The Gulf of Mexico coast of Louisiana and Texas faces threats from increasingly destructive extreme weather, heat, subsidence, and coastal erosion. Inland areas also face stronger storms, floods, and shifts in land development patterns. Increasing drought and extreme heat in Texas and New Mexico also exacerbate fires and floods. All of these regions are culturally rich, rapidly changing areas where people are working across political boundaries and organizations to protect and adapt people’s lifeways, sites and artifacts, and culturally important species, places and landscapes.
This project will produce an action plan that describes ongoing efforts and identifies gaps in research and funding for cultural preservation and adaptation. The project’s goals are (a) to identify research, funding, and policy priorities and to document climate impacts on cultural resources and innovative adaptation approaches, and (b) to advance an actionable adaptation agenda by prioritizing future research and funding needs while highlighting policy directions to further cultural resource adaptation. The project team will first engage with a wide range of cultural stewards to identify their needs in research, funding, and policy action. They will then explore how cultural resources and climate risks are currently considered in planning documents.
People’s connection to the land and their priorities for preserving it and adapting to change are influenced by culture and cultural locations. Cultural resources make communities more resilient and contribute to their well-being. This project will develop appropriate research, funding, and policy tools to support cultural resource managers and stewards protect this irreplaceable heritage.
