Housing is a critical part of NPS operations in that IT has a direct impact on how the agency is able to steward these places

This Cooperative Agreement award of $159,998.00, issued by the National Park Service (NPS) under the Cooperative Research and Training Programs - Resources of the National Park System (CFDA 15.945) program, supports research on the administrative history of NPS housing and its impact on the agency's workforce and gateway communities. The award to Colorado State University, effective from August 30, 2024 to October 31, 2027, will fund a comprehensive study examining how NPS housing has shaped the agency's ability to recruit and retain a diverse workforce to manage park resources. The research findings will benefit the NPS, State Historic Preservation Offices, and other historians by providing essential context on the role of NPS housing in supporting the agency's operations and engaging with local communities.

IT plays a major role in the types of people the NPS is able to hire to manage these resources. An administrative history of NPS housing is also a history of its workforce, in its desire and ability to recruit and retain professionals, increasingly from more diverse backgrounds. The public will benefit by understanding how NPS housing have affected gateway communities and how local communities and the private sector can support NPS housing initiatives. State historic preservation offices, in particular, will benefit from this study due to the essential context IT will provide for identifying properties that may be eligible for the national register. Professional historians writing other park administrative histories will benefit from this study as well, by being able to draw upon a service-wide history to provide essential context for local park decisions.