The Cultural Landscape Foundation

Landscaping at Suite101 "Link of the Month." What prompts a landscape to be considered a cultural landscape or a part of the U.S. heritage?

The Cultural Landscape Foundation (CLF) describes Cultural Landscapes as living parts of the U.S. heritage. They can be public parks, historic sites, gardens, scenic highways, college campuses, farmland, cemeteries, or industrial sites. The CLF site offers excellent photographs, descriptions, and accounts of built landscapes that allow us to appreciate their historic, educational, and exquisite value. It is a delightful treasure-trove of built landscape information.

I was especially drawn to this site because the Rockefeller Park & Cleveland Cultural Gardens, a landscape I treasured while growing up in Cleveland, OH, has recognized by the CLF as a Nationally Significant Landscape and Monument at Risk.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation has established programs in four areas it says are necessary to preserve cultural landscapes:

• Landscapes at Risk – Landslide highlights landscapes at risk and reports current issues in landscape preservation and interpretation.

• Outreach and Education - Cultural Landscapes as Classrooms teaches people to read the landscape through multimedia exploration. Here are three recent programs:

1. City Shaping: The Olmsteds & Louisville,
2. Columbus Park: The Prairie Idealized and
3. Mt. Auburn Cemetery.

• Rediscovering a Legacy - The Pioneers of American Landscape Design imitative offers books, profiles of design legends, a media archive and research forum.

• Stewardship Stories - Individuals' Stories recount local efforts. Annual awards recognize current leaders in cultural resource stewardship. Stewardship Excellence Awards for 2006 focused on efforts in Southern California and Wilmington, DE