159 NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 

Note 26. Stewardship Property, Plant, and Equipment 

Stewardship PP&E consists of items whose physical properties resemble those of general PP&E traditionally capitalized 

in financial statements. However, stewardship PP&E differs from general PP&E in that their values may be indeterminable or 

may have little meaning (e.g., museum collections, monuments, assets acquired in the formation of the nation) or that 

allocating the cost of such assets to accounting periods that benefit from the ownership of such assets is meaningless. 

Stewardship PP&E includes stewardship land (land not acquired for or in connection with general PP&E) and heritage assets 

(e.g., federal monuments and memorials and historically or culturally significant property). 

Stewardship land is land and land rights owned by the federal government intended to be held indefinitely. The majority 

of stewardship land was acquired by the government during the first century of the nation’s existence. Examples of 

stewardship land include land reserved, managed, planned, used, or acquired for forests and parks, recreation and 

conservation, wildlife and grazing, historical landmarks, multiple purpose ancillary revenue generating activities, and/or 

buffer zones. “Land” is defined as the solid part of the surface of the earth. Excluded from the definition are the natural 

resources (that is, depletable resources, such as mineral deposits and petroleum; renewable resources, such as timber; and the 

outer-continental shelf resources) related to land. 

Additional information concerning stewardship land, such as entity stewardship policies, physical units by major 

categories, and the condition of stewardship land, can be obtained from the financial statements of DHS, DOC, DOD, DOE, 

DOI, DOT, EPA, HHS, TVA, USDA, and VA. Please refer to Land and Permanent Land Rights located in the unaudited RSI 

for information concerning the federal estimated acreage. 

Heritage assets are government-owned assets that have one or more of the following characteristics: historical or natural 

significance; cultural, educational, or artistic importance; or significant architectural characteristics. Entities provide 

protection and preservation services to maintain all heritage assets in the best possible condition as part of America’s history. 

Examples of heritage assets include the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights preserved 

by the National Archives. Heritage assets are classified into two categories: collection and non-collection. Collection type 

heritage assets include objects gathered and maintained for exhibition, for example, museum collections, art collections, and 

library collections. Non-collection type heritage assets include parks, memorials, monuments, and buildings. In some cases, 

heritage assets may serve two purposes: a heritage function and general government operations. In those cases, the heritage 

asset should be considered a multi-use heritage asset if the predominant use of the asset is in general government operations 

(e.g., the main Treasury building used as an office building). The cost of acquisition, improvement, reconstruction, or 

renovation of multi-use heritage assets is capitalized as general PP&E and depreciated over its estimated useful life. 

 Additional information concerning other significant heritage assets, multi-use heritage assets, component federal entity 

stewardship policies for heritage assets, physical units by major categories of heritage assets, and the condition of heritage 

assets, can be obtained from the financial statements of DHS, DOC, DOD, DOE, DOI, DOT, GSA, NASA, State, Treasury, 

USDA, and VA. Please refer to DM&R located in the unaudited RSI for information concerning estimated maintenance and 

repair costs.