Excerpt from Preventing Cultural Resources Destruction: Taking Action Through Interpretation Obviously, if foreign visitors are creating an impact on our cultural resources, we must stop them. But we can learn to handle the confrontation in an appropriate manner, so we have gained compliance but haven't offended them unnecessarily, lost their respect, or squelched their interest in visiting our sites. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed three federal agencies' management of archeological resources on federal lands to determine: (1) the extent of looting that has occurred; (2) what the agencies are doing to prevent looting of resources; and (3) what actions the agencies are taking to remove and properly preserve artifacts. GAO found that: (1) looters are destroying valuable scientific information at archeological sites; (2) agency officials believe that enforcement efforts have prevented casual looting, but problems still exist with commercial looting for profit; and (3) although looting of artifacts from National Park Service (NPS) land has been minimal, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Forest Service are experiencing a high level of commercial looting. GAO also found that: (1) funding constraints and staffing shortages have hampered agencies' ability to protect archeological sites; (2) the agencies were not taking necessary precautions to ensure the preservation of artifacts they sent to curators; (3) the agencies did not institute any procedures for determining the adequacy and ability of facilities responsible for curating artifacts, and seldom inspected the facilities; and (4) NPS has an estimated 15.5 million uncataloged artifacts collected from both federal and nonfederal lands.

This book is for project engineers and managers, government staff and consultants to help avoid unforseen archaeological problems in construction and development projects.

At present, there are no clear guidelines for identifying and managing the wide variety of cultural resources within the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) highway rights of way. These resources include such elements as archaeological sites; military earthworks; early road beds; buildings; structures; and objects as diverse as 19th century turnpike milestones, Civil War monuments, stone boundary markers, and early waysides. This project identified the types of cultural resources that can be encountered in the VDOT rights of way, identified pertinent governing legislation and management issues, and developed written guidelines for managing these resources. Brief case studies are included of examples of issues involving cultural resources and examples of resolutions of these issues. The guidelines and case studies can be used by cultural resource personnel; administrators; environmental specialists; inspectors; contractors; and crew members associated with local headquarters, residencies, and district and central offices alike. They are applicable not only to historic (i.e., eligible for the National Register of Historic Places) sites and structures but also to items of local importance and interest. It is envisioned that the guidelines, while having obvious statewide application, could have national application. The benefits of this project are the identification and description of the types of cultural resources that can be encountered in VDOT rights of way, their governing legislation, and written guidelines for managing these resources. This descriptive information and guidelines streamline the environmental and cultural planning and management processes while facilitating VDOT personnel and contractors to act as responsible stewards of these cultural resources and to adhere to the legislative and regulatory requirements governing their treatment. Use of the descriptions and guidelines will also help VDOT personnel and contractors to avoid violating state and national statutes and misidentification or unnecessary damage to cultural resources. Avoiding such violations, misidentification, and/or damage will result in minimizing personnel time and costs and avoiding project delays.