Cultural Resources Management and Fire: Toolbox

The documents in the Toolbox provide informal information and examples useful to cultural resource managers and cultural resource advisors (READs) assigned to fire activities. The documents supplement the plans and policies issued by the NPS.

Cultural Resources Protection and Fire Management Planning Course Workbooks

The Cultural Resources Protection and Fire Management Planning (CRS5026) course was sponsored by the NPS between 1999 and 2004. The course was developed for fire program managers and cultural resource managers from parks to attend together. The four workbooks were developed as teaching aids for the week-long class.

• Workbook for the Development of Cultural Resource Elements of Fire Management Plans

• Workbook for the Development of Cultural Resource Management Protocols for Fuels Management Projects

• Wildland Fire Suppression and Cultural Resources Workbook

• Burned Area Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation Activities and Cultural Resources Workbook

These workbooks were overviews of the state of cultural resources protection during wildfires at the time that the NPS course was developed, by two practitioners on the front line, Paul Gleeson and Trinkle Jones.

For Cultural Resources Staff Working on Fire Lines

• Fireline Handbook for Archaeologists. Commonsense advice about what to expect and equipment to take when you are called up to work on a fire line. Hanson provides information about wildfire survey and safety gear. Although 10 years old, the observations and advice are still pertinent to cultural resource specialists assigned to firelines.

• Fire Treatment Measures for Archeological Resource Protection. This document provides many useful suggestions for protecting all kinds of cultural resources during fire and fire-related activities. Treatment measures, which may be simple or elaborate, mitigate the impact of fire on cultural resources. Author Nelson Siefkin lists and comments on treatment measures used in the NPS.

Fire Effects on Cultural Resources

• Bare Bones Guide to Fire Effects on Cultural Resources by Stephen Horne and Kate Winthrop. Issued by WO-240: Cultural and Fossil Resources and Tribal Consultation Group, BLM.

• Direct Effects of Wildland Fire on Cultural Resources. This introduction to wildland fire provides a good overview of the way that fire management program staff think about fires and parameters that are used to assess fires and the potential impact to cultural resources.

• Operational Effects of Fire on Cultural Resources. At times, the effects on cultural resources of efforts to contain and control a wildfire are more severe than the direct effects of the fire. This overview discusses potential impacts to cultural resources from common wildfire response activities.

• Pyroarchaeology—NPS Fire Management and Archaeology. A dated but useful assessment of NPS fire and cultural resources practices in the mid-1990s.

• The Effects of Fire and Heat on Obsidian. Assembled and edited by Janine M. Loyd, Thomas M. Origer, and David A. Fredrickson 2002.

• Wildland Fire in Ecosystems: Effects of Fire on Cultural Resources and Archaeology

While many written over a decade ago, the articles in this compendium provide much useful information, from effects of fire on cultural resources material classes to advise to improve effective consultation and communication.

Cultural Resources and Wildland Planning Assistance

The CRP matrix was first presented during the NPS Cultural Resources Protection and Fire Management Planning course (1999-2004) as a way to assess and analyze fire management needs for cultural resources. Completing a matrix for an individual park is a valuable way to identify missing data and to develop campaigns for data collection.

• Cultural Resources Planning (CRP) Matrix

Interagency Guides

A number of guides on wildland fire-related topics are available on the Web. A few that relate to cultural resources are included here.

• Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation

• Interagency BAER Handbook