Our Mission

To provide observations and information on the emerging fields of landscape scale conservation, heritage preservation, and sustainable community development.

About Us
the observer

Newsletter

Stay up-to-date with the latest nature, culture and community news.

Email:

We won’t spam you or share your information. Newsletters are sent approximately 10 times a year. Unsubscribe at any time.

Popular Posts
Get Involved

Long Landscapes: How Big is Big Enough?

The conservation movement has embraced the idea of preserving large landscapes as the only way to provide the necessary resilience and protection for the world’s ecosystems challenged by climate change and the impacts of global development. But how large a landscape is large enough?

Read More »
Credit: Brenda Barrett

Blackstone River Valley: Sounding a Retreat from Landscape Scale Work?

Not so long ago the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor was the pride of the National Park Service (NPS), exemplary of the agency’s new approach to managing living landscapes. But somewhere along the way, the NPS changed direction. A Special Resource Study, for example, rejected the continuation of the heritage commission, instead recommending the creation a far more traditional national park. What is going on with this once exemplary partnership model?

Read More »
Credit: Brenda Barrett

PA Wilds: The Creative Economy and the Forest

In rural Northwest Pennsylvania, an effort is underway to link together conservation, recreation and local business development under the auspices of the state’s Conservation Landscapes Initiative (CLI). What do these complex partnerships look like in practice and what can one community reveal about how a CLI functions?

Read More »

World Heritage Committee Match Up in Doha Qatar

In mid-June, the World Heritage Committee met in Doha, Qatar. Several new sites and landscapes were inscribed on the world heritage list, including one in the United States – the country’s first nomination since a loss of voting rights for nonpayment of dues to the committee’s parent organization UNESCO.

Read More »

Long Landscapes: How Big is Big Enough?

The conservation movement has embraced the idea of preserving large landscapes as the only way to provide the necessary resilience and protection for the world’s ecosystems challenged by climate change and the impacts of global development. But how large a landscape is large enough?

Read More »
Credit: Brenda Barrett

Blackstone River Valley: Sounding a Retreat from Landscape Scale Work?

Not so long ago the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor was the pride of the National Park Service (NPS), exemplary of the agency’s new approach to managing living landscapes. But somewhere along the way, the NPS changed direction. A Special Resource Study, for example, rejected the continuation of the heritage commission, instead recommending the creation a far more traditional national park. What is going on with this once exemplary partnership model?

Read More »
Credit: Brenda Barrett

PA Wilds: The Creative Economy and the Forest

In rural Northwest Pennsylvania, an effort is underway to link together conservation, recreation and local business development under the auspices of the state’s Conservation Landscapes Initiative (CLI). What do these complex partnerships look like in practice and what can one community reveal about how a CLI functions?

Read More »

World Heritage Committee Match Up in Doha Qatar

In mid-June, the World Heritage Committee met in Doha, Qatar. Several new sites and landscapes were inscribed on the world heritage list, including one in the United States – the country’s first nomination since a loss of voting rights for nonpayment of dues to the committee’s parent organization UNESCO.

Read More »