Study of Climate Change Impacts on Cultural Landscapes in the Pacific West Region, National Park Service

Melnick RZ, Malinay V, Kerr NP, Lewis A. 2016. Study of Climate Change Impacts on Cultural Landscapes in the Pacific West Region, National Park Service. Cultural Landscape Guidance Documents. Cultural Landscape Research Group, University of Oregon. Eugene, Oregon

This project responds to the growing need to understand the potential effects of projected climate trends and events on cultural landscapes. The study of climate change on cultural landscapes in the Pacific West Region (PWR) of the National Park Service was conducted by the Cultural Landscape Research Group (CLRG), a unit of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Oregon, in collaboration with the National Park Service. Working with climate scientists, archaeologists, ecologists, historians, biologists, botanists, preservationists, and designers, CLRG utilized NPS and USGS localized climate projections to assess how cultural landscapes within the PWR have the potential to be affected by climate. The project developed recommendations on future research toward the agency's goal of ensuring cultural landscapes are resilient to climate change. The study objectives are to: 1. Collect climate change projection data pertinent to 164 cultural landscapes in 43 parks in the Pacific West Region. 2. Identify anticipated climate change related exposures for each of the 164 cultural landscapes, including, but not limited to, climate change trends of air temperature, precipitation, sea level, and storms. 3. Conduct six case study cultural landscape condition assessments, using the CLI Professional Procedures condition assessment framework, to verify current condition and impacts, and identify next steps towards ensuring the current impacts are addressed in order to improve the resiliency of the cultural landscape to future impacts. The project responds to the growing need to understand the potential effects of projected climate change trends and events on cultural landscapes. This project builds on a previous study and the 2015 manual entitled "Climate Change and Cultural Landscapes: Research, Planning, and Stewardship."

Type
Published Report
Authors
Melnick, Robert; Malinay, Veronica; Kerr, Noah; Lewis, Alison
Date of Issue
2016-12-31
Publisher
Cultural Landscape Research Group, University of Oregon
Units
DEVA , EUON , NCCO , NEPE , PUHE , PWR , REDW
Keywords
adaptation, case study, climate change, climate projection, climate science, climate trend, decision tree, ecology, exposure, FEMA, hazard data, precipitation, resilience, sea level, sensitivity, storms, temperature, USGS, vulnerability assessment

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