Title:  Colorado Preservation 2005: Enriching Our Future by Preserving Our Past

Colorado Preservation Plan

Number of Pages: 56
Approval Date: January 16, 2001
Planning Cycle: 5 years

Contact Information:
     Dale Heckendorn, Director
     Preservation Planning Unit
     National & State Register Programs
     Colorado Historical Society
     225 E. 16th Avenue, Suite 950
     Denver, Colorado 80203
     (303) 866-4681; fax (303) 866-4464
     E-mail: Dale.Heckendorn@chs.state.co.us
     Web site: http://history.state.co.us/oahp/planning.htm

Mission/Vision Statement:
Over the next 25 years, Coloradans will increasingly appreciate, respect, and protect their heritage, and will embrace their role as its stewards.

Table of Contents:
     Executive Summary
     Part I: Where Have We Been? Historic Preservation in Colorado
     Part II: Where Do We Want To Go? A Shared Vision
     Part III: Where Are We Now? Challenges and Opportunities for
          Historic Preservation
     Part IV: How Will We Get There? Planning for Historic Preservation
     Part V: How Will We Know When We Have Arrived? Evaluating
          Our Accomplishments
     Appendices
          A. Glossary
          B. Planning Bibliography
          C. Plan Development Process and Participants
          D. Services and Resources Guide

PLAN DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES
Public Participation Strategies:

• Mail and Internet-delivered questionnaire survey to preservation community and other interested partners;
• Sixteen statewide public meetings to explore issues raised in survey;
• Colorado Preservation 2005 Planning Team (with broad-based membership) reviewed survey and public meeting results, and provided direction to OAHP staff on plan development.
• Plan drafts circulated among Planning Team members, their constituents, local libraries, planning offices, and public places for review and comment;
• Used press releases to encourage public comment.

HISTORIC AND CULTURAL RESOURCES
Archaeological sites, artifacts, and prehistoric rock art; prehistoric ruins and cliff dwellings; historic buildings and structures, modern architecture; historic cultural landscapes (farms, ranch lands, mining districts, transportation corridors, irrigation systems, parks, and prehistoric sites); historic and prehistoric sites; traditional cultural properties; cultural and ethnic communities; historic objects produced, used, or valued by Colorado's citizens; written documents, photographs, audio-visual recordings, and electronic information of historical importance; oral stories, craft skills, celebrations, and practices that convey important aspects of cultural heritage.

ISSUES, THREATS, & OPPORTUNITIES

The Plan identifies five major historic preservation challenges:

• Rapid Growth – Preventing the eradication of historic places as a result of growth, development, and sprawl;
• Rapid Change – Responding to the changing economy, technology, and government missions that may inadvertently threaten historic places;
• Disappearing Landscapes – Recognizing and protecting the cultural landscapes that reflect Colorado’s diverse heritage;
• Appreciating Diversity – Increasing awareness and understanding of places that are important to the various cultures and peoples of Colorado; and
• Rights and Responsibilities – Expanding preservation incentives and protections to all places in Colorado.

For each, issues, threats, and opportunities are identified:

• Increasing population growth, resort development, telecommuting-related residential development in rural areas;
• Crime and vandalism threaten cultural resources;
• Preserving historic places while meeting today’s transportation needs;
• Local and regional planning help reduce negative impact of growth and development;
• Prosperous economy raises values of some historic properties but threatens others as new development occurs;
• Employment centers relocate, causing neighborhood deterioration;
• Technological advances can obscure or destroy historic places or objects, such as historic mining features;
• Public-private partnerships can achieve balance between new development and preservation;
• Identification, evaluation, and protection of sites from the recent past;
• Main Street programs encourage reinvestment in community centers;
• Advanced technology enhances cultural resource research and preservation;
• Heritage area programs useful for protecting large cultural landscapes containing wide variety of resources;
• Balancing increasingly popular heritage tourism with resource protection;
• Scenic and Historic Byways make more historic resources accessible to the visitor;
• Effects of hazardous wastes on historic resources;
• Broaden the focus of preservation toward places that are important to all socioeconomic and ethnic groups;
• Increasing opportunities for public participation in preservation activities;
• Transferring knowledge from preservation professionals to the public;
• Broadening partnership between museum and preservation professionals and the public;
• Learning heritage of other cultural and ethnic groups enriches all Coloradans;
• Conflict between preservation and private property rights;
• Education and exchange of information are critical in meeting challenges.

