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Improving Stewardship Commitment

Coupled with making places visible and valued is engendering a stewardship ethic. This is one way to counteract one of the most pernicious and widespread challenges associated with cultural landscapes: deferred maintenance – a situation that fosters and/or exacerbates a site’s decline, diminishes public engagement, and frequently leads to demolition. Whether due to a lack of funding, competing budgetary needs, lack of knowledge, or other priorities that are deemed more important and/or that have more powerful and vocal constituencies, deferred maintenance or even well-intentioned maintenance not attuned to a site’s character-defining landscape features can lead to erasure.

Volunteers from George Washongton University at Dumbarton Oaks Park, Washington, DC. Photo courtesy Dumbarton Oaks Park Conservancy, 2013.

By consistently bringing visibility to and a deeper understanding of these at-risk landscapes, ¶À¼Ò±¬ÁÏ has helped create a foundation for appreciation, public engagement, and community pride. For example, ¶À¼Ò±¬ÁÏ’s What’s Out There Weekend program has featured free, expert-led tours of dozens of cities and regions throughout the country, frequently revealing unknown stories about places people see daily – including many of the sites in this report. Friends’ groups such as those at Dumbarton Oaks Park and many others, enlist volunteers who provide thousands of hours of assistance, from clearing invasives and garbage to leading tours. Beyond the power of direct engagement, ¶À¼Ò±¬ÁÏ supports the efforts of partner organizations, and works with site stewards as well as municipal and elected officials on enhancing stewardship efforts.