National Park Service Cultural Resources Climate Change Strategy
The National Park Service (NPS) Cultural Resources Climate Change Strategy provides guidance for NPS managers to anticipate, plan for, and respond to the impacts of climate change on the cultural resources within National Parks. The Strategy provides guidance to assist with the interdisciplinary work and specific needs of cultural resource managers and historic preservation partners across the country.
The Strategy is organized into four primary Goals. Each goal contains directions for action along with next steps, supporting tools, and case studies. The case studies illustrate work that has already been done in a park or by a partner on an aspect of that Goal - and offer insight into climate adaptation practices for cultural resources.
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This resource was featured in the November 2, 2017, ASAP Newsletter. "Cultural and historic preservation go beyond our coastal and urban environments. The National Park Service (NPS) 2016 report, Cultural Resources Climate Change Strategy, recommends a strategy to preserve five categories of NPS resources: archaeological sites, cultural landscapes, ethnographic resources, museum collections, and buildings and structures. The strategy features a concise impacts table that identifies common climate impacts on each of these asset areas and provides compelling case studies on mitigation, adaptation, communication, and science application. This report, along with the plans unfolding in Annapolis and other coastal communities, highlights the economic, social, environmental, and cultural value of our beautifully-varied historic places. These places rely on everyone—preservationists, city planners, government staff and representatives, and community members—for their protection and preservation. " |
The 4 “pillars” of the NPS Climate Change Response Strategy are: Science, Adaptation, Mitigation, and Communication. These priorities are carried through the cultural resources strategy - demonstrating the specific relationship with cultural assets. Goal 1 addresses the four pillars and offers actionable strategies under each topic.
Goal 1: Set the broad scope of cultural resources and climate change response by connecting the concepts of impacts and information with the four pillars of climate change response: science, adaptation, mitigation, and communication.
The Directions for Action for each pillar are described as related to Impacts and Information. The Adaptation actions for Goal 1 are:
Goal 1 Adaptation-Impacts:
- Develop guidance to relate historic preservation legislation and programs to climate change adaptation
- Develop adaptation approaches for long-term climate change impacts and acute disasters
- Build adaptation option case studies and guidance for cultural resources
- Develop methods for prioritization of vulnerable cultural resources for adaptive action
- Practice robust decision-making for cultural resources through scenario planning
Goal 1 Adaptation-Information:
- Incorporate cultural resource adaptation information concepts into the field, collections, and other research initiatives
- Prioritize research and workshop/conference applications addressing adaptation information concepts
- Coordinate with funding partners to support research in cultural resource adaptation information topics
- Practice incorporating insights from cultural resources adaptation information into adaptation planning
Goal 2: Coordinate science, management, and communication to identify and improve understanding of the effects of climate change on cultural resources. Goal 2 sets the direction for initial climate change impacts-based research.
Goal 3: Incorporate climate change into ongoing cultural resources research, planning, and stewardship
Goal 4: Collaborate with partners to grow and use the body of knowledge and practice for cultural resources and climate change.
A Table is provided (see Graphic 2) with substantial information on direct climate impacts to cultural resources. The impacts range from subtle to extreme, and coastal to the interior, and are applied to various types of cultural resources - such as museum collections, archaeological resources, etc. The table is organized according to the following major trends of climate change: Temperature Change, Precipitation Change, Sea Level Rise, Combined Stressors, and Increased Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions.
As noted in NPS Policy memo 14-02: “The process of adaptation will not return us to the way things have been done before, but it will assist us in making choices in the face of uncertainty and change. Cultural resources remind us of who we are and where we have come from. They offer clues on past climate variability and speak to the many different ways humans have adapted to changing environments over time, in our parks and across the country. We need their information and their inspiration.”
If you have any trouble accessing the website link above, please find here an archived page. You may find this has limited use.
Publication Date: 2016
Related Organizations:
Sectors:
- Cultural resources
- Land management and conservation
- Tourism and recreation
Resource Category:
Resource Types:
- Adaptation plan
