In its early years HSR assisted in the development of cultural resource survey and management guidelines which would ensure adequate communication of research results to both federal and state agencies and among professional organizations. HSR's 1978 compliance review and recommendations for the Bureau of Indian Affairs resulted in that agency's first cultural resource survey guidelines, subsequently adopted by the State of New Mexico. HSR's Technical Manual: 1973 Survey of the Tularosa Basin, the Research Design, provided a detailed overview of available information and proposed a long-term research design to examine the principles of culture change in the arid environment of the Tularosa Basin. Later, in 1985, the primary author of the White Sands Missile Range Historic Preservation Plan was an HSR archaeologist.
HSR has always served as a training facility for graduate students and young archaeologists. As a result, many cultural resource land managers who today hold positions with federal and state agencies and in private environmental firms, trained and worked at HSR earlier in their careers. HSR maintains two fully equipped and staffed offices. Facilities in Las Cruces and in Tularosa, New Mexico, provide a base for complete coverage and flexible and rapid response into all portions of southern New Mexico. Each office provides facilities and equipment for conducting archaeological and historical survey and excavation projects.
Since its founding in 1972, HSR has conducted more than 1,000 survey, excavation, planning, preservation, evaluation, and conservation projects for private, state, and federal agencies. All projects have complied with state and federal regulations concerning the protection of cultural resources and the resulting reports have met or exceeded report standards of the appropriate review agencies. Services provided by HSR include:
• Class I Assessments/Literature Reviews• Class II Reconnaissance and Sample Surveys
• Class III Intensive Surveys
• Evaluation and National Register Nomination
• Archaeological Testing
• Monitoring
• Data Recovery
• Office and Field Support
• Special Synthetic Projects
• Cultural Resource Documentation, Repair or Preservation
• Oral History
