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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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?
The most recent edition of the Parks Stewardship Forum (PSF), entitled “Politics, Practice, and the Management of Living Landscapes,” was guest-edited by Brenda Barrett and Eleanor Mahoney from the Living Landscape Observer. This issue examines the conservation of living landscapes at sites worldwide.
Private philanthropy has long played a critical role in supporting landscape conservation. To learn more about the future of the field, the Living Landscape Observer recently spoke with Jessica Brown, Executive Director of the New England Biolabs Foundation and Member, IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas and ICOMOS/IFLA International Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes. Brown co-organized a session at the ICOMOS General Assembly on “Reimagining Philanthropy: Supporting the Integration of Culture and Nature.” In this excerpt from the interview (part 1 in a series of excerpts), we explore the session’s inspiration, key takeaways, and reflections on the evolution of philanthropy in conservation.
Join us on July 19, 2023, from 11am – 11:45am ET for a webinar highlighting one of the world’s most innovative approaches to landscape conservation – the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) program.
Please join the Living Landscape Observer on June 15, 2022 from 1:00pm to 1:45pm for a moderated discussion with Alan Spears, Senior Director of Cultural Resources in the Government Affairs department of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) and Sara Capen, Executive Director of the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area. Register now.
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?
The most recent edition of the Parks Stewardship Forum (PSF), entitled “Politics, Practice, and the Management of Living Landscapes,” was guest-edited by Brenda Barrett and Eleanor Mahoney from the Living Landscape Observer. This issue examines the conservation of living landscapes at sites worldwide.
Private philanthropy has long played a critical role in supporting landscape conservation. To learn more about the future of the field, the Living Landscape Observer recently spoke with Jessica Brown, Executive Director of the New England Biolabs Foundation and Member, IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas and ICOMOS/IFLA International Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes. Brown co-organized a session at the ICOMOS General Assembly on “Reimagining Philanthropy: Supporting the Integration of Culture and Nature.” In this excerpt from the interview (part 1 in a series of excerpts), we explore the session’s inspiration, key takeaways, and reflections on the evolution of philanthropy in conservation.
Join us on July 19, 2023, from 11am – 11:45am ET for a webinar highlighting one of the world’s most innovative approaches to landscape conservation – the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) program.
Please join the Living Landscape Observer on June 15, 2022 from 1:00pm to 1:45pm for a moderated discussion with Alan Spears, Senior Director of Cultural Resources in the Government Affairs department of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) and Sara Capen, Executive Director of the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area. Register now.