| The
Issue:
During the past 20 years, the concept of historic preservation
has grown beyond protecting a single building or urban district
to include the historic landscape that provides the setting
and context for a property as well as much larger landscapes
that have regional and national significance.
In late 2000, the American Society of Landscape Architects,
the National Park Service (NPS), and the Library of Congress
entered into a Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) that established the Historic American
Landscapes Survey (HALS) to document landscapes that serve
as tangible evidence of our nation’s heritage and development.
The National Park Service administers the planning and operation
of HALS, selects and approves landscapes for documentation,
standardizes formats and develops guidelines for recording
landscapes, and catalogs and/or publishes the information
when appropriate. The Library of Congress accepts and preserves
HALS documents, furnishes reproductions of material, and makes
records available to the NPS. ASLA works with its Historic
Preservation Professional Practice Network (PPN) to provide
advice on identifying, selecting, and documenting historical
landscapes and works with Congress to secure funding for the
administration of HALS.
 HALS
Liaisons
HALS Liaisons
are ASLA volunteers appointed by their chapter presidents
that provide technical and other types of assistance to carry
out the mission of the HALS program. Typically, each chapter
has at least one HALS Liaison. Chapters that contain multiple
states should have at least one liaison per state.
Assisted by the HALS Liaisons Coordinator, chapter presidents
choose a liaison from a pool of volunteer applicants. Applicants
must be full, associate, or affiliate members of ASLA. HALS
Liaisons may serve for an unspecified term. ASLA members interested
in becoming a HALS Liaison should contact their chapter
president.
HALS Liaisons
duties include:
- creating and updating lists of local examples of significant
historical landscapes
- coordinating HALS activities with the State Historic
Preservation Office
- advising on the review and revision of state and local
historic preservation laws with the aim of including historic
landscape documentation
- lobbying legislators for funding for HALS
- enlisting donations to the HALS/HABS/HAER fund
- promoting public awareness of HALS and historic landscapes.
HALS Fact Sheet:
Read
detailed fact sheet <pdf>
Local Example Resources:
The importance of presenting local examples to legislators
in order to reinforce the relevancy of an issue cannot be
overstated. The following resources are designed to support
efforts to communicate about threatened historic landscapes
in communities across the country.
Documentation:
Documentation of HALS sites are critical to preserving historical
landscapes for the benefit of future generations and can provide
rationale for the planning and funding of future landscape
preservation efforts. Documentation projects can be completed
by HALS Liaisons, ASLA Chapters and other interested individuals
and organizations. For additional information on initiating
a documentation project, please review the HALS
Guidelines and Sample
Projects provided by the NPS.
Related ASLA Policies:
Advocacy Center:
Additional Links:
Return to Federal Government Affairs>
|
