Balancing Historic Presewalion Needs with the Operation of Highly Technical or Scientific Facilities The grandscale ofAmerica's historic scientificfacilifies and equipment is in keeping with their enomlous contribubulions fo the Nation's technological development. Or1 the cover, a model of the Mercury capsule undergoes aerodynamic festirlg in the full scale tunnel at NASA's Longley Research Center. The Natio~lalHistoric Landmark wind turlrlel dwds a foreground observer in this 1959phofograph. Above, an astrorromsr sits in fheprime focus observingposition atop the 20&inch Hale Telescope at the Mount Palomar Observatory, yet the seemingly more hurnarl scale of thisphotograph is deceptive. The detailed diagant of t11etelescope s11ow1101tthe overleafpzttsr?lan intoperspective. Balancing Historic Preservation Needs with the Operation of Highly Technical or Scientific Facilities A report to the US.HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIFS, SUBCOMMIlTEE ONNATIONAL PARKSAND PUBLICLANDS, and the COMMIlTEE ONSCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY Advkoiy Council on Historic Preservation 1100 Penr~sylvaniaAvenue, NK, Suite 809, Washington,D.C. 20004 February 1991 ADVISORY COUNClL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION Foreword NEARLY TWENTY-FIVE YEARS following passage of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, one might argue that the preservation community is stretching the frontiers of traditional historic preservation interests and involvement. We are entering a period that marks fifty years since the beginning of World War I1 and its after- math. The 1940s and 1950s marked a period of unprecedented national growth and development in urbanization, residential and commercial construction, scientific and tech- nological development, and national infrastructure. The Nation's historic preservation policy was a response to those developments and their effects on America's historic resour- ces. In the near future, however, the products of those developments will be the historic resources. Already, significant national achievements in science, space exploration, and many other arenas of human endeavor are being recognized for their historic value. Others will follow. The preservation of our scientific heritage, the discoveries we as a country of innovators and inventors have pioneered, and our physical record of scientific research are all essen- tial to give the proper understanding of "who we are" as a Nation. In particular, the oppor- tunity to inspire and guide the younger generation of Americans is an opportunity we ought not to sacrifice. I believe this report addresses a variety of measures that can be taken, short of legislative exceptions, to minimize the fears of cost, delay, and interference with the scientific re- search process that some members of the scientific community believe are necessary when they are asked to participate actively in the preservation of their own past for our common benefit. It is incumbent upon all of us to work together to protect and enhance this legacy as we move forward into the twenty-first century. John F.W. Rogers Chairman ADVlSORY COUNCIL ON EIISTORIC PRESERVATION Table of Contents Foreword ................. .v Chapter 3 Chapter 5 Table of Contents .......... vi Areas of tension behveen The process and result of past Executive Summary ........ ix scientific research/technological interaction behveen science 7lte analysisfinds in brief ....x facility operation and the and technology and Federal Highlights of the Federal historic preservation historic preservation recommendations: ........x program ................. 19 statutes ................. .34 The Issues ................ 19 Existing agency programs Summary.. ............... 25 for historic preservation . 41 Chapter 1 Section 106 cases at science Introduction .............. .1 and technology facilities . 36 Congressional request .......l Chapter 4 NASA case study examples . 41 Background to congressional The historic significance of The regulatory implications interest .................3 scientific and technological of "historic" designation . 46 Focus of the study ...........4 facilities .................27 Summary Discussion .......47 Study methodology ..........5 Why scientific and Alternatives toproposed O~~erallapproach ............5 technological facilities are actions ................47 Solicitation ofpublic historically important: Effects of modifications on comments ...............5 criteria of significance ... 27 historic facilities .........48 Scientific and technological Backgrour~d............... 27 The timing of historic facilities visited .......... .6 7'he National Register of preservation review. ......48 Participation by scientists and Historic Places and National The "public"nature of the rrlanagers, and the Historic Landmarks ..... 28 Section 106process ...... 49 preservation community ... .6 The process of identification The costs of historic Report organization .........7 and evaluation.. ........ 29 preservatior~ ............49 Application of the criteria in practice ...............30 Chapter 2 7'he historic significance of Chapter 6 A context for analysis: Federal scier~tificand technological hservation/facility mission support of science and technol- facilities ............... 30 options available to achieve ogy and the Federal historic 7'he age of the facility or its balance ..................51 preservation program ...... .8 equipment ............. 31 Range of agency programs Representativeness versus the Overview ..................8 to protect and enhance Federal support of science uniqueness of the facility, historic properties .......52 and technology ..........10 stnrchlre, or object .......32 Identificatior~artd The Federal historic The 'integngnty"of the resource, maintenance of historic preservation program ....ll in terms of the amount of scientific and technological Yerkes Obsematory, a federally original historicfabric, properties .............. 52 suppoiTed research facility .I2 material, or equipment Institutional histories Section 106.. ..............15 still &ant andlor in use . 32 and the popularpress .... 52 Section 110 ................I6 Conduct of the evaluation, Public information centers, Juxtaposition: public policy includirzg the qualifications museums and displays ... 53 and the Federal of the evaluator arrdpersons Measures to mitigate the Government's stewardship corlsulted during the effect of mission needs-on role ....................16 evaluation .............33 historic properties ...... 54 Rartge of n~itigntion measirres ...............54 Problems in implementation 55 ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION Chapter 7 Conclusions and recommendations ......... .57 Conclusions .............. .57 Recommendations ........ .62 Notes ................... .79 Tables I: Summary of major existing high tech agency historic preservation programs ...36 2: Agency history and archives offices ................ .37 3: Principal Section 106 cases involving scientific and technical facilities, 1970-1990 ..............38 A. Facilities management. ...38 B. firdividual projects .......38 Appendices I: Report preparation and acknowledgments ........67 Pl~otocredits ..............68 2: Congressional letter requesting the analysis ...69 3: Programmatic Agreement among NASA, NCSHPO, and the Advisory Council for management of NASA's National Historic Landmarks ............ .71 4: Cooperative agreement between NASA and the Smithsonian Institution for the curation of historic equipment ..............76 N)VISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION 7he space shuttle liffsoff from Lmrnch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center, one of NASA's historicpropeeies that is listed on the Nalional Register for its role in the lunar landings. 7he compler has been modifiedfor shuttle operations. On the overleaf; Marshall Space Flight Center's NHL necclral buoyancy simulator, constn~ctedin 1955 to lrain astronauts to work in a weightless environment, also remains in use. In this 1979photograph, sccr~badivers keep a watchful eye. ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION physical environment that NHPA. They are obligate their operations, to consid The central issue discus What is the appropriate balance bet fect historic properties through destro ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION ADVISORY COUNCIL ON IlISTORlC PRESERVATION CHAFER 1: Introduction As requested by Congress on September 20, 1989,the Ad- visory Council on Historic Preservation undertook an analysis of problems, or poten- tial problems, associated with the designation of scientific re- search institutions as historical- ly significant for their role in scientific and technological ad- vancement. Of concern was how a balance could be struck be- tween the preservation of physical reminders of the scientific legacy of the United States and the ongoing opera- tion and continual need to upgrade scientific and techni- cal research facilities. Congress requested that the Council focus on proper- ties identified by the National Park Service (NPS) as national- ly significant under the "Man in Space" and "Astronomy and Astrophysics" National Historic Landmark (NHL) theme studies. It also asked the Council to suaaest how Federal agencies managing or all work was accomplished providing assistance to such Congressional request facilities could best meet the re- within the Council's normal quirements of Sections 106 and Operating budget. re- The September 20, 1989,letter. 110 of the National Historic quested that the report