Potemkin Parks and the Future of Public Lands
July 27, 2025
To provide observations and information on the emerging fields of landscape scale conservation, heritage preservation, and sustainable community development.
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History is often presented as a series of dramatic flashpoints shaped by the few, with little attention to the quotidian, to the choices, actions, and activities of the many. Can the 250th anniversary offer a vision of the past that recognizes the dignity of everyday people?
Would a collective rather than an individual response be more effective in addressing the challenges public lands workers now face? Could organized labor play a role in addressing the administration’s current attacks and in planning for a new, likely very different future? What does it look like to be part of the public lands labor force at this moment, and what role might unions play in shaping its future?
Railroads play an outsized role in American history, memory, and culture, serving as both personal touchstones and as tangible symbols of economic, political, and military transformation. Learn more about recent efforts to expand historical knowledge and storytelling about railroad history in the western United States.
The author shares her personal reflections on the recent destruction of the East Wing of the White House as well as those of a colleague in France.
The purpose of this reading group is to bring together current and former public lands professionals and scholars to read and discuss works that inform our current moment and to consider how we might build toward a more resilient and sustainable future.
History is often presented as a series of dramatic flashpoints shaped by the few, with little attention to the quotidian, to the choices, actions, and activities of the many. Can the 250th anniversary offer a vision of the past that recognizes the dignity of everyday people?
Would a collective rather than an individual response be more effective in addressing the challenges public lands workers now face? Could organized labor play a role in addressing the administration’s current attacks and in planning for a new, likely very different future? What does it look like to be part of the public lands labor force at this moment, and what role might unions play in shaping its future?
Railroads play an outsized role in American history, memory, and culture, serving as both personal touchstones and as tangible symbols of economic, political, and military transformation. Learn more about recent efforts to expand historical knowledge and storytelling about railroad history in the western United States.
The author shares her personal reflections on the recent destruction of the East Wing of the White House as well as those of a colleague in France.
The purpose of this reading group is to bring together current and former public lands professionals and scholars to read and discuss works that inform our current moment and to consider how we might build toward a more resilient and sustainable future.