Coastal Infrastructure Investment Analysis Framework: Background, Cultural Resources Objectives and Performance Metrics Updates, and Next Steps
Reynolds JH , Parker J, Grantham K. 2026. Coastal Infrastructure Investment Analysis Framework: Background, Cultural Resources Objectives and Performance Metrics Updates, and Next Steps. Science Report. NPS/SR—2026/495. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.36967/2318557
In 2022, three directorates of the National Park Service—Park Planning, Facilities and Lands; Cultural Resources, Partnerships, and Science; and Natural Resource Stewardship and Science—began collaborating to develop a decision analysis framework to guide major facility investments in coastal parks. The framework aims to consistently and transparently identify key tradeoffs among potential Investment Concepts (ICs) and thus inform the values-based discussions required to select a specific IC for implementation. The framework is intended as a tool for regional- and bureau-level investment review boards, though the structure and concepts have broader application. The directorates collaborated with the U.S. Geological Survey to develop the framework, referred to as the Coastal Infrastructure Investment Analysis Framework (CIIAF). This document summarizes revisions to the framework to improve the objectives and performance metrics used to assess the impacts of potential ICs on cultural resource values. The first chapter provides an overview of the context motivating development of the CIIAF and the PrOACT decision analysis framework upon which it is based. The chapter summarizes, broadly, the development status of each of the CIIAF’s elements but does not fully reproduce framework details available elsewhere (Eaton et al. 2024). The second chapter summarizes the updated objectives and performance metrics (version 3.0) used to characterize cultural resource values relevant to the analysis context. Chapter 2’s appendices summarize guidance from the decision analysis literature on desirable characteristics of objectives and performance metrics. The third chapter recommends next steps in testing and revising the framework’s objectives and performance metrics, noting that these elements require multiple rounds of refinement. Chapter 3 also highlights the elements still needing development.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Reynolds, Joel; Parker, Jenny; Grantham, Karin
- Date of Issue
- 2026-08
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- DOI
- 10.36967/2318557
- Units
- CCRP , CRPS , NRSS
- Keywords
- CIIAF, climate change adaptation, Coastal Infrastructure Investment Analysis Framework, coastal infrastructure., coastal parks, cultural resource management, Facility investment, natural resource management, PrOACT, structured decision making