What is the purpose of preservation?
For the National Park Service, historic preservation is the act of protecting and sustaining cultural and natural resources in perpetuity.#N#The identification and preservation of cultural resources is critical to protecting the nation's richly textured history. Cultural resources include tangible items of historic or cultural significance, such as cultural landscapes, buildings, structures, and objects; as well as the intangible items, like traditional knowledge, practices, and life-ways.#N#Cultural landscapes have been recognized by the NPS as cultural resources since 1983. Our responsibility for their preservation is equal to other resources, regardless of the landscape type or level of significance.
What is a CLR?
A Cultural Landscape Report (CLR) identifies the preservation goals for a cultural landscape. The CLR documents landscape characteristics and associated features, values, and associations that make a landscape historically significant, according to National Register Criteria for Evaluation. This guide is the definitive guidance document for the creation and use of CLRs.
How much of the world's national parks are protected?
And while national parks account for just over 3% of protected lands, they are hubs for much larger landscapes and ecosystems. Experts agree that we must fully protect 30% of our lands and waters to guard against the worst impacts of climate change. Parks are natural anchors for this plan.
Why are national parks important?
Protecting Landscapes. National parks support broader conservation, serving as anchors of larger ecosystems, pathways linking wildlife habitat and catalysts for resource protection. Parks thrive when the lands around them are healthy. The air, water and wildlife that move in and out of parks must be safe and protected for parks to flourish.