For many good reasons such as climate change resilience, wild life corridor management, and cultural connectivity working on a landscape scale is something the Living Landscape Observer supports. However, many questions have been raised about Secretary Zinke 2018 announcement that the Department of the Interior (DOI) would be managed as 12 Unified Regions to enable bureaus within DOI to conduct business more effectively and efficiently.

The ‘Principles Concerning Rural Landscapes as Heritage’ (ICOMOS 2017) after defining rural landscapes also briefly develop themes relating to threats, challenges, benefits, and sustainability for rural landscapes from a cultural heritage point of view for today’s society. These challenges have been examined by scholars, scientific and cultural associations and public administrations, both at international and local levels and you will probably be aware of many of these issues.

Examples of rural renewal and continuity are a reason for hope in the center of our country. This inspirational presentation was given by a young farmer who with her husband manage an organic farm in Decorah Iowa, which they describe “as growing organic crops, grazing sheep and cattle on pasture, powering their farm and home with the sun, and growing deep roots in our community.”

Over the past two decades, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has dramatically expanded its involvement in planning and conservation on a landscape scale. During the past two years, much of this work has been refocused, with the added complication of a potential headquarters relocation. What does the future hold for landscape scale work at the BLM?

The World Rural Land­scape Principles provide needed systematic definitions for rural landscapes as both a place and as a heritage resource within the larger category of cultural landscapes. This innovative approach looks at the commonality of these resources within a global context and recognizes the many types of rural activity that exist in the landscape and are worthy of consideration for protection.