The Department of the Interior and the American Folklife Center are engaged in a study to produce a report on cultural conservation. This report, authorized under Section 502 of the Historic Preservation Act Amendments of 1980, will examine the extent to which "intangible elements of our cultural heritage" are recognized in preservation efforts, and will recommend to the President and the Congress alternatives for extending to these elements "appropriate protection and benefits, such as those protections now accorded tangible historical resources." In order to produce a thorough appraisal of activities relating to cultural conservation, the report must consider the full extent of efforts in this field—state and local, public and private—as well as those of federal agencies.
