Guidelines for Protecting Cultural Resources

Cultural resource protection, because cultural resources are non-renewable, is a crucial component of fire management and a concern for resource managers before, during, and after a fire. Resource advisors, with the assistance of fire personnel, protect cultural resources to preserve their value as markers of social identity and scientific data.

The ideal goal is “zero” effects to cultural resources from fire (Lentz, Gaunt, and Wilmer 1996). This may be a very difficult goal to realize, but managers can access guidelines for cultural resource protection from various sources (e.g., National Interagency Fire Center). Resource advisors may need to be aware of federal legislation governing the use of prescribed fire in cultural resource sites.

Some of the more critical procedures to follow that will result in the protection of cultural resources are:

• identify all cultural resources within a jurisdiction using archaeological surveys and consultations with cultural specialists, tribal representatives, and other knowledgeable people (Identifying sites, is often cost prohibitive for many agencies and management priorities are not structured to fund surveys.)
• include resource advisors, or similar knowledgeable persons, at all stages of wildfires and prescribed burns (prevention, planning, implementation, restoration)
• plot firelines/firebreaks to minimize contact with known cultural resources
• map, mark, or flag cultural resources during wildfire suppression and rehabilitation and prescribed burn implementation
• provide all fire workers with basic training on cultural resources
• design plans to protect resource values at risk
• avoid using heavy equipment near cultural sites

• where wildfire poses risks to cultural resources, reduce fuels near archaeological and historic sites mechanically or with prescribed burning to reduce damages from future wildfire (applicable to structures, etc, likely not to non-exposed archaeological sites).
• determine effects of heat treatment and fire suppression tactics (e.g., foams, retardants) on cultural resources at risk (exposed resources).
• recruit archaeologists or historic preservationists to work with fire workers and restoration crews
• in instances of wildfire, develop a post-fire data recovery and/or restoration program that is sensitive to cultural resource concerns

• refuse sites from the historic period
• unidentified resources including but not limited to prehistoric and historic graves
• portions of cultural landscapes such as fencelines and non-fire tolerant plants

Federal agencies and many state agencies have active programs to identify and protect cultural resources. NPS has been particularly active in studying the effects of fire on cultural resources (Anderson 1983). One of the charter responsibilities of the National Park Service (NPS) is to protect the nation’s cultural resources. Many public land agencies employ cultural resource specialists such as archaeologists and historians (Anderson 1983). Fire management officers often hire resource advisors to provide information about valuable cultural resources and suggest methods for protecting them. Cultural resource protection is a priority of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and branches of the Department of the Interior (National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).