File Search Request Fee Notification
Montana Historical Society
State Historic Preservation Office
Re: File Search Request Fee Notification
This notification is to inform you that beginning July 1, 2010, the Montana State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) is instituting a File Search Request fee for information obtained from the Montana Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS) and the Montana Cultural Resource Annotated Bibliography System (CRABS). This fee has been approved by the Montana Historical Society Board of Trustees.
Many states across the country charge fees for file search requests to support and upgrade their cultural resource database efforts. The fee structure varies widely from state to state depending on the nature and history of the individual systems and the quality and extent of the information served. A file search fee will allow the Montana SHPO to meet increasing maintenance costs, but even more importantly, to update its databases to meet current standards and demand by expanding our initial Geographic Information System (GIS) and record digitization efforts to a comprehensive statewide geo-database system. Without fees we face the possibility of not being able to pay for the increasing costs of the existing system, and of forgoing the opportunities and services an up-to-date system will provide.
Upon review of other state fee structures and in discussion with Montana agency personnel, consultants and others, Montana SHPO will institute a flat fee of $25.00 per individual project request for three or fewer sections of land, with an additional $5.00 for each additional section over three. Price breaks are established for large project file search requests of more than 50 sections and SHPO reserves the right to waive the fee for special circumstances.
Use of the SHPO File Search Request Form will now be required for all projects. Payment for file searches must be made by check to the Montana Historical Society. A credit card payment system will be available in the near future.
Fee Structure (per project request)
1 - 3 sections $25.00
4 - 50 sections $25.00 plus additional $5.00/section > 3 (i.e. $30.00 - $260.00)
51 – 100 sections $300.00
101 – 200 sections $400.00
201 – 300 sections $500.00
> 300 sections Contact SHPO
Thank you for your continued support of the Montana statewide antiquities database. For questions on the File Search Request Fee, please contact Damon Murdo, SHPO Cultural Records Manager at dmurdo@mt.gov; (406) 444-7767. An electronic copy of the new File Search Request form can be found here.
Mark F. Baumler, Ph.D.
State Historic Preservation Officer
Montana Historical Society
