Launch of New Public Lands Reading Group
October 13, 2025
To provide observations and information on the emerging fields of landscape scale conservation, heritage preservation, and sustainable community development.
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In 1619 an English Privateer arrived at Point Comfort on the James River, bringing the first enslaved Africans to Virginia. Soon to be sold to Jamestown residents, most of the men and women remain nameless. Historical records do reveal that one woman “Angela or Angelo” was purchased by an English Lieutenant Pierce. Today Historic Jamestowne and the National Park Service are working to uncover her story and others. This is just one touch point of the Slave Route Project is documenting the vast and complex cultural landscape of four centuries of the slave trade. But, to go beyond the large landscape, cultural heritage professionals should not hesitate to look for the humanity that can be found in the telling of individual stories of such historical figures as Angela.
The Northern Rangelands Trust has been working in the remote arid and semi arid lands of Northern Kenya since 2004 to develop community conservancies that approach conservation and biodiversity through building sustainable communities. The Trust has taken a collaborative approach involving local leaders, government entities, and conservation organizations to collectively work with communities to create sustainable enterprise, peace and security, while working to establish an ecological balance between human and wildlife needs.
As 2018 began, a lesser-known but impactful component of America’s national park system, the National Park System Advisory Board, drew national media attention when 10 of its 12 members resigned to protest the refusal of the secretary of the interior to meet with them. Although the board and its activities do not often draw public attention, the mass resignation still “came as a shock,” reported the Los Angeles Times, explaining that “few groups have been closer and more involved in Interior Department policy and management than the National Park System Advisory Board, an appointed and nonpartisan group established 83 years ago to consult on department operations and practices.”
The National Park Service has a long history of international engagement with ties to other nations, including Canada, dating to the agency’s earliest years. In 1961, during the height of the Cold War, an official Division of International Affairs was created, to advance the aims of conservation and U.S. diplomatic and political pursuits. Learn more about NPS international activities and the significance of the agency’s global ties in this piece by guest observer Joana Arruda.
Post-mining landscapes often lie. What we see on the landscape today does not necessarily reflect the history in which that landscape was shaped. In this piece, guest observer John Baeten explores the complex story of Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range, tracing the effects of heritage tourism and environmental reclamation on a region long known as a center of extractive industry
In 1619 an English Privateer arrived at Point Comfort on the James River, bringing the first enslaved Africans to Virginia. Soon to be sold to Jamestown residents, most of the men and women remain nameless. Historical records do reveal that one woman “Angela or Angelo” was purchased by an English Lieutenant Pierce. Today Historic Jamestowne and the National Park Service are working to uncover her story and others. This is just one touch point of the Slave Route Project is documenting the vast and complex cultural landscape of four centuries of the slave trade. But, to go beyond the large landscape, cultural heritage professionals should not hesitate to look for the humanity that can be found in the telling of individual stories of such historical figures as Angela.
The Northern Rangelands Trust has been working in the remote arid and semi arid lands of Northern Kenya since 2004 to develop community conservancies that approach conservation and biodiversity through building sustainable communities. The Trust has taken a collaborative approach involving local leaders, government entities, and conservation organizations to collectively work with communities to create sustainable enterprise, peace and security, while working to establish an ecological balance between human and wildlife needs.
As 2018 began, a lesser-known but impactful component of America’s national park system, the National Park System Advisory Board, drew national media attention when 10 of its 12 members resigned to protest the refusal of the secretary of the interior to meet with them. Although the board and its activities do not often draw public attention, the mass resignation still “came as a shock,” reported the Los Angeles Times, explaining that “few groups have been closer and more involved in Interior Department policy and management than the National Park System Advisory Board, an appointed and nonpartisan group established 83 years ago to consult on department operations and practices.”
The National Park Service has a long history of international engagement with ties to other nations, including Canada, dating to the agency’s earliest years. In 1961, during the height of the Cold War, an official Division of International Affairs was created, to advance the aims of conservation and U.S. diplomatic and political pursuits. Learn more about NPS international activities and the significance of the agency’s global ties in this piece by guest observer Joana Arruda.
Post-mining landscapes often lie. What we see on the landscape today does not necessarily reflect the history in which that landscape was shaped. In this piece, guest observer John Baeten explores the complex story of Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range, tracing the effects of heritage tourism and environmental reclamation on a region long known as a center of extractive industry