ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the development and evolution of the cultural landscape concept and landscape conservation in the US, drawing on previous reviews of the field. 1 The national policy framework, shaped during the 1970s and 1980s, has undergone change, responding to the increasing breadth of awareness, the growing diversity of landscapes recognized as meaningful, and the broader social context for this work; even so, challenges to the framework continue. Landscape conservation today requires different management strategies, relying on locally based approaches and new types of governance structures that enable collaboration across disciplines, jurisdictional boundaries, and multiple ownerships. These shifts in cultural landscape practice in the US correspond with international trends as indicated by the type of cultural landscapes nominated to the World Heritage List. In the US over the last 15 years, this evolution has also created a diverse and multi-disciplinary professional field of practice and engaged many people and their communities in landscape stewardship.
