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Vatika Bay Maritime Landscape

The Vatika Bay Maritime Landscape at the southern end of the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece exemplifies the interconnection between cultural and natural resources and different approaches to their conservation. As a marine ecosystem, the bay supports numerous endangered and exotic plant and animal species. As the crossroad of both ancient and modern of Mediterranean navigation, it has many underwater archeological remains. This article highlights the differing preservation strategies and outcomes for these interrelated resources.

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Outsized Threats to Large Landscapes

It should come as no surprise to readers of the Living Landscape Observer that conserving large landscapes in the current political climate is no easy task. There are threats to our public lands and proposals to defund the federal programs that conserve our cultural and natural resources. However, the bigger issue is the underlying erosion of landscape scale work throughout our national government. There are systemics challenges to all these efforts that need to be better understood.

Read More »
Visitors walking to the Berkeley Pit.

Interpreting histories of pollution

Do we need more historic sites that addresses the effects of pollution as well as remediation on the landscape. The Berkeley Pit in Butte, Montana provides one example of this type of location.

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Nature and Culture: The Journey Continues

In the conservation world the two faces of nature and culture have become more of a dichotomy than a duality. And yet there is growing recognition that only by taking a more holistic approach can the field address the most urgent issues facing our planet – climate change, urbanization, and the transformations wrought by globalization.Selected reports concerning this nature-culture dialogue are now available in the most recent issue of the George Wright Journal titled “Nature – Culture Journeys: Explorations on Shared Terrain”, the journal shares best practices, insights and examples, as well as personal reflections of the intersections between these two fields.

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And Now for the Next Four Years

For years I have told my family and friends that I am one issue voter and my one issue is the United States National Park Service. Which political candidate is most committed to America’s best idea? Who embraces the vision that our parks and protected areas are part of the nation’s common wealth and should reflect the complex stories that make up our country? What party recognizes that government service has value and that protecting public lands is a collective enterprise? While it is a bit early to predict exactly how landscape scale conservation will fare in the next four years under President-elect Trump, review of his proposed agenda is instructive.

Read More »

Vatika Bay Maritime Landscape

The Vatika Bay Maritime Landscape at the southern end of the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece exemplifies the interconnection between cultural and natural resources and different approaches to their conservation. As a marine ecosystem, the bay supports numerous endangered and exotic plant and animal species. As the crossroad of both ancient and modern of Mediterranean navigation, it has many underwater archeological remains. This article highlights the differing preservation strategies and outcomes for these interrelated resources.

Read More »

Outsized Threats to Large Landscapes

It should come as no surprise to readers of the Living Landscape Observer that conserving large landscapes in the current political climate is no easy task. There are threats to our public lands and proposals to defund the federal programs that conserve our cultural and natural resources. However, the bigger issue is the underlying erosion of landscape scale work throughout our national government. There are systemics challenges to all these efforts that need to be better understood.

Read More »
Visitors walking to the Berkeley Pit.

Interpreting histories of pollution

Do we need more historic sites that addresses the effects of pollution as well as remediation on the landscape. The Berkeley Pit in Butte, Montana provides one example of this type of location.

Read More »

Nature and Culture: The Journey Continues

In the conservation world the two faces of nature and culture have become more of a dichotomy than a duality. And yet there is growing recognition that only by taking a more holistic approach can the field address the most urgent issues facing our planet – climate change, urbanization, and the transformations wrought by globalization.Selected reports concerning this nature-culture dialogue are now available in the most recent issue of the George Wright Journal titled “Nature – Culture Journeys: Explorations on Shared Terrain”, the journal shares best practices, insights and examples, as well as personal reflections of the intersections between these two fields.

Read More »

And Now for the Next Four Years

For years I have told my family and friends that I am one issue voter and my one issue is the United States National Park Service. Which political candidate is most committed to America’s best idea? Who embraces the vision that our parks and protected areas are part of the nation’s common wealth and should reflect the complex stories that make up our country? What party recognizes that government service has value and that protecting public lands is a collective enterprise? While it is a bit early to predict exactly how landscape scale conservation will fare in the next four years under President-elect Trump, review of his proposed agenda is instructive.

Read More »