April 2019

Living Landscape Observer - Nature, Culture, Community
In This Issue
Nature/Culture Journey
African American Burial Grounds Network
Lessons from Memorial Park
In the News
About Us
Join Our Mailing List
St. Augustine FL
May 5-8, 2019

Marrakesh Morocco 
October 17, 2019

Pennsylvania Hallowed Ground Annual Meeting
Fawn AME Church
York PA
October 26, 2019
Culture/Nature Journey

 
The call for sessions for the 2020 IUCN World Conservation Congress to be held in Marseille, France, has been published. If you are interested in hosting a Culture/Nature session at this forum, apply by July 17, 2019. 

Applications are due May 6, 2019 for a capacity building workshop in Nature-Culture linkages in Asia and the Pacific hosted by UNESCO. More information is available here.

   
Living Landscape Observer
Historic Lincoln Cemtery, Mechanicsburg,  Pennsylvania  (Carilse Sentinel)  

The Crying Need to Establish an African American  Burial Grounds Network 
African American cemeteries are at risk across the country from forcible erasure, disuse, and abandonment. Working with Congress and the National Park Service, innovative legislation has now been drafted to establish the African American Burial Grounds Network. The bill was introduced by dedicated sponsors Representatives Alma S. Adams (NC-12) and A. Donald McEachin (VA-04) who recognized the strong spiritual, patriotic, and historic associations these sites hold for African American communities. Read More .
A plaque remembers a few of the hundreds buried at the 'Memorial Park' site

Lessons from  'Memorial Park' 
Located in the peaceful central Pennsylvania town of Carlisle, Memorial Park is just one example of the tragic fate of African American burial grounds. The site of this park was once the Lincoln Cemetery used by the African American community between 1840 and the early 1900s. While the number of burials is not known, they probably numbered in the hundreds, including 35 former  United States Colored Troops (USCT) veterans. In the 1970s, the site's use as a burial ground was erased, except for one small plaque, to create a community park. What lessons can we lean from this story?  Read more here.

Henry W. Spradley, Citizen
Henry W. Spradley, Citizen

Watch this powerful video created by a Dickinson College student that narrates the story of one USCT veteran who was buried in the Lincoln Cemetery in Carlisle, PA.
Latest News and Notes
 
Sponsored by the Cultural Landscape Foundation, Race and Cultural Landscapes is a series of one-on-one conversations with thought-leaders from around the nation. The conversations examine how issues of race and history are represented and evoked in cultural landscapes.  In this sample , Professor W. Fitzhugh Brundage talks with TCLF about Confederate monuments, advocating to either put them in proper context or to remove them.

An in-depth documentary on the struggle to stop the clustering of commercial waste facilities in Chester, PA--a predominately poor, African American community. It examines the Environmental Justice movement through the lens of Chester residents and highlights the power of grassroots efforts to affect positive change.  This documentary by WITF public television was produced as part of the  Pennsylvania Conservation Heritage Project.  
About Us

The Living Landscape Observer is a website, blog and monthly e-newsletter that offers commentary and information on the emerging field of large landscape conservation. This approach emphasizes the preservation of a "sense of place" and blends ingredients of land conservation, heritage preservation, and sustainable community development. Learn more about how you can get involved or sign up for the newsletter here.  

Our Mission: To provide observations and information on the emerging fields of landscape scale conservation, heritage preservation and sustainable community development.