Collaborative Development of a Framework to Assess NPS Cultural Resources Vulnerabilities to Climate Change in the Intermountain Region

This video was created as part of the Climate Change Science and Management Webinar Series hosted by the U.S. Geological Survey's National Climate Adaptation Science Center and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Conservation Training Center.

Collaborative Development of a Framework to Assess NPS Cultural Resources Vulnerabilities to Climate Change in the Intermountain Region 

Presenters: Gregg Garfin (SWCASC), Sarah LeRoy (SWCASC), Lauren Meyer (NPS), Pam Benjamin (NPS) 

Current planning for the stewardship and conservation of cultural resources in the national parks has been based on historical patterns in weather and material response. National Park Service (NPS) cultural resource managers are concerned that as the climate changes, these norms may no longer be applicable. As conditions and material responses change for natural and cultural resources, it will be more difficult to fulfill the NPS mission to ‘preserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system.’ To prepare for potential future changes, the NPS Vanishing Treasures Program partnered with the University of Arizona and the Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center to develop a framework to address climate change impacts on cultural resources in the NPS Intermountain Region. Project partners developed an interactive online vulnerability assessment tool that incorporates environmental factors and calculates resource sensitivity, using a novel approach for cultural resources building systems. The tool summarizes coarse spatial scale cultural resource vulnerability at both the park level and at a regional scale. An additional outcome of this collaboration is a National Park Service working group focused on climate change, consisting of NPS staff and members of Tribes in the Intermountain Region.