Recent psf items

It’s Ethics all the Way Down as National Parks Undergo Change

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Despite the presence of ethics in every management decision, ethics language and tools are unfamiliar to most public land managers. Fortunately, ethics is not a complicated, abstract specialty conducted by toga-wearing Greeks who ponder the imponderable. It is the fundamental activity of deciding what matters, a shared deliberation about what to value and what world we want to live in. Park management includes questions of this kind at every turn.

GWS ParkForum 2025: A Conservation Solutions Workshop—Summary, Program, and Abstracts

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In partnership with the University of Montana, in 2025 the George Wright Society organized the inaugural GWS ParkForum conservation solutions workshop—the first in an annual series of interdisciplinary meetings that share innovations, answers, and training related to the challenges facing parks, protected/conserved areas, historic and cultural sites, and other forms of place-based conservation. GWS ParkForum 2025 was held October 20¬–23 on the campus in Missoula, and was attended by 200 people.. This article provides a summary of the event, followed by the workshop program and the abstracts of all presentations in the Breakout and Poster Sessions.

Teaching with National Parks

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

An introduction to the three featured theme articles in this issue, which are case studies of university courses focused on national parks.

RISE Declaration: “Many times I heard from senior field colleagues who marveled at our ability to survive and operate at NPS headquarters”

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The federal government has been undergoing dramatic cuts since President Trump took office in January 2025, with ripple effects through partners in state and local government, academia, and the non-profit and private sectors. These changes are affecting all aspects of government, including the place-based conservation roles of agencies like the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), US Fish and Wildlife Service, and US Forest Service. This represents an enormous loss of institutional knowledge and capacity. The George Wright Society recognizes that government service, non-profit civil society, and unfettered academic inquiry are foundational to the well-being of the American nation. While the current administration’s policy and budgetary decisions are designed to undermine these values, the Society continues to support them in our focal area—parks, protected/conserved areas, cultural sites, and other forms of...

RISE Declaration: “I thrived in situations where there were contentious conservation issues”

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The interpretive theme as a foundation for visitor management planning

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

An excerpt from the book "Interpretive Theme Writer’s Field Guide: How to Craft Strong Themes from Big Idea to Presentation"

What is the Purpose of the National Parks? Teaching the Course “History of America’s National Parks”

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

For the past several years I have taught HIST 476: History of America’s National Parks. Created by one of my predecessors at Colorado State University, the class introduces students to the major events that have shaped the national parks over the past 200 years. Unlike many upper-division history courses, the majority of the students in the class are not history majors. And so, I have had to think about how to teach an upper-division history course to primarily non-majors.

RISE Declaration: “I was able to build staff confidence and knowledge for Indigenous engagement”

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Frameworks and Ladders: National Parks and Protected Areas in the College Classroom

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This paper articulates an approach I’ve developed and refined over several decades for teaching the subject of national parks and protected areas to undergraduate students in the college classroom. A similar approach informs my book-length works, which are geared not just to students and academic peers, but to the general public. Consequently, I believe these ideas may also be useful for public outreach. It involves the use of conceptual frameworks and what I refer to as “ladders.” While the frameworks allow students to better contextualize and identify broad themes in their study of national parks and protected areas, the ladders refer to pedagogic strategies for making rather abstract or historical ideas more tangible, concrete, and meaningful for students. The approach illustrated with examples drawn from a seminar course that I teach on US federal public lands at Gettysburg College. The seminar, in turn, follows the structure outlined in my book, America’s Public Lands: From...

Crowdsourcing conversations about America’s national parks

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

An excerpt from the book "Conversations About Visiting and Managing the National Parks: Crowdsourcing America’s Best Idea."

National Parks and “Mission Essential”: Teaching About Protected Areas at the United States Air Force Academy

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The United States Air Force Academy is one of five federal military academies in the United States and combines the functions of military training with academic education. The Academy is an entirely undergraduate institution, with about 4,000 cadets, who will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in one of over 30 majors. It was the last of the military academies to be founded, dating from 1954, and is located on a large and park-like campus on the outskirts of Colorado Springs, Colorado. A class on national parks and public lands was taught for the first time (to our knowledge) at the Academy in spring 2025. This paper narrates the history of that course and how it was structured to adapt to the unique environment of a military academy. It also highlights some of the distinctive features of teaching at such a place and the course’s role as “mission essential.”

