During World War II, when the Polish Resistance bedeviled German occupiers, the Nazis came up with a plan to destroy the Polish spirit. They identified Warsaw's most beloved landmark buildings, then demolished them. Of 957 identified landmarks, 752 were totally destroyed and others gravely damaged.
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But the Poles heard of the plot. A group of architects, university professors and students secretly made architectural drawings of the endangered buildings, then hid them in stone coffins of ancient monks at a monastery, "So that the past would not be stolen from the children of the future." The drawings made it possible to rebuild the landmarks after the war.
Anthony Max Tung, author of the fascinating "Preserving the World's Great Cities: The Destruction and Renewal of the Historic Metropolis," told this story as keynote speaker of Colorado Preservation Inc.'s 10th annual historic preservation conference earlier this month. It is the nation's largest local preservation conference, drawing almost 1,300 people from around the state.
Yet far more historic buildings have been destroyed in urban redevelopment than in the bombings of World War II, Tung continued. Today, the threat to our built historic legacy comes from pollution, politics and population explosion. "Twenty-three hundred years of architectural heritage is disappearing. The places of the heart, the places of which we dream, will disappear," he said.
In Colorado, our places of the heart are our cities and towns, but also the lands around them. We've fought the battle of saving historic buildings for four decades, and the number of local preservation groups shows how dearly we value these aspects of our surroundings.
Colorado's cherished places also are the open spaces, agricultural lands, and the archaeological sites that give us an awesome glimpse of those who came long before us. They're in danger, too.
About 40 percent of the state's land surface is publicly owned by the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Department of Defense, National Park Service, and State Land Board. Their varied missions aren't always what Coloradans would prefer. Huge amounts of deferred maintenance on public lands is disgraceful, and makes those neglected lands more vulnerable to exploitation or vandalism. Continued budget cutting even as visitation rises imperil our tourism economy.
A National Geographic survey of 115 tourism locations put the Colorado Rockies in ninth place, but had a warning on the lack of planning and protection for desirable locations, Scott Campbell of the state's Heritage Tourism office recounted. "What brings people here is our natural landscape, cultural and rural landscape." he said. He noted that a Steamboat Springs study found that if the agricultural lands around the town were developed, there would be a loss of $8 million in tourism revenues annually. "That ranch landscape draws the visitors," Campbell said. Fortunately, the area has ranchers who have worked to preserve those lands.
Colorado has the highest recorded density of archaeological sites in the country, and New Mexico has an abundance, too. Mesa Verde is the best known, but there are many other sites with important lessons, too. Several speakers warned that tourism can be a danger to preserving these sites, especially with decreased staffing. "
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Directory of cultural resource and historic preservation firms.
Gray & Pape, Inc. Archaeology**History**Historic Preservation
Serving your cultural resources needs since 1987.
Ohio -
11-03-11
New South Associates, Inc. New South Associates is a women-owned small business providing cultural resource management services, both nationally and internationally. Our specialities include archaeology, history, architectural history, preservation planning, and public interpretati
Georgia -
03-25-11
Kerns CRM Consultants Cultural and Historical Resource Management Services
Maryland -
01-10-11
Paula S. Reed and Associates, Inc. Paula S. Reed and Associates, Inc. is a small, woman-owned corporation organized in the State of Maryland, which provides cultural resource evaluation on a nation-wide basis, specializing in National Historic Landmark nominations. We meet qualifications o
Maryland -
11-23-10
SWCA Environmental Consultants Acquires Northwest Archaeological Associates SWCA Environmental Consultants has acquired Northwest Archaeological Associates, expanding SWCA's Pacific Northwest presence with a new Seattle office offering cultural and natural resource management and environmental permitting and compliance consulting.
04-04-11
ACHP Section 106 Essentials two-day course which explains the requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.
02-02-11
