Balancing the Stewardship of Historic Properties and Management of Irrigation Infrastructure as Modern Water Delivery Systems

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Managing Water, Protecting Heritage: Bureau of Reclamation Undertakings in the American West" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

With the establishment of the Bureau of Reclamation in 1902, the federal government endeavored to reclaim the arid American West and support historic European settler’s homesteading efforts through large scale irrigation infrastructure construction that provided a reliable water supply year-round. Today, much of this infrastructure has surpassed 50 years of age and poses a conundrum in balancing management of the irrigation infrastructure determined eligible for the NRHP with their continued use. Regardless of the age of the canals and dams, they still must function within the modern water delivery system and be reliable, necessitating continual maintenance and, at times, upgrades to guarantee this. The emphasis of functionality and efficiency is further exacerbated by severe droughts across the western United States, bringing a focus to water savings where they can be found. This presentation sets out to explore the impacts that maintenance and upgrades have played on the aspects of integrity of canals and dams determined eligible for the NRHP, the management of these impacts, and how Reclamation archaeologists have balanced the stewardship of these historic properties with the management of Reclamation infrastructure.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Managing Water, Protecting Heritage: Bureau of Reclamation Undertakings in the American West

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51168