DOE/RL-97-56

When future generations reflect on the most significant historic resources of the later 20th century, it may well be that sites associated with man's first ventures into space, with the splitting of the atom, with the development of computers and artificial intelligence, or with the first successful products of genetic engineering, are the first examples that spring to mind. (ACHP 1991:10, emphasis added)

Introduction

The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966 directs federal agencies to assume responsibility for all cultural resources under their jurisdiction. Section 110 of NHPA requires agencies to survey the lands under their control and evaluate all historic properties for eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places. Section 106 of NHPA requires agencies to consider the effects of their actions on properties listed, or eligible for listing, in the National Register. The implementing regulations for NHPA require agencies to consult with the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) to ensure that all potentially significant cultural resources have been adequately identified, evaluated, and considered in planning for a proposed undertaking. Actions may proceed only after their comments have been received and taken into account.

Following a review of existing management practices, the U.S. Department of Energy-Richland Operations Office (DOE-RL) initiated a new strategy that moved from project-by-project, building-by-building considerations to the development of an Historic Buildings Programmatic Agreement formally entitled Programmatic Agreement Among the U.S. Department of Energy-Richland Operations Office, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the Washington State Historic Preservation Office for the Maintenance, Deactivation, Alteration, and Demolition of the Built Environment on the Hanford Site, Washington (DOE 1996a). This Programmatic Agreement provides a streamlined framework that will direct the management of all Manhattan Project and Cold War Era properties on Hanford and will guarantee that preservation efforts are expedited while ensuring that cleanup activities are not delayed.

The ACHP has defined the term mitigation as "actions that limit or compensate for the damage an undertaking does to historic properties" (ACHP 1991b, IV-23). Documentation of buildings and structures through drawings, photographs, and/or histories is included within the listing of typical mitigation measures. Preservation in place and salvage of information are other options.

This Treatment Plan, required under Stipulation IV of the Programmatic Agreement, will direct the production of a multi-level report which will chronicle the unique history of the Hanford Site, its technology, and the people who worked here. The report - The Hanford Site Manhattan Project and Cold War Era Historic District Final Treatment Report - is scheduled for completion on September 30, 2000. The objective is to mitigate property types rather than individual properties. This will be accomplished by writing an historic narrative for each property type and/or process which calls out changes, modifications, adaptations, or adjustments in the property type or process over time. Selected buildings will then be factored into this narrative as they support, typify, or exemplify aspects of that history. An information guide will be provided that directs researchers to existing documentation as well as data generated in direct support of this mitigation (for example, oral histories). Finally, to promote preservation in place, the report will contain recommendations for future uses of properties selected in consultation with the public.