Building knowledge and capacity for Puerto Rico municipalities and preservation professionals.
As part of the Hurricane Maria federal governments disaster response DOI Natural and Cultural Resources Response Support Function (RSF), requested assistance related to post disaster stabilization of Puerto Rico’s gravesites. Those discussions resulted in a partnership between FEMA, the Department of Interior, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Park Service, Puerto Rico SHPO and Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. Initially the project team developed an online program (2021) discussing the theory and practice of preserving gravesites which led to the development of a housing of shared knowledge pages on the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) website.
In early 2022, as COVID travel restriction eased, an onsite program finally received the green light to proceed, and the workshop was offered to local municipalities employees and aligned preservation professionals. At the beginning of June NPS/NCPTT team arrived in Puerto Rico to host 3 workshops in San Juan, Manati and Ponce municipalities. These face-to-face workshops allowed participants to garner direct practical hands-on learning and reinforced the knowledge and techniques offered through the online course. Interestingly each site had differing concerns.
Cementerio Santa María Magdalena de Pazzi
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
