Midway Atoll Cultural Resources Management Plan

Location: Midway

Client: Pacific Division Naval Facilities Engineering Command (PACDIVNAVFACENGCOM)

Helber Hastert & Fee, Planners led a team of historic preservation professionals in preparing a Cultural Resources Management Plan (CRMP)for treatment of historic properties at U.S. Naval Air Facility (NAF) Midway that are currently on or considered eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The CRMP was prepared as part of the Navy’s closure of NAF Midway and transfer of its control to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).

Overview surveys prepared under HHF’s supervision identified 76 historic properties on Sand and Eastern Islands that are considered eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Most of these properties are significant due to their association with World War II activities particularly the Battle of Midway in June 1942.A particular concern faced by the planners dealt with conflicts between environmental regulations such as the Endangered Species Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and historic preservation regulations such as the National Historic Preservation Act. The CRMP presented “win-win” solutions satisfactory to the varied stakeholder interests, resulting in aprogrammatic agreement between the U.S. Navy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. The project won the American Planning Association Hawaii Chapter’s Environmental Preservation Award for 1997.