Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced Friday that the National Park Service is awarding $46.5 million in historic preservation grants to 59 states and U.S. territories, including more than $571,000 for Hawaii.

“Preserving and celebrating our nation’s rich history is a vital part of the Department of the Interior’s mission,” Salazar said in a news release. “These grants from the Historic Preservation Fund will assist state, tribal and local governments in telling their stories while providing both cultural and economic benefits to their communities and to the nation as a whole.”
Last year, projects funded through the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Program generated 67,705 jobs, created 10,392 housing units and led to more than $5.64 billion of private investments in the rehabilitation of commercial historic properties, Salazar said.
The National Park Service will administer the grants through a fund established under the National Historic Preservation Act. The grants can be used through September 2011 for historic property inventories, resource protection planning, nominations for the National Register of Historic Places, monitoring federal historic preservation requirements, technical assistance for those seeking to preserve and protect historic resources, assisting local government preservation programs, and acquisition or development of historic properties.
The funds will be distributed to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Territories, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau based on a formula that considers the size, population, and number of historic properties of each area.