ABSTRACT
Although “cultural resource management” (CRM) is the term used to describe applied archaeology1 within the United States, in fact, however, there is very little management of archaeological resources, at least in a stewardship context. Landholding federal agencies, while tasked with this responsibility under Section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), Executive Order 11593, and others, are largely unable to meet this responsibility due to vast landholdings (especially in the western United States), numerous resources, small budgets, and the pragmatic priority of fulfilling compliance obligations such as those required by Section 106 of the NHPA. The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (2001) recently stated, “In spite of the important stewardship responsibility entrusted to Federal agencies for much of our Nation’s heritage, other agency mission priorities often force historic preservation activities, programs, funding, and staffing to take a back seat.”
