Our Mission

The Vanishing Treasures Program supports the preservation of traditionally-built architecture in the Western United States, facilitates the perpetuation of traditional skills, and promotes connections between culturally associated communities and places of their heritage.

Who Are We?

Vanishing Treasures Program staff are located in various parks and offices throughout the Intermountain Region including the Old Santa Fe Trail Building, Mesa Verde National Park, Grand Teton National Park, and Tuzigoot National Monument. The program provides a full range of historic preservation services to parks in the Intermountain, Pacific West, and Alaska Regions, perpetuating traditional building knowledge and skills while promoting cultural resources stewardship.

What is a Vanishing Treasure?

When first established in 1998, Vanishing Treasures were defines as sites in the arid West that were being preserved in a state of ruin. Today, after the merger of Vanishing Treasures and the Western Center for Historic Preservation, the program has expanded its focus to any type of traditional architecture in the American West regardless of its condition.