Treeness

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A poem in the "Verse in Place" section of Parks Stewardship Forum.

Stress Test: How the National Park Service Responded to a Directive to Erase History and Silence Science

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In this "Letter from Woodstock," our columnist Rolf Diamant shares his detailed analysis of the National Park Service's responses to the Trump administration's order to censor history and science.

Reconciliation in Place Names: Why Principled Frameworks Always Matter, But Especially Now at this Political Moment

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

On November 19, 2021, Deb Haaland, secretary of the interior, issued two orders that launched a watershed federal effort to confront and begin healing from the harmful legacy of derogatory place names on federal lands across the United States. Through Secretarial Order 3404, Haaland formally identified “Squaw” as a derogatory term and acted to remove the long-time slur against Native women from more than 650 geographic features nationwide (Secretary of the Interior 2021a). Secretarial Order 3405 established a mechanism to continue and expand this work by creating the Federal Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names, tasked with addressing derogatory place names more broadly and systematically and facilitating their replacement in partnership with Tribal Nations, states, local communities, and the public. The authors were appointed to the committee. Here we share some of our experiences while serving, as well as guiding visions and principles to carry the work forward...

Western Gold and Silver Mining Heritage: A Need for National Park Recognition

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The growth of the US National Park System is an important preservation story that shows the historical, ecological, political, and cultural character of the nation. Proposals for new units follow both agency plans and individual or group initiatives. The study of proposed units that fail reveals much about NPS criteria and public attitudes. This article adds to the literature about unsuccessful proposals by explaining why NPS does not have a unit interpreting the gold and silver mining rushes that helped open the entire conterminous West. We detail the criteria by which new proposals are judged, the impact of the Historic Sites Act of 1935, and contrast national historic landmarks with other designations that have full inclusion in the park system. After establishing the significance of precious metal mining in American history, we then identify 10 reasons why specific proposals collapsed, five based on public reactions and another five stemming from NPS itself. Finally, we...

Cover, Masthead, and Table of Contents PSF Vol. 42 no. 2

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Cover, Masthead, and Table of Contents PSF Vol. 42 no. 2

Place Name Reconciliation Guiding Visions and Principles

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Place name reconciliation works to align the nation’s place name landscape with the nation’s ongoing progress toward the values of truth and justice. The emphasis of place name reconciliation is reform. It is not about erasing names and histories from the American landscape, but correcting the use of derogatory place names and addressing the harm they inflict upon discriminated groups along with how they damage wider possibilities for cohesive social relations in the nation. Reconciliation em-phasizes that the nation needs public name symbols that help citizens adequately understand and mutually respect the country’s socio-cultural differences.

A Market-Based Solution to Conserving Family Forests

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Conserving forests at scale is one of the most cost-effective strategies available for addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, and rural economic decline simultaneously. In the United States, family forest owners (FFOs)—who collectively control the largest share of forestland—play an outsized role in determining environmental outcomes. Yet traditional conservation models dependent on public appropriations and philanthropy have struggled to reach this constituency at scale. This paper argues that market based conservation approaches, particularly voluntary carbon markets designed for small landowners, offer a scalable, credible, and economically durable solution. Using the Family Forest Carbon Program developed by the American Forest Foundation (AFF) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) as a case study, this article illustrates how private climate finance can be leveraged to improve forest health, enhance biodiversity, and strengthen rural economies while maintaining high...

RISE Declaration: “I was forever in a constant state of learning”

Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Do We Know It When We See It? Defining Significance and Integrity in the National Women’s History Landmark Project, 1989–1993

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The National Women’s History Landmark Project (NWHLP) was the most influential, concentrated effort to improve women’s history representation across the National Historic Landmarks (NHL) Program. Between 1989 and 1993, representatives of the NHL Program, Organization of American Historians (OAH), and the National Coordinating Committee for the Promotion of History (NCCPH) collaboratively generated 39 landmark nominations. Throughout the collaborative process, dissension emerged as project participants disagreed on how to define the two terms most integral to the NHL nomination process: “significance” and “integrity.” This article examines the root causes of these debates and outlines recommendations for productive academic–federal collaborative partnerships.

Presencia de amor en la isla / Presence of Love on the Island

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A poem in the "Verse in Place" section of Parks Stewardship Forum.

