National Park Service – DC Small Park Reservations Cultural Landscape Inventory Grant

Background – The City of Washington’s network of parks can be traced back to the historic plan of Washington prepared by Pierre Charles L’Enfant in 1791, and later the McMillan Plan in 1901 that proposed a linked system of parks and open spaces across the city. These plans laid the foundation for the parks and open spaces in the city today.

The varied development history of small parks in the city and the changes in management jurisdiction has at times contributed to some confusion regarding who is responsible for maintaining them. The important legacy of how small parks were envisioned, created, and managed is complex and reinforces the need for coordinated management across the NPS-held small parks so they can truly achieve their full potential. This project will focus on the documentation of these small park reservations cultural landscapes through field surveys, existing conditions mapping, and narrative descriptions.

Field Survey – Collect information about cultural landscape characteristics using the following techniques: use global positioning systems (GPS) to collect spatial data to accurately locate features; and record landscape features and characteristics using digital photography.

Existing Conditions Maps – Prepare maps of individual properties according to cultural landscape inventory guidance.  All data shall be submitted to NPS in the cultural resource data transfer standard.  A geodatabase template can be downloaded from:  https://irma.nps.gov/App/Reference/Profile/2182526.  This geodatabase template contains all of the various geodatabase objects required to implement the cultural resource spatial data transfer standard data model.  The geodatabase contains all of the various cultural resource feature classes defined with the standard, as well as all of the feature level metadata fields and domain values.  The data transfer standard contains the minimum fields required but other fields may be added to meet the practical needs of the project.  Refer to the Cultural Resource Spatial Data Transfer Standards guidelines for additional information regarding the structure of the geodatabase and its functionality which can be downloaded from:  https://irma.nps.gov/App/Reference/Profile/2182518.

Narrative – Prepare Cultural Landscape Inventories that include the following: annotated historical chronology for the physical development (excel spreadsheet template); historical narrative that addresses the physical development and identifies landscape changes through each period; historical significance summary explains how the property meets National Register criteria, how it contributes to the areas of significance, and what the period of significance is; an analysis and evaluation of the landscape characteristics that apply to the property and indicates how the characteristics are related to the significance; and stabilization measures