Happy Anniversary!
Last month the Living Landscape Observer (LLO) passed an important milestone. The web site has been up and running and publishing a monthly newsletter for one whole year. The accomplishments for our first twelve months include:
- 51 individual articles, 12 featured landscapes
- 6,000 unique visitors and 14,000-page views
- 50 countries are represented by our visitors with the most visits from the United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, Spain, India, France, New Zealand, China, and Italy.
- 1,000 (almost) subscribers and we know from personal communication that the newsletter is forwarded on and onward.
No surprise our most popular posts, all tell stories of contested places. These include:Landscape of Loss: Defending the Appalachian Trail; the Lower Susquehanna: A Landscape of Loss , and National Heritage Areas on the Brink.
The LLO brings attention to on the ground issues and supports the calls to action by other organizations seeking to save special places. No question about it, controversy sells.
Readers are also interest in case studies on large landscapes. Our featured landscapes are the second most popular place to go. Throughout the year we try to cover a range of living landscape issues with a balance of stories on historic preservation, nature conservation and sustainable community development. We report on somewhat obscure policy issues and draw attention to government reports if they relate to large landscape topics. We try to connect large landscape opportunities and let you know what is out there on the horizon.
Special recognition and thanks to Eleanor Mahoney who serves as the LLO’s Associate Editor, columnist, and newsletter guru, to Deanna Beacham who regularly tweets our stuff and to the LLO’s most faithful contributor Paul Bray. Many thanks to all the other writers who have contributed their posts and articles — Suzanne Copping, Lisa Hayes, Shawn Johnson, Erin MacCoy, Mary Means, Mark Preiss, Amy Rosenthal, Paulette Wallace, Elizabeth Watson, and Cherilyn Widell.
And thanks to all of you who read, comment, and buttonhole your editor at conferences and events with great ideas – it would not be possible without you!