Cultural Resources and Wilderness Documents

The Wilderness Act gives Congress the authority to designate wilderness areas. Federal agencies, however, are responsible for evaluating the suitability of land for wilderness designation, and making recommendations about designation to Congress. Once determined to be suitable for wilderness designation, NPS lands are managed as if they are wilderness until determined to be ineligible for designation. This includes potential, proposed, recommended, and formally eligible wilderness. Park units take no action that diminishes the wilderness eligibility of an area possessing wilderness characteristics, including cultural resources, until the legislative process of wilderness designation has been completed. Until that time, management decisions will be made in expectation of eventual wilderness designation (NPS Management Policies 2006: 6.3.1).

Cultural Resources in Wilderness Documents

Descriptions, evaluations, and desired conditions of cultural resources should be included in all appropriate wilderness documents.

Depending on the needs and history of a specific area managed as wilderness, various planning, descriptive, and assessment documents are developed, either linearly or in tandem. Documents may tier off one another or be independent.

Wilderness narratives and wilderness character assessments are not decisional documents and do not require NEPA and NHPA compliance. Decisional documents, such as wilderness stewardship plans, however, require compliance with NEPA and NHPA, and consultation with the appropriate SHPO, THPO, Indian tribes, traditionally associated groups, historic preservation organizations, and local historical societies, as well as public participation.

This section of Archeological and Other Cultural Resources and Wilderness discusses cultural resources in wilderness evaluations, legislation, and wilderness narratives and assessments.

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation has developed principles to aid in developing a robust planning process that integrates both natural and cultural resource values (ACHP Policy Statement on Balancing Cultural and Natural Values on Federal Lands, December 2002) that are worth considering and adapting to wilderness management contexts.

A critical issue is identifying archeological resources that are important in defining wilderness character. The NPS Cultural Landscapes Inventory Professional Procedures Guide (2009) offers assistance for identifying preservation needs of structures and installations which may be adapted for identifying archeological resources important to a particular wilderness.

Critical Assessment of Archeological and other Cultural Resources

It is fundamental to successful wilderness planning and management to develop explicit criteria that allow critical assessment of archeological and other cultural resources within an individual wilderness, and to be able to prioritize needs.

Criteria are developed through an interdisciplinary process that takes into account expertise and concerns of cultural resource specialists. The NPS Wilderness Leadership Council is developing guidance to assist in identifying important cultural resources for planning and management purposes. When completed, the guidance will be available on the NPS Wilderness Program website.

Cultural Resources in Wilderness Eligibility Assessments and Studies

Wilderness eligibility assessments and studies evaluate Federal lands for suitability for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System as required by the Wilderness Act. Important cultural resources identified in specific wilderness assessments and studies should be included in the administrative record for consideration during hearings and other deliberations of individual wilderness legislation, to ensure that the preservation intent is clear. This will minimize potential for controversy, in addition to enhancing compatibility with NPS management policies and DO #41.

Wilderness Eligibility Assessments

Cultural resource specialists make information about cultural resources available and work closely with wilderness specialists to ensure that cultural resources are considered when evaluating land for wilderness suitability. Park units with lands suitable for wilderness are required by law to complete eligibility assessments for their eligibility for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Cultural Resources and Wilderness

The presence of cultural resources does not necessarily detract from qualities that enhance land for wilderness designation." ...(A)n area that attracts visitors primarily for the enjoyment of solitude and unconfined recreation in a primitive setting may also contain cultural resource features and still be included in wilderness. The presence of historic structures does not make an area ineligible for wilderness."

NPS Management Policies 2006: 6.2.1.2

Cultural resource specialists may be responsible for coordinating NEPA and NHPA Section 106 consultations. Cultural resource specialists may also be responsible for ensuring that consultations and coordination with Indian Tribal Governments take place to comply with Executive Order 13175 and DOI Policy on Consultation with Indian Tribes.

Archeological and Other Cultural Resources in Wilderness Basics Building Block

A wilderness narrative is a positive and affirming qualitative description of what is unique and special about wilderness resources and the ways that they define and support the character of that particular wilderness (Keeping it Wild in the National Parks - A User Guide to Integrating Wilderness Character into Park Planning, Management, and Monitoring, January 2014: 138). It summarizes the range of resources, including cultural resources, contributing to the five defined qualities of wilderness character.

Note

When wilderness cultural resources are present that contribute to Other Features of Value, this quality is of equal stature and importance to understanding wilderness character as all the other qualities (Keeping it Wild in the National Parks - A User Guide to Integrating Wilderness Character into Park Planning, Management, and Monitoring, January 2014: 10).

It is essential that the team developing the wilderness narrative include cultural resource specialists. The cultural resource specialist provides as much detail about cultural resources that are integral to wilderness character as is necessary for the narrative.

Cultural Resources in Wilderness Character Assessment Building Blocks

Parks that contain wilderness will monitor the conditions and long-term trends of wilderness resources to identify the need for or effects of management actions (NPS Management Policies 6.3.6.2 (2006)). When cultural resources are selected as integral to wilderness character, monitoring of some aspect of cultural resources is included in the character assessment plan.

Identification of cultural resources suitable for monitoring for character assessment purposes is based on different parameters than exemplifying wilderness character. Monitoring criteria should be measurable, practical, understandable, and replicable. For example, wilderness managers may choose to monitor the lesser important cultural resource that is frequently vandalized with graffiti because it is easy to monitor over the more iconic petroglyphs that are far from any trails.