To provide observations and information on the emerging fields of landscape scale conservation, heritage preservation, and sustainable community development.
Stay up-to-date with the latest nature, culture and community news.
We won’t spam you or share your information. Newsletters are sent approximately 10 times a year. Unsubscribe at any time.
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.
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.
It is easy to acknowledge our current state in UNESCO’s international Man and the Biosphere (MAB) program, but neglect to see how we got to this point. As one of the pioneers in large landscape conservation, biosphere reserves paved the path for many future landscape-scale efforts over the past several decades. Yet, most people in the United States are unfamiliar with the term, biosphere reserve, or assume the program has dissolved because of its long period of inactivity. Some people are trying to change this perception.
Urban areas have been and continue to be dramatically shaped by the intersection of human and non-human nature. Yet, these relationships are often hidden, with cities labeled as somehow unnatural or “less-than” areas where the influence of humans is perhaps not as visible. Recent work in Seattle seeks to challenges these narratives through the use of innovating mapping and artistic interpretation.
In the world of both nature conservation and historic preservation mitigation has become a hot concept. How can partners work on a landscape scale to address issues of documentation, setting priorities, and incorporating cultural resources into what has been traditionally a more site by site nature based strategy?
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.
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.
It is easy to acknowledge our current state in UNESCO’s international Man and the Biosphere (MAB) program, but neglect to see how we got to this point. As one of the pioneers in large landscape conservation, biosphere reserves paved the path for many future landscape-scale efforts over the past several decades. Yet, most people in the United States are unfamiliar with the term, biosphere reserve, or assume the program has dissolved because of its long period of inactivity. Some people are trying to change this perception.
Urban areas have been and continue to be dramatically shaped by the intersection of human and non-human nature. Yet, these relationships are often hidden, with cities labeled as somehow unnatural or “less-than” areas where the influence of humans is perhaps not as visible. Recent work in Seattle seeks to challenges these narratives through the use of innovating mapping and artistic interpretation.
In the world of both nature conservation and historic preservation mitigation has become a hot concept. How can partners work on a landscape scale to address issues of documentation, setting priorities, and incorporating cultural resources into what has been traditionally a more site by site nature based strategy?