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HUD Launches Improved On-Line Tool to Facilitate Consultation with Indian Tribes About HUD-Assisted Development
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HUD’s Office of Environment and Energy, in collaboration with the Office of Native American Programs, and with extensive technical support from the Office of Policy Development and Research, has completed a new update of the Tribal Directory Assessment Tool (TDAT 2.1), a database of tribal contact information and geographic areas of interest. All federally recognized Indian tribes were contacted to update information on tribal leaders and Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, and the names of counties where they have a current or ancestral interest. Sixteen percent of the tribes identified additional counties of interest over the 2011 edition of TDAT. The new TDAT 2.1 is publicly available on HUD's website.
Users may query TDAT 2.1 by street address, state, county or tribe. It is used to identify Indian tribes that may have an interest in consulting on HUD-assisted projects that might impact historic properties of religious and cultural significance, as required under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). The database will be updated periodically. Any proposed corrections should be sent to the Corrections link on the TDAT homepage. TDAT does not include the locations of specific archeological sites.
Federally funded development projects undergo an extensive environmental review to ensure compliance with a wide range of federal standards and regulations. This includes a review of potential impacts to historic and archeological resources commonly known as the Section 106 review process, named after the relevant section of the NHPA. It requires consultation about historic properties of religious and cultural significance to tribal communities. TDAT 2.1 can quickly identify which tribes have an interest in a project area and provide tribal contact information to use in initiating Section 106 consultation. “With a few clicks, TDAT 2.1 will help build a bridge to tribal stakeholders and facilitate their participation in the review of HUD-assisted projects that may impact their ancestral lands and resources” said Danielle Schopp, Director of the Office of Environment and Energy. View additional information about Section 106 and tribal consultation on HUD’s website.
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