Information Contact:  Lori McKean
								        Telephone:  (570) 296-9630
Release #22-11
October 16, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Grey Towers proposes compliance agreement

      MILFORD, PA -- The US Forest Service has proposed a Programmatic Agreement with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), and the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) for the preservation and routine maintenance of the historic resources at Grey Towers National Historic Site, Milford, PA.
      This Programmatic Agreement is being developed for review and approval with these agencies and other interested parties and will replace the previous agreement enacted in 1993.   
      Grey Towers, ancestral home of Gifford Pinchot, first chief of the US Forest Service and two-term governor of Pennsylvania, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1963 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
      Through this agreement the US Forest Service will satisfy a portion the required compliance with the Section 106 responsibilities of the NHPA law, and is designed to provide some latitude to the Forest Service to perform routine operational and maintenance tasks. This agreement does not negate the need to seek input on other portions of the law or in consulting on new or future improvements. Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) requires federal agencies to “take into account the effects of agency undertakings on historic properties” and providing the ACHP, or the SHPO, a reasonable opportunity to provide comments on the planned work.
      A previous agreement was reviewed and approved in 1993 by the US Forest Service, the ACHP and the PA SHPO, specifically to address the anticipated restoration and development plans for the property in the succeeding 20 years, most of which have been completed. When changes to this agreement were needed those modifications were submitted, reviewed and approved separately. Grey Towers National Historic Site has been restored and adaptively reused by the Forest Service as a result of planning from the Master Facility Site Plan. The 1993 Programmatic Agreement allowed the USFS and the ACHP to proceed in a supported understanding that the sequential schedule of preservation treatments would have the least possible effect on the resources and make the best possible use for this public site.
      The new proposed Programmatic Agreement is available for public review at Grey Towers NHS, Monday through Friday between 8am-4pm and comments can be sent by email to  ksandri@fs.fed.us  or by mail to Ken Sandri, Grey Towers, PO Box 188, Milford PA, 18337 by Nov. 30, 2011. Questions can be directed to 570-296-6061, ext. 1.