Preservation Maintenance

Hazard tree removal at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site

NPS Photo / OCLP

The Olmsted Center provides timely assistance to parks in planning for the stewardship of cultural landscapes through protection, stabilization, and repair on a routine or cyclic basis.

Working in collaboration with park staff, the Olmsted Center assists with identifying landscape maintenance needs, conducting condition assessments, and recommending and accomplishing emergency and cyclic preservation fieldwork to halt deterioration and improve the condition of cultural landscapes.

These projects help parks meet their stewardship objectives, preserve significant cultural resources, and enhance the visitor experience.

Specific Preservation Maintenance activities include:

Tree planting during Arborist Training Program

NPS Photo / OCLP

• Arborist Incident Response Program: Regional teams of tree care professionals skilled in hazard tree assessment, aboriculture, and cultural landscape preservation who are deployed to respond to tree damage resulting from unanticipated events
• Facility Management Software System Program: Leadership in the development of the Maintained Landscape component of the National Park Service Facility Management Software System, which is used by park staff to track landscape features’ conditions, maintenance needs, and associated costs
• Historic Plant Preservation Program: A nursery program that conserves historically and scientifically important plants by propagating and cultivating genetically authentic replacements for deteriorated original specimens in park landscapes
• Landscape Maintenance Field Projects: Multi-park landscape maintenance teams mobilized to assist parks with stabilizing and improving the condition of park cultural landscapes
• Landscape Preservation Maintenance Technical Assistance: Preservation maintenance expertise provided to parks to assess and mitigate unanticipated impacts to park landscapes