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Credit: Brenda Barrett

Blackstone River Valley: Sounding a Retreat from Landscape Scale Work?

Not so long ago the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor was the pride of the National Park Service (NPS), exemplary of the agency’s new approach to managing living landscapes. But somewhere along the way, the NPS changed direction. A Special Resource Study, for example, rejected the continuation of the heritage commission, instead recommending the creation a far more traditional national park. What is going on with this once exemplary partnership model?

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World Heritage Committee Match Up in Doha Qatar

In mid-June, the World Heritage Committee met in Doha, Qatar. Several new sites and landscapes were inscribed on the world heritage list, including one in the United States – the country’s first nomination since a loss of voting rights for nonpayment of dues to the committee’s parent organization UNESCO.

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: Brenda Barrett

Blackstone River Valley: Sounding a Retreat from Landscape Scale Work?

Not so long ago the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor was the pride of the National Park Service (NPS), exemplary of the agency’s new approach to managing living landscapes. But somewhere along the way, the NPS changed direction. A Special Resource Study, for example, rejected the continuation of the heritage commission, instead recommending the creation a far more traditional national park. What is going on with this once exemplary partnership model?

Read More »

World Heritage Committee Match Up in Doha Qatar

In mid-June, the World Heritage Committee met in Doha, Qatar. Several new sites and landscapes were inscribed on the world heritage list, including one in the United States – the country’s first nomination since a loss of voting rights for nonpayment of dues to the committee’s parent organization UNESCO.

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 »