Fort Laramie National Historic Site: Cultural Landscape Report, Fort Laramie National Historic Site, National Park Service

This cultural landscape report documents the Fort Laramie National Historic Site (NHS) cultural landscape, provides general guidance on appropriate treatment methods, and compiles data needed for the future management of the landscape. It presents the site's history, its existing conditions, an evaluation of its character-defining featpres and the integrity of the landscape, management objectives, and recommendations for a treatment strategy. Fort Laramie has a richly documented history. Depending heavily on existing primary and secondary materials, this study undertoo~ew reseaJ:.Ch;>rhe Site History, Existing Conditions, and Analysis sections were prepared by a historian and landscape architect from the Denver Service Center (DSC) working in conjunction with the staffs from FOlt Laramie National Historic Site and the Intermountain Support OfficeDenver. The Treatment section was prepared by a landscape architect from DSC. Research methods used by these specialists included literature reviews, field investigations, data compilation, and analysis. The literature reviews focused on a variety of primary and secondary sources. These included natural and cultural resource legislation and their associated regulations, NPS and other federal policy and guidance documents, park management documents, primary and secondary historic documents, and contemporary research reports and interviews. Field investigations were conducted in October 1997 and documented features within the historic district and throughout the site. Members of the DSC team also conducted limited tours of the lands surrounding the park to increase the overall understanding of the area and to facilitate the analysis of character-defining features and integrity of the landscape. Views and vistas from inside the park looking out and fi·om outside the park looking in were examined. The reviews and investigations generated considerable data requiring careful analysis and synthesis. The DSC team focused primarily on existing park management documents, as ,well as National Register nomination forms, archeological assessments and reports, and numerous secondary historic documents. From this data, the landscape was documented, its existing condition was evaluated, and its integrity was analyzed within established standards for cultural landscapes (McClelland et aI, 1989).

Fort Laramie National Historic Site: Cultural Landscape Report, Fort Laramie National Historic Site, National Park Service

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