Inventorying and Documenting Existing Conditions

Both physical evidence in the landscape and historic documentation guide the historic preservation plan and treatments. To document existing conditions, intensive field investigation and reconnaissance should be conducted at the same time that documentary researchis being gathered. Information should be exchanged among preservation professionals, historians, technicians, local residents, managers and visitors.

Understanding the geographic context should be part of the inventory process. This aerial photograph at Rancho Los Alamitos, Long Beach, CA, was taken in 1936. (See, below.) Photo: Rancho Los Alamitos Foundation.

To assist in the survey process, National Register Bulletins have been published by the National Park Service to aid in identifying,nominating and evaluating designed and rural historic landscapes. Additionally, Bulletins are available for specific landscape types such as battlefields, mining sites, and cemeteries.

Although there are several ways to inventory and document a landscape,the goal is to create a baseline from a detailed record of the landscape and its features as they exist at the present (considering seasonal variations). Each landscape inventory should address issues of boundary delineation, documentation methodologies and techniques, the limitations of the inventory, and the scope of inventory efforts.

These are most often influenced by the timetable, budget, project scope, and the purpose of the inventory and, depending on the physical qualities of the property, its scale, detail, and the inter-relationship between natural and cultural resources. For example, inventory objectives to develop a treatment plan may differ considerably compared to those needed to develop an ongoing maintenance plan. Once the criteria for a landscape inventory are developed and tested, the methodology should be explained.

This present-day view of Rancho Los Alamitos shows present-day encroachments and adjacent developments that will affect the future treatment of visual and spatial relationships. Photo: Rancho Los Alamitos Foundation.

Preparing Existing Condition Plans

Inventory and documentation may be recorded in plans, sections, photographs, aerial photographs, axonometric perspectives, narratives, video-or any combination of techniques. Existing conditions should generally be documented to scale, drawn by hand or generated by computer. The scale of the drawings is often determined by the size and complexity of the landscape. Some landscapes may require documentation at more than one scale. For example, a large estate may be documented at a small scale to depict its spatial and visual relationships, while the discrete area around an estate mansionmay require a larger scale to illustrate individual plant materials, pavement patterns and other details. The same may apply to an entire rural historic district and a fenced vegetable garden contained within.

When landscapes are documented in photographs, registration points can be set to indicate the precise location and orientation of features. Registration points should correspond to significant forms, features and spatial relationships within the landscape and its surrounds. The points may also correspond to historic views to illustrate the change in the landscape todate. These locations may also be used as a management tool todocument the landscape's evolution, and to ensure that its character-defining features are preserved over time through informed maintenance operations and later treatment and management decisions.