U.S. Forest Service Northern Region Manages Historic Properties at Risk to 21st Century Climate Change Idaho, Montana, Washington
CASE STUDY
for identifying the level of exposure and risk to known historic properties and then implement adaptation measures. The framework follows seven steps: 1) Use existing resources to identify the likelihood of a hazard occurring; 2) Assess the level of exposure of the historic property to the hazard, with historic properties located in areas of highest likelihood of the hazard having the highest exposure; 3) Assess the vulnerability of the historic property to the hazard; 4) Identify those historic properties with the highest exposure and vulnerability as having the highest risk to the hazard; 5) Consider cultural, scientific, or architectural significance of the historic properties in addition to their level of risk before prioritizing them for adaptation; 6) Implement adaptation measures that reduce risk by reducing exposure and vulnerability; 7) Re-evaluate adaptation measures through iterative risk management that involves an ongoing process of assessment, action, monitoring, and reassessment as new information on likelihood of wildfire becomes available. The plan can be implemented to address the ongoing Forest Service strategy to confront the wildfire crisis. Exposure and risk of historic properties due to wildfire can be determined using data on wildfire likelihood developed by the Rocky Mountain Research Station’s Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory. As the potential for wildfires increase, the framework can also be used to plan further into the future using sophisticated computer climate models that show how hazards will change, in order to identify and protect historic properties located where such hazards are most likely to occur.
The severity of hazards due to climate change, including unusual flooding, larger and more frequent wildfires, expansive drought, and heat waves, have caused great physical damage to historic properties on federal lands, a factor which will only be compounded as their frequency increases. Historic properties, as nonrenewable resources, and in many cases, significant in part because of their existing location, are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate. Responding to increasing impacts from climate change is particularly challenging for agencies that manage tens of thousands of historic properties across federal lands where historic preservation laws, regulations, and policies call for their protection and stewardship, and will demand additional resources that will likely exceed current capacity.
The U.S. Forest Service Northern Region heritage program is developing a management plan to respond to this need, based on a risk assessment strategy that will identify and prioritize historic properties with highest exposure and risk to climate-change impacts. Taking such a proactive adaptive strategy provides heritage managers with time to strategically implement adaptation measures for potential or existing historic properties, with the benefits of such proactive measures often exceeding their costs as well as enabling the Forest Service to meet their long-term stewardship responsibilities under federal law. The Northern Region (northern Idaho, Montana, and a portion of northeastern Washington) plans to follow a framework
Granite Pass Fire near Lolo Pass on U.S. Highway 12, Lolo National Forest (Michael Gue/USFS)
Top: Panoramic view of part of the Hayman Fire burn area in Colorado (Erika Reiter/USDA)
Bottom: A map showing areas with a high probability of wildfire on national forests in northern Idaho and Montana; red areas show where historic properties have the greatest vulnerability. (Courtesy USFS) Center: Hotshot crews use drip torches to ignite and burn vegetation around control lines to help prevent wildfire from “jumping” fire lines. West Lolo Complex Fires, Lolo National Forest, 2021. (Kyle Miller/USFS)
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IN A SPIRIT OF STEWARDSHIP: A Report on Federal Historic Properties • 2024 | 59
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