• TANGIBLE AND INTANGIBLE ASPECTS
• SUSTAINABILITY AND CULTURAL RESOURCES
• MANAGEMENT OF CULTURAL RESOURCES
• RECOMMENDATIONS

TANGIBLE AND INTANGIBLE ASPECTS
Cultural resources are those tangible and intangible aspects of cultural systems, both past and present, that are valued by or representative of a given culture, or that contain information about a culture.

Tangible cultural resources include, but are not limited to, sites, structures, districts, landscapes, objects, and historic documents associated with or representative of peoples, cultures, and human activities and events, either in the present or in the past. Tangibles also include plants, animals, and other natural resources culturally defined as food, manufacturing, and ceremonial items; and naturally occurring or designated physical features, such as caves, mountain peaks, forest clearings, dance grounds, village sites, and trails, regarded as the sacred homes of deities, spirits, ancestors, and/or places of worship and ceremony. Such cultural aspects are ethnographically documented for the Sioux in relation to the Black Hills, the Navajo and Rainbow Bridge, resources used by the Miccosukee within Big Cypress Preserve, and resources used by Eskimo and native Hawaiian peoples in Alaskan and Hawaiian parks. Intangible cultural resources include the primary written and verbal data for interpreting and understanding those tangible resources.

Intangible cultural features including family life, myth, folklore, ideology, folk song, and folk dance are renewable and transmitted from generation to generation. Although material evidence of past cultures is finite, cultural resources in general are not, but are produced by each successive generation.

Most cultural resources are unique and nonrenewable. These cultural resources were created or occurred at specific geographic locations at certain points in time by different individuals. Although cultural resources fall into broad patterns of civilization, the circumstances that created each resource are unique and thus cannot be duplicated. Because the path of human history continues, new cultural features are created daily, and only time will provide the context for evaluating the relative significance of these new features.

SUSTAINABILITY AND CULTURAL RESOURCES
Sustainability has often been an integral part of the composition of both tangible and intangible cultural resources. Ecological sustainability and preservation of cultural resources are complementary. In large part, the historic events and cultural values that are commemorated were shaped by humankind's response to the environment.

It is not just nostalgia that draws people to historic developments. Much of what is valued in these developments is their response to the climate, natural setting, and locally available building materials. Their usefulness as model for new buildings only adds to their value. Many preserved buildings, districts, and landscapes consist of vernacular design architecture without architects built with onsite or locally available materials.

A symbiotic relationship of human activities within their host environment is evident in the Anasazi cliff dwellings at Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Arizona. There, the natural sandstone, local mud, and logs were used to shelter communities in the cliffs. The occupants' structures were their direct response to the environment. They built them with what they had, and built them in such a way as to be cool in the summer, easily warmed in the winter, and with small openings that could be blocked over quickly when a room was set aside for storage or other purposes.

The vernacular response to climate, setting, and materials provides opportunities for presenting positive lessons in ecologically sound design. Conversely, many of our historic military, industrial, and engineering sites afford opportunities to discuss ecological excesses of the past.

Technical efforts to preserve cultural resources, however, must not contribute to degradation of the environment. The use of pesticides, fungicides, and other toxins has damaged the earth, so any preservation efforts should consider nonhazardous alternatives.

In some instances toxic materials, such as lead-based paint and asbestos, are inherited. Toxic materials that exist in many historic buildings must be removed and properly disposed of. Unfortunately, some of the inherited toxic materials are significant features of historic structures or sites. For example, development of a park at the Trinity Site in New Mexico (site of the explosion of the first atomic bomb), where there is radioactive waste, would not only require addressing removal of the inherited hazardous material, but also interpreting it as a significant feature. The problem of inherited toxins will need to be addressed in all proposed management and development projects in the future.

Another facet of dealing with cultural resources is the energy consumption that is required to protect them. In terms of numbers, the largest percentage of inventoried cultural resources is museum objects. Serious consideration must be given to their conservation. The use of mechanical heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems in a historic building or museum, to maintain desired temperature and humidity levels, must include not only a cost in energy/dollar figures but also the cost in resource dollars. More natural, less consumptive ways of achieving the same result must be assessed.

MANAGEMENT OF CULTURAL RESOURCES
When a cultural resource achieves sufficient importance that it is deemed historically significant in human history, it becomes a nonrenewable resource worthy of consideration for sustainable conservation. Management, preservation, and maintenance of cultural resources should be directed to that end.

