Balancing the past with the needs and concerns of contemporary society is essential to maintaining relevance to contemporary societies. This balance requires applying legal, ethical, management, and scientific perspectives in a manner that is accountable and sustainable and includes the ethical responsibility to interact, consult, and work with stakeholders to advocate for the quality of life for future generations. This builds capacity for the past to compete with other agendas, allows different ways of viewing the past to coexist, and maintains adaptive options to keep cultural heritage relevant in contemporary society during times of rapid change.