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Diamonds in the Rough Panel Looks at Past, Present and Future of National Park System in Urban Areas

Why have the so-called “crown jewels” of the National Park system (mostly large, rural areas in the western U.S.) received the majority of scholarly and public attention? How does looking at park units in a variety of settings, including urban areas, change perspectives on the system’s history, present condition and future direction? A panel considered these questions at the recent NCPH meeting in Baltimore, MD.

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Politicians, Conservationists, And National Parks

Creating new national parks and protecting public lands on a landscape scale is not for the faint of heart. An analysis of the ongoing debate over a possible national park in Maine’s North Woods as well as the long-running efforts to resolve land-use practices on millions of federal acres in Utah highlight some of the challenges. While the rhetoric is intense left on the sidelines is the American public and the most affected communities, what do they think?

Read More »

Nantucket Island: Preservation Sans Connection

The built environment reflects the cultural, environmental, social, and historical identity of a community. What happens when another value, that of economic value, becomes the key consideration? Maanvi Chawala, a 2015 US ICOMOS international intern, examines this challenging topic in the context of Nantucket Island. Read the full article here.

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National Heritage Areas Deliver Place-Based Education

The thirtieth anniversary of the first National Heritage Area (NHA) and the upcoming centennial of the National Park Service (NPS), inspired research into the relatively untapped topic of the mutual benefits to both NHAs and the NPS. Recent research has explored how NHAs deliver place-based educational programming in partnership with nearby national park units.

Read More »

Cultural Heritage, Environmental Impact Assessment, and People

Government development projects, really any large infrastructure projects, have the potential to damage the environment, which includes its cultural heritage aspect. While most nations have put in place a process to assess such impacts, as applied to cultural resources the process seems formulaic, does not address impacts to the broader cultural landscape, and ignores or discounts what the communities value as their heritage and what is important for their living traditions.

Read More »

Diamonds in the Rough Panel Looks at Past, Present and Future of National Park System in Urban Areas

Why have the so-called “crown jewels” of the National Park system (mostly large, rural areas in the western U.S.) received the majority of scholarly and public attention? How does looking at park units in a variety of settings, including urban areas, change perspectives on the system’s history, present condition and future direction? A panel considered these questions at the recent NCPH meeting in Baltimore, MD.

Read More »

Politicians, Conservationists, And National Parks

Creating new national parks and protecting public lands on a landscape scale is not for the faint of heart. An analysis of the ongoing debate over a possible national park in Maine’s North Woods as well as the long-running efforts to resolve land-use practices on millions of federal acres in Utah highlight some of the challenges. While the rhetoric is intense left on the sidelines is the American public and the most affected communities, what do they think?

Read More »

Nantucket Island: Preservation Sans Connection

The built environment reflects the cultural, environmental, social, and historical identity of a community. What happens when another value, that of economic value, becomes the key consideration? Maanvi Chawala, a 2015 US ICOMOS international intern, examines this challenging topic in the context of Nantucket Island. Read the full article here.

Read More »

National Heritage Areas Deliver Place-Based Education

The thirtieth anniversary of the first National Heritage Area (NHA) and the upcoming centennial of the National Park Service (NPS), inspired research into the relatively untapped topic of the mutual benefits to both NHAs and the NPS. Recent research has explored how NHAs deliver place-based educational programming in partnership with nearby national park units.

Read More »

Cultural Heritage, Environmental Impact Assessment, and People

Government development projects, really any large infrastructure projects, have the potential to damage the environment, which includes its cultural heritage aspect. While most nations have put in place a process to assess such impacts, as applied to cultural resources the process seems formulaic, does not address impacts to the broader cultural landscape, and ignores or discounts what the communities value as their heritage and what is important for their living traditions.

Read More »