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The English Lake District: World Heritage Designation One Year In

It was just one year ago last July 2017 that after many decades of effort the English Lake District was finally recognized as a World Heritage cultural landscape. So how is the Lake District faring one year after designation? In many ways the inscription has not made big changes. The Lake District National Park Partnership continues to play a key role in carrying out its stated mission for the Lake District to serve as: A place where its prosperous economy, world class visitor experiences and vibrant communities come together to sustain the spectacular landscape, its wildlife and cultural heritage.
However, the impact of outside forces specifically Brexit on the region are much more problematic. What will it mean for the country’s agricultural policy? This is critical for the Lake District. As noted in the World Heritage nomination, it is an “unrivalled example of a northern European upland agro-pastoral system”, but also a way of life under tremendous pressure.

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Network for Landscape Conservation: A Lesson in Nature and Culture

The Coordinating Committee of the Network for Landscape Conservation gathered for a picture on Boneyard Beach, Bull Island in the Cape Romaine National Wildlife Reserve in South Carolina. The field trip kicked off an April retreat in Charleston South Carolina to finalize the outcomes of the recent National Forum for Landscape Conservationand to identify strategic initiatives to advance the conservation at a landscape scale.The low country region is a great example of a conserved natural landscape with four Federal Wildlife Refuges, designation as the Carolinian-South Atlantic Biosphere Reserve, and ACE Basin Project that manages over 100,000 of protected lands and estuaries. However, it is the cultural heritage of the region, it is one of the centers of Gullah Geechee culture, that makes the landscape of truly global cultural and natural significance.

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Featured Voice: Emily Bateson

In this month’s “Featured Voice,” we talk with Emily Bateson, the Coordinator for the Network for Landscape Conservation. She has more than 30 years experience in whole systems conservation, including projects that span the border between the U.S. and Canada.

Read More »

Bridging the Nature/Culture Divide with Ecological Restoration

How we resolve the dissonance in our thinking between the goals of conserving ‘nature’ and ‘culture’. One area where this question is being dealt with in an engaging way is within the field of ecological restoration. Off the west coast of Canada, on a small island in the Gulf Islands archipelago, The Galiano Conservancy Association offers an exciting model of how to transform traditional nature conservation.

Read More »

Highway Planning on a Landscape Scale: The Next Generation

What happens when a highway project, long planned to improve the functionality of the overall transportation system, runs up against new designations that look at the value of resources on a landscape scale? How can infrastructure development manage this changing landscape? After all it does not look like this kind of thinking is going away. Read the back story and some recommendations for the future.

Read More »

The English Lake District: World Heritage Designation One Year In

It was just one year ago last July 2017 that after many decades of effort the English Lake District was finally recognized as a World Heritage cultural landscape. So how is the Lake District faring one year after designation? In many ways the inscription has not made big changes. The Lake District National Park Partnership continues to play a key role in carrying out its stated mission for the Lake District to serve as: A place where its prosperous economy, world class visitor experiences and vibrant communities come together to sustain the spectacular landscape, its wildlife and cultural heritage.
However, the impact of outside forces specifically Brexit on the region are much more problematic. What will it mean for the country’s agricultural policy? This is critical for the Lake District. As noted in the World Heritage nomination, it is an “unrivalled example of a northern European upland agro-pastoral system”, but also a way of life under tremendous pressure.

Read More »

Network for Landscape Conservation: A Lesson in Nature and Culture

The Coordinating Committee of the Network for Landscape Conservation gathered for a picture on Boneyard Beach, Bull Island in the Cape Romaine National Wildlife Reserve in South Carolina. The field trip kicked off an April retreat in Charleston South Carolina to finalize the outcomes of the recent National Forum for Landscape Conservationand to identify strategic initiatives to advance the conservation at a landscape scale.The low country region is a great example of a conserved natural landscape with four Federal Wildlife Refuges, designation as the Carolinian-South Atlantic Biosphere Reserve, and ACE Basin Project that manages over 100,000 of protected lands and estuaries. However, it is the cultural heritage of the region, it is one of the centers of Gullah Geechee culture, that makes the landscape of truly global cultural and natural significance.

Read More »

Featured Voice: Emily Bateson

In this month’s “Featured Voice,” we talk with Emily Bateson, the Coordinator for the Network for Landscape Conservation. She has more than 30 years experience in whole systems conservation, including projects that span the border between the U.S. and Canada.

Read More »

Bridging the Nature/Culture Divide with Ecological Restoration

How we resolve the dissonance in our thinking between the goals of conserving ‘nature’ and ‘culture’. One area where this question is being dealt with in an engaging way is within the field of ecological restoration. Off the west coast of Canada, on a small island in the Gulf Islands archipelago, The Galiano Conservancy Association offers an exciting model of how to transform traditional nature conservation.

Read More »

Highway Planning on a Landscape Scale: The Next Generation

What happens when a highway project, long planned to improve the functionality of the overall transportation system, runs up against new designations that look at the value of resources on a landscape scale? How can infrastructure development manage this changing landscape? After all it does not look like this kind of thinking is going away. Read the back story and some recommendations for the future.

Read More »