You may have heard that "Preservation is local."  For the most part, I believe there's truth in that statement.  What we all do ‘locally' - select your own geographic area of focus - to make these the best places to live is the best way to implement historic preservation.  But we should not forget that there are extremely important national preservation agendas that benefit what we do locally.

We start today looking forward with President-elect Obama to what he sees as the future for historic preservation in our country.  Senator Obama has recognized that federal urban policy is fundamentally flawed and how it inadvertently undermines cities and regions by encouraging inefficient and costly patterns of development.  For more on his strategies in his Blueprint for Change, see the Historic Preservation for Obama website.

And if you would like to provide some input into what you believe should be the top federal preservation priorities for the new administration, the National Trust for Historic Preservation is taking the Change Starts Here poll.  Should it include protection of archaeological resources on public lands?  Do we need more economic resources?  Should the National Parks system be given more resources for protection?  Please give your input.