Q&A: Cultural Resources Management
What is Cultural Resources Management?
Cultural Resource Management (CRM) is the practice of identifying and preserving elements of cultural heritage in a manner that allows for progress. Change through development is necessary in our physical environment. CRM helps guide development by devising and maintaining systems that safeguard important cultural assets representing shared heritage for future generations.
What are cultural resources and why are they important?
With respect to CRM, cultural resources are physical evidence of past and contemporary human activity. That is a very broad definition, but it is where CRM professionals begin in identifying cultural resources. The overall goal of CRM is to contribute to the public’s understanding of how past and present human societies have developed and interacted with their environment while allowing progress to flourish. Preservation of cultural resources fosters understanding and appreciation of other cultures and encourages a sense of community, connection, and pride.
What are some examples of cultural resources?
Cultural resources are typically classified into categories including:
— Archaeological: e.g., pre- and post-contact habitation sites, historic sites, sunken/underwater sites, food and tool processing sites, battlefields.
— Built environment: e.g., historic buildings, lighthouses, bridges, dams, forts, military and defense structures.
— Landscapes: e.g., ethnographic landscapes, historic designed landscapes, vernacular landscapes, battlefields.
— Tribal cultural resources: pre- and post-contact sites, features, places, cultural landscapes, sacred places, or objects that hold cultural value to Native American tribes.
— Paleontological resources: while these are not technically cultural resources, some CRM professionals are cross-trained in the identification and preservation of fossilized organisms and evidence of biological activity (e.g., tracks, nests, burrows) from the distant past.
How do CRM practitioners determine what cultural resources are “important”?
The first step is identification through research, records searches, and fieldwork. Once a resource has been identified, the next step is evaluating it to determine whether it fits the regulatory and legal definition of a significant/historical resource. This is accomplished through additional research and fieldwork aimed at understanding the resource’s geographic location and extent, origin, purpose, and, ultimately, its potential to reveal unique information about historical people, places, and/or events.
When is a good time to engage a CRM professional?
Since most regulatory frameworks require a good faith effort to avoid significant cultural resources, engaging a CRM professional early on is an effective and cost-efficient way to determine if significant cultural resources are present within a prospective project site. If the resources are significant, CRM professionals can help avoid or minimize costly mitigation through strategic design alternatives. Langan’s CRM team comprises experts in the regulatory process who possess strong working relationships with federal, state, and local regulators. These relationships allow the team to collaboratively advocate for clients and develop defensible, reasonable solutions.
Heather McDaniel McDevitt, RPA is the Cultural Resources Practice Director at Langan. She has nearly 20 years of experience as a CRM professional and regulatory specialist across the United States and internationally.