Hill AFB Cultural Resources Program Mission Statement
The Cultural Resources Program at Hill Air Force Base protects our cultural heritage for future generations through the identification, evaluation and preservation of cultural resources while simultaneously providing mission critical support to the Air Force and the Department of Defense.
The Program is responsible for compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA), Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and other national, state and local cultural resources laws and regulations.
The Program at Hill AFB is committed to informing the public about the significance of cultural resources on base property through public outreach and education efforts including this web site.
The Air Force as a Steward of Cultural Resources
From the WWII era Hobson House, historic rail, and Cold War Era missile facilities on Hill AFB to archaeological sites from 12,000 years old to the Cold War targets on the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR), the program manages resources on nearly one million acres of land in locations that span three states, including Utah, Wyoming and Nevada. The program currently oversees over 200 historic buildings and over 800 archaeological sites.
The Air Force has a dual mission of maintaining national defense while protecting historic buildings, archaeological sites, artifacts, ethnobotanical sites, sacred sites and other resources that are important to our national, state, and local heritage as required by federal law.
A crucial key to protecting these places, the Hill AFB site steward program partners with the State Historic Preservation Office and utilizes trained Hill AFB volunteers to monitor sensitive and at-risk sites throughout Hill AFB managed lands.
Most of the land managed by Hill AFB is located on the UTTR, an area that is not only critical to the mission but is also rich in unique and irreplaceable cultural and ethnobotanical resources. These include many archaeological sites and historic structures that are eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), such as the 12,000-year-old human footprint and hearth sites which are a part of a Paleoindian landscape called the Old Riverbed Delta.
Hill AFB managed lands are also composed of the ancestral home of 21 federally recognized tribes and their associated bands. The Cultural Resource Program strives to work closely with indigenous partners on the preservation, management and interpretation of critical archaeological, ecological and traditional landscapes.
The management policies and practices implemented by the Cultural Resources Program are a direct outgrowth of the requirements set forth in a range of national laws and regulations. These requirements dictate why, how and when cultural resources are to be protected.