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State-Owned Sites EndangeredTime and the elements eat away at Fort Hunter, New York's Schoharie Creek Aqueduct, a circa-1840 engineering marvel of the Erie Canal. The aqueduct represents U.S. state parks and state-owned historic sites, listed as a single entry on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 2010 list of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.(See pictures of 2009's most endangered historic U.S. sites.)"Perhaps more than at any other time in recent history," state-owned historic sites face ruin, because U.S. states, burdened with heavy deficits, are reducing funding for historic preservation, according to a prepared statement from the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit trust.The National Trust's annual list highlights examples of U.S. architectural, cultural, and natural heritage at risk of destruction or irreparable damage."These places range from single buildings to entire communities that make up the historic fabric of our country," National Trust spokesperson Caroline Barker told National Geographic News. "Together they tell our collective history, and that’s why they are important to every American."—Brian Handwerk

Photograph courtesy New York Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation