NCPTT is soliciting oral and poster presentations that focus on research and innovation in cemetery conservation and preservation for the NCPTT’s Nationwide Cemetery Preservation Summit to be held in Nashville, Tenn., October 19-21, 2009.

When organizing the Remote Site Surveillance meeting held last year, in August of 2008, one of the things I hoped to do was spark discussion about the administrative sustainability of surveillance/monitoring programs…

NCPTT and the Presidio Trust will present “Prospection in Depth 2009,” a workshop on geophysical prospection on August 4-8.

NCPTT will hold a half-day course for art conservators and preservationists scheduled for Tuesday, May 19 in Los Angeles. The workshop will be held in conjunction with the American Institute for Conservation Annual meeting.

Christopher Fennell of the University of Illinois recently concluded a study on the use of aerial thermal infrared technology to identify the infrastructural features of archeological sites.

Co-organized for the first time with the Chinese State Administrator of Cultural Heritage, this
is the fourth course on “Preventive Conservation-Reducing Risks to Collections” held by ICCROM, in partnership with the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage.

As part of our Remote Site Surveillance event in August of 2008, which I’ve mentioned in the prior two blog posts, we are working to enhance the joint U.S. Forest Service-Louisiana Army National Guard’s “Site Vulnerability Assessment Model.”

The NPS Preservation and Skills Training (P.A.S.T) program was hosted by NCPTT and the Cane River Creole National Historical Park in February.

International Preservation Trades Workshop and International Trades Education Symposium this August 25-29, 2009 in Leadville, Colorado.

This course emphasizes sound maintenance techniques for cemetery and commemorative monuments that are sustainable, cyclic, non-invasive, and do no harm. The course will address documentation, maintenance plans, stone deterioration, cleaning, and resetting headstones.

This course emphasizes sound maintenance technqiues for historic iron fences. These resources could be located around cemetery markers, commemorative monuments, or architectural features.

Back in Blog 2, “Turning the Wheel…,” I was tracing the strange but true link between methamphetamines and antiquities theft. Turns out I’m not the only person with this on their mind.

NCPTT recorded a podcast with Charlie Pepper, director of the Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation’s Historic Landscape Preservation Maintenance and Education Program.

There are many good resources for more information about cemetery preservation, including books, nonprofit organizations, and Internet sites.

NCPTT’s David W. Morgan and Jason Church presented preliminary results of portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analysis of copper at the joint Louisiana Archaeological Society and Mississippi Archaeological Association meeting held from February 27-March 1, 2009 in Natchez, Miss.

Mary Striegel will be the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the American Society for Non-destructive Testing, to be held March 17 in St. Louis, Mo.

This video shows how to build small drystone retaining walls from beginning to end; laying out the shape, digging the foundation, determining the wall angle, building the face, packing the back, and leveling the top.

Due to weather issues and conflicts with other events, we are postponing the March 3rd Cemetery & Monument Care and the March 4th Iron Fencing Care TEL classes. All employees registered in DOI Learn have been notified.

Due to maintenance, the registration deadline for the LEED AP exam has been extended to April 1, 2009 at 11:59 pm (Pacific Time). This represents the last opportunity to register to take the LEED AP exam under the current system.

Details at http://www.usgbc.org/

Recent research reveals bacteria may be the biggest ally in the fight to preserve ancient artifacts from erosion and deterioration.