Zilker Park cultural landscape report

Zilker Park is a large municipal park in Austin, Texas, and while currently an active recreational zone for the city, the parkland is full of historic and natural resources with a period of significance dating back at least 9,000 years. The park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) under two nominations from 1985 and 1997. These nominations document much of the early history of the park, including archaeological sites, historic buildings, objects, and structures. While these reports provide a descriptive history of the parkland, a further study was conducted to understand the park through its cultural and natural systems. This study, known as a cultural landscape report (CLR), examined the park through a defined set of landscape characteristics such as: topography and hydrology, circulation, land use, vegetation, buildings and structures, viewsheds, habitat, archaeological sites, and small scale features. This data was organized to match and compliment the already existing research found within the NRHP nominations, including periods and areas of significance, integrity evaluations, and property types. The CLR was also based on new archival and field research and the report culminated in a set of guiding principles and methodologies for future park management. Thus, the Zilker Park CLR is a site specific planning guide, designed to function as both a descriptive and prescriptive tool for best practices for historic landscape management and stewardship.