Preservation Planning

One of the Carriage Roads in Acadia National Park

NPS Photo / OCLP

The Olmsted Center undertakes research, analysis, planning, and preservation compliance assistance to help parks inventory, understand, and plan for the management of their cultural landscapes.

The Olmsted Center undertakes a variety of project work to document the history, existing conditions, and significance of landscapes. Based on this information, staff works with parks in planning to protect, preserve, and enhance cultural landscapes.

In addition, the Olmsted Center assists parks with compliance responsibilities under the National Historic Preservation Act and National Environmental Policy Act.

Specific Preservation Planning activities include:

Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation publication

NPS Image

• Cultural Landscapes Inventory: A comprehensive inventory of all cultural landscapes in the National Park System. Examples of the Olmsted Center’s cultural landscape inventories are available on the publications page.
• Cultural Landscape Reports: The primary documents used by the National Park Service to guide management and treatment of cultural landscapes. Examples of the Olmsted Center’s cultural landscape reports are available on the publications page.
• Landscape Mapping and Enterprise Spatial Data: Geospatial (GIS) information derived from cultural landscape inventories that is uploaded to the NPS Geospatial Data Portal (NPS only) to make map data accessible to park staff.
• Plant Records Management: Assistance to parks in managing information about plants, used by park maintenance staff in caring for landscapes, by visiting scholars in conducting research, and by the public
• Landscape Preservation Planning Technical Assistance: Landscape architectural expertise provided to parks to assist with landscape improvements and compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.