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The Atlantic Coast Flyway: A Highway for Shorebird Migration

Each year shorebirds use habitats across a vast geography, undertaking some of the longest migrations of any animals on earth. Atlantic Flyway shorebirds are exposed to a diverse set of human-induced threats like habitat loss and change, hunting in the Caribbean, and predators. Effective shorebird conservation thus requires a wide-ranging approach to identify and reduce these threats at sites all along the flyway. Only with such a flyway-scale approach can we reverse the serious declines we are witnessing in many of our shorebird populations.

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NHA@30: Program Legislation for National Heritage Areas

Congress designated the first National Heritage Corridor 30 years ago, but still has yet to pass comprehensive heritage area program legislation. While the lack of a unifying policy framework has not hindered new heritage area designations, it has been raised as a justification to cut the NHA budget and to challenge the very legitimacy of the heritage area model. What is the history of NHA program legislation and what – if anything – should be done to promote a more sweeping heritage area policy bill?

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Credit: Dan Stern

Letter from Woodstock: The Presidio Matters

In this piece Guest Observer Rolf Diamant examines the Presidio of San Francisco. The 1,500-acre former military post is national parkland managed jointly by the federally chartered Presidio Trust and NPS, nested within the much larger Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

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Credit: New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation

NHA@30: The Story of Heritage Areas in New York State

In the late 1970’s, New York State began to experiment with urban cultural parks, an idea that would eventually evolve into a system of 20 designated heritage areas. In the past three decades, support for the program has waxed and waned, with recent years marking an especially low point in state support.

Read More »

The Atlantic Coast Flyway: A Highway for Shorebird Migration

Each year shorebirds use habitats across a vast geography, undertaking some of the longest migrations of any animals on earth. Atlantic Flyway shorebirds are exposed to a diverse set of human-induced threats like habitat loss and change, hunting in the Caribbean, and predators. Effective shorebird conservation thus requires a wide-ranging approach to identify and reduce these threats at sites all along the flyway. Only with such a flyway-scale approach can we reverse the serious declines we are witnessing in many of our shorebird populations.

Read More »

NHA@30: Program Legislation for National Heritage Areas

Congress designated the first National Heritage Corridor 30 years ago, but still has yet to pass comprehensive heritage area program legislation. While the lack of a unifying policy framework has not hindered new heritage area designations, it has been raised as a justification to cut the NHA budget and to challenge the very legitimacy of the heritage area model. What is the history of NHA program legislation and what – if anything – should be done to promote a more sweeping heritage area policy bill?

Read More »
Credit: Dan Stern

Letter from Woodstock: The Presidio Matters

In this piece Guest Observer Rolf Diamant examines the Presidio of San Francisco. The 1,500-acre former military post is national parkland managed jointly by the federally chartered Presidio Trust and NPS, nested within the much larger Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Read More »
Credit: New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation

NHA@30: The Story of Heritage Areas in New York State

In the late 1970’s, New York State began to experiment with urban cultural parks, an idea that would eventually evolve into a system of 20 designated heritage areas. In the past three decades, support for the program has waxed and waned, with recent years marking an especially low point in state support.

Read More »