To qualify for documentation, a landscape must be at least 50 years old if traditional or 30 years old if modern, be significant, and possess integrity.

There are several criteria for rating significance. For example, a landscape may be associated with a significant historic person. The property surrounding the home of John Muir in Martinez would qualify in this category. The property could be an example of the “work of a master.” Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, designed by Frederic Law Olmsted who is considered the Father of Landscape Architecture, meets this criterion. The Kaiser Roof Garden in Oakland is an example of a landscape that included innovative technologies in the field of landscape architecture–another criterion of significance. The significance can be at the local, state, or national level.

“Integrity,” according to NPS, is “the authenticity of a property’s historic identity, evinced by the survival of physical characteristics that existed during the property’s historic or prehistoric period. The seven qualities of integrity as defined by the National Register Program are location, setting, feeling, association, design, workmanship, and materials.”