Once historic and archeological properties have been identified and evaluated as significant, then decisions can be made about what to do with the resources. The common, and preferred goal, is to protect historic properties. This is a crucial aspect of preservation. See below for specific, treatment-related definitions.
Protective measures can take many forms.
Each of these activities is complex and important enough to merit a separate and independent examination in this publication. The following section outlines environmental review and compliance procedures for the careful consideration of historic properties in any project that uses Federal money, land, or oversight. To avoid delays and increased costs, it is essential that the historic properties be identified early in planning stages of the project. The planning aspects of protection are discussed in this and subsequent sections. Properties that have deteriorated, and properties that have been unsympathetically altered or added to, require considerably more assistance to rehabilitate or restore them so that their historic and architectural integrity is preserved.