaneous areas administered in
connection therewith-that is, those properties not directly
managed by the NPS but over which NPS exercised some
administrative responsibilities through cooperative
agreements (Aug. 8, 1953, 67 Stat. 496). In 1970, however,
Congress removed references to such miscellaneous areas
(P.L. 91-383) and amended the definition of national park
system to include all lands and waters administered by
NPS. 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 sites under the
new designation of affiliated areas, citing the 1970
amendments as the need for this new classification for sites
not officially recognized as units of the National Park
System itself. 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, in the years following, there was
little consistency in how NPS determined which sites fell
into this categorization. For example, sometimes the
affiliated category included designations such as national
heritage areas 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
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 created 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). NPS
specified that, to be eligible for affiliated status, 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 pursuance
of 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 by NPS 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 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 NPS
and the nonfederal management entity.
Designation Process
More than half of the 27 existing affiliated areas were
established legislatively through acts 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, some laws were enacted that specifically
established sites as affiliated areas. The Secretary of the
Interior has also identified some recent administratively
designated sites as affiliated areas.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/govenvf0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)