Abstract

Cultural Landscape Assessment in San Luis Valley-Taos Plateau, CO-NM
Track: Conservation
Authors: Emily Zvolanek

The Cultural Landscape Assessment pilot study was conducted to determine if BLM’s Rapid Ecoregional Assessment framework could be applied to cultural studies. Geospatial tools were used to create a Resource Value layer and Risk layer, including viewshed and spatial join. The results indicate areas of high value/high risk (sites for mitigation) and areas of high value/low risk (sites for conservation). The goal of the study was to devise methods to use in future large-scale cultural assessments.