Landscape Preservation Planning

Description

This is NOT a request for applications. This is just a public announcement that NPS has entered into an agreement with SUNY_ESF. The Recipient shall perform the following activities:a. Develop Landscape Treatment Plan for Blow-Me-Down Farm, Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site b. Develop Plans for Summer 2019 Field School at Acadia National Parkc. Provide Section 106 advising and other landscape preservation technical support to Northeast Region parks, and disseminate research findings in landscape preservation related to NPS cultural landscapes. The SUNY will: 1. Develop Landscape Treatment Plan for Blow-Me-Down Farm, Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site (2019-2020)This project will address the 42.6-acre component of Saint-Gaudens National Historical Site. It encompasses Component B of Project Management Information System (PMIS) #154128: Produce Cultural Landscape Report for Blow-Me-Down Farm. The Recipient is presently researching Component A of the project (P17AC00513), including the site history and existing conditions. Blow-Me-Down Farm forms a significant part of the historic context of the Saint-Gaudens estate known as Aspet, and was identified in the park’s 1996 General Management Plan as a significant property to be acquired and incorporated into the park. Building on the site history and existing conditions being completed under Component A, this project will identify the landscape characteristics that that contribute to the historical significance of the property and provide treatment recommendations for their long-term preservation and enhancement based on management directives. This project is part of a long-range preservation planning approach the park has developed to better manage its cultural resources. The completed report will also aid the park in meeting the desired future conditions outlined in the park’s General Management Plan by managing the landscape in such a way as to expand upon important interpretive themes related to Augustus Saint Gaudens and the Cornish Colony.Research will be conducted at a “thorough” level of investigation, which is defined as “research in selected published and documentary sources of known or presumed relevance that are readily accessible without extensive travel and that promise expeditious extraction of relevant data, interviewing all knowledgeable persons who are readily available, and presenting findings in no greater detail than required by the task directive…[as well as] non-destructive investigation using all appropriate technical means” (NPS 28: Cultural Resource Management Guideline). Research for this project may be undertaken by or in conjunction with students, either as independent study or through a landscape architecture studio, to train future landscape stewards in the issues and methods of cultural landscape preservation. Treatment recommendations will be provided in narrative and graphic formats that are based on the goal of preserving the significant characteristics and features that contribute to the historic character of the landscape, consistent with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties and NPS 28 Cultural Resource Management Guideline. Components of the treatment plan will include development of a landscape treatment framework based on existing NPS policies, park planning, and the research findings of the site history, existing conditions, and analysis & evaluation for Blow-Me-Down Farm produced the Recipient under the prior agreement; identification of existing treatment issues in the landscape (loss of historic character, operational and maintenance issues, interpretation, etc.); development of general treatment guidelines; and development of recommendations for specific treatment tasks that address treatment issues in the landscape. 2. Develop Plans for Summer 2019 Field School at Acadia National Park (2018-2019)This task agreement will support planning for a field school in cultural landscape preservation planning during the summer of 2019 [a prior proposal to conduct a field school in summer 2018 was postponed]. The anticipated subject of this field school is the inventory of the vistas along the historic carriage road system at Acadia National Park. The Recipient has partnered four times with NPS Olmsted Center to conduct field schools, twice at Shenandoah and twice at Acadia. The purpose of the field school is to train students in methods and practices of landscape preservation planning and park management, and to produce NPS Cultural Landscape Inventory data. The outcome of this task agreement will include a proposal for conducting a field school at Acadia, developed in partnership with NPS Olmsted Center. The Recipient will take the lead on the academic and logistical (housing, transportation) components of the proposal, while NPS Olmsted Center will work with Acadia National Park to assess the feasibility of undertaking the field school and the Cultural Landscape Inventory.3. Provide Section 106 Advising and Other Landscape Preservation Technical Support to Northeast Region Parks (2019-2020)Working in partnership with the NPS Olmsted Center, the Recipient will provide parks with technical assessment of proposed capital and deferred maintenance projects in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, to support compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. Section 106 advising will be provided to the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site, Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site, Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site, Fort Stanwix National Monument, Roger Williams National Memorial, and Women’s Rights National Historical Park. The Recipient will also assist parks with inquiries pertaining to the history and significance of their cultural landscape resources based on the Recipient’s prior research and subject matter expertise. This will include continued research, documentation, and analysis at Wilderness Battlefield and Fredericksburg National Cemetery, both within Fredericksburg-Spotsylvania National Military Park. Assistance may also be provided to the following parks, based on ongoing park needs: Gateway National Recreation Area; Shenandoah and Acadia National Parks; Petersburg National Battlefield; Gettysburg National Military Park; and Colonial, Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller, and Morristown National Historical Parks. In addition, this task agreement will support disseminating of the Recipient’s research findings produced through prior agreements at these parks. This technical assistance will also support dissemination of research findings undertaken by the Recipient with other NPS regions and national audiences.

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