1. Assume Responsibility: Local participation, decision-making, and responsibility strengthens the preservation of important places from our past.
2. Participate in Preservation: Coloradans of various cultural and ethnic groups, ages, and abilities participate in preserving important places from our past.
3. Educate People: Coloradans understand the necessity of properly preserving important places from our past.
4. Exchange Information: Cultural resource information is regularly gathered, maintained, and exchanged.
5. Offer Financial Incentives: Expanded grant programs and other financial incentives encourage the preservation of important places from our past.
6. Preserve Places: A more representative collection of important places from our past are protected and preserved.
7. Use Places Responsibly: Responsible heritage tourism offers a means of knowing and preserving important places from our past.

1. Assume Responsibility.
   • Promote sharing of preservation information;
   • Incorporate local preservation concerns in decision-making;
   • Encourage use of preservation goals by businesses, organizations, and government;
   • Improve local preservation ordinances and develop new ones;
   • Increase use of planning.
2. Participate in Preservation.
   • Include ethnic and cultural boards, organizations, and councils;
   • Learn more about state’s diversity;
   • Reach out to all who form part of the state’s heritage;
   • Inform cultural and ethnic groups about preservation benefits;
   • Survey, designate, and protect resources significant to cultural and ethnic groups.
3. Educate People.
   • Expand awareness, understanding, and support of preservation;
   • Preservation curricula in schools, colleges, and universities;
   • Emphasize relationship of preservation to business and economic development;
   • Provide basic and advanced preservation training to agencies, organizations, and the public;
   • Support historical and archaeological research, documentation, and publication.
4. Exchange Information.
   • Collect high quality cultural resource information;
   • Maintain accessible cultural resource archives;
   • Use new technologies for cultural resource information management;
   • Exchange cultural resource information for education, research, and planning.
5. Offer Financial Incentives.
   • Promote benefits of preservation to potential donors;
   • Expand existing grant programs;
   • Secure other financial incentives;
   • Facilitate the funding process;
   • Help market preservation projects;
6. Preserve Places.
   • Create partnerships to preserve state’s cultural heritage;
   • Designate more properties on State and National Registers;
   • Increase scope of existing preservation laws;
   • Curb vandalism of historic and archaeological sites;
   • Improve professional care of collections.
7. Use Places Responsibly.
   • Balance promotion, interpretation, and conservation of resources;
   • Communicate preservation’s importance in tourism and economic development;
   • Assist in developing heritage tourism;
   • Improve interpretation of cultural heritage;
   • Identify and protect cultural sites at tourist destinations.

Cooperating/Partnering Organizations:
Historic property owners; academicians and practitioners of archaeology, history, and architecture; local historic preservation commissions and boards; historical societies and museums; municipal and county governments; regional councils of government; chambers of commerce; The Colorado Archaeological Society; Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists; Denver Landmarks Preservation Commission; Historic Denver, Inc.; Historic Boulder, Inc.; Historic Georgetown, Inc.; Colorado Preservation, Inc.; National Trust for Historic Preservation; Main Street Program; Colorado Department of Agriculture; Colorado State Fair; federal agencies; state agencies; Colorado-Wyoming Association of Museums; University of Northern Colorado’s Institute for History and Social Science; The Crow Canyon Archaeological Center; Colorado Cultural Resource GIS Program; U.S. Bureau of Land Management; U.S. Bureau of Reclamation; Colorado Division of Housing; Colorado Department of Transportation; U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency; U.S. General Services Administration; Colorado Heritage Area Partnership; Colorado State Parks; Colorado Scenic and Historic Byways Program; U.S. National Park Service; Colorado Chapter of the American Institute of Architects; Colorado Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects; Center for Community Development at the University of Colorado; Colorado Open Lands; U.S. Forest Service; Colorado Community Revitalization Association; Colorado Interagency Archaeological Education and Anti-vandalism Task Force.

FEATURES OF NOTE

• The Plan "articulates a twenty-five-year vision" and "establishes five-year goals and objectives toward realizing that vision."
• Numerous "Success Stories" illustrate accomplishments during the last five years.