Welcome

Welcome to the Department of Defense (DoD) Cultural Resources Program home page.

The DoD maintains thousands of historic and culturally significant resources that form an integral part of mission support and readiness. The Department’s cultural resources are the Nation’s heritage and DoD holds these assets in trust for all Americans. As stewards of the Nation’s largest inventory of federally managed historic properties, DoD strives to maintain, promote, and interpret the cultural resources it manages, both to support the defense mission and to preserve the country’s military heritage for future generations. Cultural resources are mission enhancing assets that connect our fighting men and women with their proud history and traditions.

The Federal Preservation Officer for DoD is responsible for cultural resources management and historic preservation policy across the Department. Mr. Ronald Tickle is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Environmental Management and Restoration and is located within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations & Environment.

The DoD historic property portfolio includes 49 individual National Historic Landmarks, 3,171 National Historic Landmark contributing properties, 2,396 individual and contributing historic assets listed in the National Register of Historic Places, over 15,000 historic assets determined eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, and over 132,000 recorded archaeological sites. Military Services and other DoD Components manage these cultural resources at the installation level and work closely with public stakeholders, including American Indian and Alaska Native tribes, Native Hawaiian Organizations, State Historic Preservation Officers, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.  Sound cultural resources stewardship ensures DoDโ€™s compliance with applicable historic preservation Federal laws, Executive Orders, and regulations in support of the defense mission.