Some of the groundwork required before preservation efforts take place is assessing the cultural and historical importance of affected resources to humankind. Preserving every cultural feature is impossible in terms of burdens on the economy, available energy, and other resources.

Both natural and cultural resource management share common approaches of mission and procedure for resource protection. While park and ecotourism developments usually feature natural elements, there is a growing awareness that heritage tourism is equally important to visitors.

When cultural resources become visitor attractions, the responsible authority must ensure that providing access to these resources does not create additional environmental deterioration. Getting people to the cultural resources can have major effects on the environment. The process can require the construction of roads, trails, and visitor facilities. The transportation aspect of bringing people to the resources is accompanied by energy consumption and pollution.

In addition, the carrying capacity of a historic building must be closely monitored. Normally, the very act of allowing public access to a significant cultural resource exposes the property to increased risk of deterioration. This must be countered with increased maintenance activity, the energy cost of which should be weighed as part of the decision about how much access will be allowed to that resource. Cultural resource preservation intrinsically is a form of sustainable conservation. The built environment represents the embodied energy of past civilizations. Where resources can have a viable continued use, preservation is conservation in every sense of the word. Yet, the process of preserving cultural resources inherently is not sustainable. All materials deteriorate naturally over time, and with cultural resources every effort is made to prevent that natural progression.

Most tangible cultural resources contain energy that has already been expended, materials that have been mined or harvested, and components that have been manufactured. A cost estimate for the rehabilitation of a historic building should consider the life-cycle cost implications of fabric that can be retained. The reuse potential of historic buildings should include an assessment of the original resources it took to construct the building as well as an assessment of the building's potential for economical heating and cooling. Often older buildings were designed to take advantage of natural light, nonmechanical ventilation, passive solar heating, and the ability of native materials to hold heat or cold when assembled in certain fashions. Conversely, more recent structures may rely on energy-consumptive systems for their continued use.

Historic buildings and landscapes can provide opportunities to discuss building construction prior to the 20th century, when most structures were built with locally available materials. Obtaining these materials and erecting the buildings were relatively low in energy consumption. In contrast, many modern buildings onsist of materials from all over the globe, obtained at an enormous cost in energy and resulting in the rapid depletion of worldwide resources.

Interpretation of architectural styles through features such as thick adobe walls, broad eaves, double-hung windows, door transoms, and high ceilings can provide valuable lessons in sustainability. How these low-tech features functioned during times when energy consumption was limited provides examples of principles applicable to today's efforts to conserve energy.

Historic buildings, landscapes, and even museum objects often contain materials from sources that are today endangered. The appearance of certain woods in buildings can provide the occasion to discuss the plight of these endangered species and the importance of maintaining resources.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Cultural resources are reflections of past cultural, historical, and environmental influences. Any development in areas containing cultural resources should pursue appropriate methods during planning, design, construction, and throughout subsequent operation to ensure that these nonrenewable, environmentally sensitive resources are protected, conserved, interpreted, and left unimpaired for future generations.

The following general recommendations should be included in any sustainable design that affects cultural resources:

Proposed development sites should be surveyed for cultural resources, and the significance, integrity, and tangible and intangible qualities of those resources determined.

All site and facility designs should incorporate methods for protecting and preserving significant cultural resources over the long term.

The architectural style, landscape design, and construction materials of new developments should reflect the cultural heritage of the locality or region.

Cultural resource treatment and maintenance methods should be both environmentally and culturally sensitive and sustainable over the long term.

When opportunities arise, cultural resources should be interpreted to include lessons about the environmental exploitations or sustainable, environmental successes of the past.

Any proposed development plan must take into account the total impacts of development in the widest possible context, and it must seek and implement effective mitigation for those impacts.

The conservation and management of cultural resources in an environmentally sensitive manner requires detailed planning; knowledge of materials and their interactions; knowledge of construction, craft techniques, skilled technicians, and available resources; and an ongoing commitment to resource conservation. Successful preservation must also address construction and operations associated with the proposed development.

To assist in this process, Table 3 contains a general list of activities that should be part of any development project or operational plan involving cultural resources. For each activity of the construction and operation phases, the list identifies the objectives, important consideration criteria, and specific products that might be the outcome.

View Table 3: Process for Preservation of Cultural Resources

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Interpretation
Chapter 3: Natural Resources
Chapter 4:CulturalResources
Chapter 5: Site Design
Chapter 6: Building Design
Chapter 7: Energy Management
Chapter 8: Water Supply
Chapter 9: Waste Prevention
Chapter 10: Facility Maintenance and Operations
Bibliography