Integrating Cultural Resource Preservation at a Landscape Level

A collaborative research project sponsored by the National Park Service and the Appalachian LCC seeks to integrate cultural resources, such as historic bridges and Civil War Battlefields, into landscape conservation planning and design to emphasize both natural and cultural resources in defining conservation priorities.

The goals of this research is to address the threats of land-use conversion associated with energy expansion, urbanization, sprawl, and climate change on cultural resources that society values. In order to integrate cultural resources into landscape-scale conservation planning and design, researchers at Penn State University will first identify relevant resources and data requirements, while investigating issues of scale and data availability appropriate for spatial analysis and modeling. They will then identify a process appropriate to apply at the larger scale, moving from a single state to include the entire Appalachian LCC 15-state geography.

Integrating cultural resource priorities within landscape-level planning and modeling is foundational to the LCC's Landscape Conservation Design, which will guide the Cooperative's coordination and collaborative conservation actions over the next several years.

In-depth presentation from the research team on first completing pilot studies in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The team investigated relevant resources, data requirements, and opportunities to identify the best process for integrating cultural resources into landscape planning. Future efforts may include scaling up local results to apply to the entire Appalachian LCC 15-state geography.