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North American Heritage at Risk (NAHAR) Research Pipeline and Collaborative Community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2025

Sarah E. Miller*
Affiliation:
Florida Public Archaeology Network, Flagler College, St. Augustine, FL, USA University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
Emily Jane Murray
Affiliation:
Florida Public Archaeology Network, Flagler College, St. Augustine, FL, USA
Kassie Kemp
Affiliation:
Florida Public Archaeology Network, Flagler College, St. Augustine, FL, USA
Lori Lee
Affiliation:
Flagler College, St. Augustine, FL, USA
Glenda Simmons-Jenkins
Affiliation:
Gullah/Geechee Nation, Yulee, FL, USA
Lindsey Cochran
Affiliation:
East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA
Meg Gaillard
Affiliation:
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, Columbia, SC, USA
*
Corresponding author: Sarah E. Miller; Email: semiller@flagler.edu
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Abstract

The North American Heritage at Risk (NAHAR) collaborative, which formed during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowed for heritage-at-risk partners to shift from reactive to proactive strategies. The result was the creation of the NAHAR research pipeline to respond to landscapes at risk. The pipeline includes modeling of environmental changes to the landscape; monitoring sites to verify location and assess condition; meeting with the public, descendant community, land managers, and transdisciplinary experts in their field to discuss climate change impacts to their heritage in the next 10 years; methodizing by means of a workflow organizer using data from the modeling, monitoring, and meeting; and when appropriate, mitigating areas identified during the methodizing process. In 2020, the Florida Public Archaeology Network—along with partners in Georgia, South Carolina, Washington, Texas, and Louisiana—began the Science Collaborative People of Guana project at the Guana Tolomato Matanzas Estuarine Research Reserve (GTM NERR) north of St. Augustine, Florida. Using a collaborative science mindset, the project team applied the NAHAR pipeline to gain a better sense of how resources were used in the past and how they currently are being used by communities to ensure responsive resource management and relationship building with visitors, descendants, and other community stakeholders, such as the Gullah/Geechee Nation. This article will provide the building blocks for other collaborative teams to follow the NAHAR pipeline and share lessons learned from the two-year project.

Resumen

Resumen

La colaboración sobre Patrimonio en Riesgo de América del Norte (North American Heritage at Risk; NAHAR), que se formó durante la pandemia de COVID-19, permitió que los socios del patrimonio en riesgo pasaron de estrategias reactivas e estrategias proactivas. El resultado fue la creación de la línea de investigación NAHAR para responder a paisajes en riesgo. El proyecto incluye: modelado de cambios ambientales en el paisaje; el monitoreo de sitios para verificar la ubicación y evaluar la condición; reunirse con el público, la comunidad descendiente, administradores de la tierra, y expertos transdisciplinarios en su campo para discutir los impactos del cambio climático a su patrimonio en los próximos diez años; metodizar utilizando un organizador de flujo de trabajo utilizando datos de los modelado, monitoreo y reuniones; y cuando corresponda, mitigación de áreas identificadas durante el proceso de metodología.. En 2020 la Red de Arqueología Pública de Florida (Florida Public Archaeology Network) —junto con socios en Georgia, Carolina del Sur, Washington, Texas, y Luisiana— comenzaron el proyecto Colaboración Científica de la Gente de Guana (Science Collaborative People of Guana) en la Reserva de Investigación Estuarina Guana Tolomato Matanzas (Estuarine Research Reserve; GTM NERR), al norte de St. Augustine, Florida. Utilizando una mentalidad científica colaborativa, el equipo del proyecto aplicó el proceso NAHAR para tener una mejor idea de cómo utilizaban los recursos en el pasado y cómo las comunidades los utilizan actualmente para garantizar una gestión receptiva de los recursos y la construcción de relaciones con visitantes, descendientes, y otras partes interesadas de la comunidad, como la Nación Gullah/Geechee. Este artículo proporcionará las bases para que otros equipos colaborativos sigan el proceso de NAHAR y compartan las lecciones aprendidas del proyecto de dos años.

Information

Type
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Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for American Archaeology
Figure 0

Table 1. List of NAHAR presenters in order of appearance.

Figure 1

Figure 1. The North American Heritage at Risk (NAHAR) research pipeline. Illustration by the authors and used with permission.

Figure 2

Figure 2. NAHAR pipeline components for the People of Guana project. Illustration by the authors and used with permission.

Figure 3

Figure 3. Results of the modeling for the People of Guana project. Archaeological Triage Assessment by the authors and used with permission.

Figure 4

Figure 4. Community partners come together for a coastal walk and Community Conversation about Heritage at Risk (CCHAR). Photograph courtesy of the authors and used with permission.

Figure 5

Figure 5. North American Heritage at Risk (NAHAR) Triage and Mitigation Evaluation Matrix. Credit: Meg Gaillard, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR), 2020.

Figure 6

Figure 6. Gullah/Geechee Nation Florida Representative Glenda Simmons-Jenkins. Photograph courtesy of the authors and used with permission.