Threats to Resources:

The people who make decisions that impact the welfare and
integrity of cultural resources encounter a wide variety of
threats to the resource for which they have assumed a moral or
legal obligation to protect.  These threats can result from
environmental attack, vandalism, or simple neglect.  Threats from
cataclysmic natural forces and hazards, such as flood, seismic,
wind, storm, or fire, that imminently jeopardize the integrity of
a resource are variable in degree and predictability.  In an
urgent effort to protect resources from such environmental
forces, a cumbersome information flow that deters decisive
mitigation action can result in the loss of significant cultural
resources.

Less obvious, but equally catastrophic threats result from the
implementation of well-intentioned but inappropriate maintenance
or preservation techniques by uninformed professionals and
tradesmen.  This underscores the fact that the fate of our
cultural heritage rests with the decision makers, whether they
are formulating administrative policy at the highest management
levels or wielding the hammers and saws that literally impact the
historic fabric.  Decision makers are constantly asked to make
judgments about resource protection priorities, strategies,
techniques, materials, and compromises, all too often with
inadequate, inaccurate, or misunderstood information on which to
base their decisions.

<bfile15>   Assessments of Preservation Today
<bfile17>   Resource Management Needs
<bfile37>   Preservation Information Dissemination
<afile13>   Threats to Cultural Resources