Guidance for Implementation of National Cultural Resource Management Data Standard

July 19, 2018

In Reply Refer To:
8100 (240) P

EMS TRANSMISSION 07/24/2018
Instructional Memorandum No. 2018-079
Expires:  09/30/2021

To:             All Field Office Officials

From:        Assistant Director, Resources and Planning

Subject:     Guidance for Implementation of National Cultural Resource Management Data Standard

Program Area:  Historical, Cultural Heritage, Tribal Consultation, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

Purpose:  This Instruction Memorandum (IM) provides guidance for implementation of the National Cultural Resource Management (CRM) Data Standard.

The CRM data standard provides a set of rules the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will follow to track and store GIS boundaries for cultural resource management and investigations.  The BLM Cultural Heritage program investigates, records, evaluates, and manages cultural heritage resources on BLM-administered public lands and in areas of BLM responsibility.  The BLM management of cultural heritage resources (archaeological, historic and socio-cultural properties) is conducted in accordance with the provisions of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966, as amended and other authorities.

The CRM data standard creates a landscape and interstate level database for cultural heritage resources/site and investigation/inventory data, which can be employed to consider cultural heritage resources during high-level planning, such as Programmatic Environmental Impact Statements (PEISs), Resource Management Plans (RMPs), and other large-scale analyses.  The core attributes answer business questions and address the BLM’s analysis needs for planning, multistate regional analysis, and high-level modeling, and inform national level cultural heritage resource management.  Each state will implement the CRM data standard in accordance with the associated standards documentation and implementation guidelines (Attachments 1-2). 

The CRM data standard applies most directly to historic and prehistoric resources.  The standard provides a common data format for compiling spatial and non-spatial data about cultural resources and the investigations associated with those resources.  Data collected in accordance with a standardized data format are more useful and effective for cultural analysis and land management by a wide variety of programs and individuals.  The CRM data standard provides the ability to determine where investigations have occurred, when they occurred, and what area was covered.  The standard provides the ability to determine where resources have been identified in an area, what type of resources were found, and the regulatory status of each resource.

The CRM national dataset is intended to be an aggregated dataset that contains a processed and generalized version of the detailed source data from the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and/or BLM State Offices (SOs).  For example, only the most recent resource eligibility determination and resource conditions are needed in the national dataset; when each state may keep all of these records for each visit to a resource.  To ensure the data is updated at the national level, Extract Transform and Load (ETL)[1] processes will be developed that periodically gather the detailed data from each state and migrate it to fit into the national data standard.

This IM directs Cultural Heritage and GIS staff at BLM State Offices to work in conjunction with the SHPO partners to apply the CRM data standard by following the implementation guidelines and data standard documentation found in Attachments 1 and 2.  The CRM data standard will be maintained and served by the National Operations Center (NOC) in a geodatabase (GDB).

Policy/Action:  To implement the CRM data standard, the Washington Office (WO) Division of Cultural, Paleontological Resources, and Tribal Consultation (WO-240) and the NOC will coordinate with State Offices, which will then work with their SHPOs and/or state data managers to ensure compliance with the standard.  Each state’s data will be migrated through an ETL process designed for and specific to that state.  That ETL process will be applied either to the SHPO or BLM managed datasets.  Following data transfer, the NOC and WO will then complete the quality assurance for the data standard.

To facilitate a smooth transition to the CRM data standard, the WO and NOC, with GIS contractors, developed the standard with subject matter experts and conducted an initial migration of SHPO and state data into the standard as a test.  The NOC will develop an automated process for migrating the data in 2018, and will regularly update the data and create eGIS services to provide for access, viewing and use of the data.

The State Offices will coordinate their Cultural Resources Data Partnership (CRDP) initiative(s) with the implementation of the CRM data standard to facilitate the employment of the ETL process with SHPO datasets.  The standard has been a frequent topic during Cultural Data Sharing Partnerships meetings with SHPO partners over the last three years.  A few states have adopted the standard, while others have promised an effort to meet it.  To further encourage SHPOs in meeting the standard, CRDP Assistance agreements and contracts will include requirements for implementation of the CRM data standard.

Timeframe:  This IM is effective immediately.

Budget Impact:  The overall impact to budgets will be minimal.

Background:  The CRM data standard was developed initially as part of the Colorado Plateau Pilot Project (CPPP).  The CPPP project involved assembling data from four states.  It was then determined by the BLM Preservation Board to move the CPPP to a national pilot.  Subsequently, the National Heritage Solution Pilot (NHSP) assembled data from 11 states to test and prove the proposed data standard.

The CRM data standard benefits from and is informed by previous work to create data standards by the CRDP and the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC).  These efforts provide background for the content and metadata standards for the BLM's CRM data standard.  The BLM has benefitted from a 20 year data sharing partnership with SHPOs in development of cultural heritage databases within each state.  The CRM data standard leverages this partnership by capturing data from SHPOs and BLM State Offices for implementation and ongoing maintenance of the CRM data standard.

Manual/Handbook Sections Affected:  8110 Manual.

Coordination:  The process identified in this policy was developed with the assistance of multiple BLM FOs and SOs, the NOC and WO-240, and the Preservation Board.

Contact:  For further information, contact Kirk Halford, Deputy Preservation Officer/State Archaeologist BLM Idaho State Office, 208-373-4043; or Byron Loosle, Division Chief Cultural, Paleontological Resources, and Tribal Consultation (WO-240), 202-912-7240.

Signed by:                                                                   Authenticated by:

Kristin Bail                                                                 Robert M. Williams

Assistant Director                                                       Division of IT Policy and Planning,WO-870

Resources and Planning

2 Attachments

   1 - CRM Implementation Guide (49 pp)

   2 - CRM Business Rules (13 pp)