The Sonic Record: Interpretation, Aesthetics, and Labor History

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article reflects on the theory and process of The Measure of Work: Sounds of Labor in Lowell, an interdisciplinary project that uses sound as an interpretive lens to explore labor history at Lowell National Historical Park. Drawing on sound studies, literary theory, and principles of dialogic interpretation, this project asked two interrelated questions: How might an emphasis on sound change the way we interpret labor history? and, How could the creation of a sound-centric museum experience open up new interpretive pathways? In partnership with the local arts and culture non-profit Mosaic Lowell, the park enlisted six composers to create original music that incorporated the sounds of work from different periods of Lowell’s long history. Workshops with community members, archival research, and field recordings informed compositions, which represent a wide breadth of musical styles. The resulting installation intervenes in the Boott Cotton Mills Museum’s current exhibits by...

Cover, Masthead, and Table of Contents PSF Vol. 42 no. 1

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Cover, Masthead, and Table of Contents PSF Vol. 42 no. 1

RISE Declaration: “I feel that I could have done so much more”

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Assessing conservation planning in South Dakota: Challenges and opportunities in collaboration, public participation, and climate information

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Conservation planning protects habitats, supports biodiversity, and sustains ecosystem functions that support human and ecological well-being. Natural resource managers are expected to make sound management decisions and balance competing interests in a social-ecological context. However, they face challenges related to effective collaboration, public participation in decision-making, and the application of climate information. This study describes conservation planning challenges in South Dakota, a predominantly rural state where over 80% of land is privately owned, and natural resources are highly valued. We used an inductive, qualitative research approach, including in-depth interviews with 35 experts and content analysis of 56 conservation plans. Our study identifies the absence of complementary goals among federal, state, and non-profit organizations. Managers have concerns that current methods of public engagement are inadequate and often result in low engagement during...

Some Thoughts about NPS, the Humanities, and the Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Reflections on the Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship Program from its project director in the National Park Service.

Produce, Prepare, Propel: Reflections from the ACE Mellon Program’s Digital Humanities Team

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

What is the value of digital work in park-centered or place-based interpretation? This article offers an answer to this question by reflecting on the work of the ACE (American Conservation Experience) Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship Program’s digital humanities (DH) team. Thanks to deliberate investment from the ACE Mellon Program, we were able to support broad and boundary-pushing digital work—applying the wider field of DH to specific program goals. This work focused on three main categories: producing engaging digital projects and storytelling, preparing fellows and their partners to create their own digital products, and propelling fellows forward into their next career stages through professional development opportunities. The ability for the DH team to work collaboratively, flexibly, and remotely has enabled us to find creative interpretive solutions for Fellows’ individual projects as well as for telling the story of the program as a whole. In this article, members...

Moving Toward Accountability: Challenging Settler Narratives through Interpretive Shifts and Tribal Engagement at Anza National Historic Trail

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article summarizes the work I undertook from 2023–2025 as a Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow on the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail (Anza NHT). It identifies long-standing gaps in Indigenous representation and participation on the trail and reviews the perpetuation of settler-colonial narratives that minimize the violence of settler invasion and marginalize the contributions of Native peoples in interpretive materials. These critiques are set alongside the significant interpretive and relational shifts initiated by Anza NHT staff following the adoption of revised themes and interpretive approaches in the 2023 Foundation Document. The report details the creation of internal onboarding materials designed to reorient the staff’s understanding of the impact of Indigenous dispossession, settler occupation, and the legal and structural violence that shaped the United States federal government and the National Park Service. The report also outlines the development...

Introduction to the RISE Declarations Project

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The George Wright Society (GWS) has launched a new program, the RISE Declarations Project, to support conservation colleagues who have recently lost their jobs due to actions by the current US administration: people we refer to as Recent Involuntarily Separated Employees (RISEs). The Society recognizes that government service, non-profit civil society, and unfettered academic inquiry are foundational to the well-being of the American nation. While the current administration’s policy and budgetary decisions are designed to undermine these values, the Society continues to support them in our focal area—parks, protected/conserved areas, cultural sites, and other forms of place-based conservation. RISEs are leaving conservation-related government service, academia, non-profit employment, or for-profit contractor positions for reasons unrelated to their job performance. Losing the wisdom, experience, and service of RISEs is doing incalculable damage to American society. The Society...

RISE Declaration: “There were so many obstacles placed in my path each time I tried to make headway”

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Documenting Memory, Surveillance, and Carceral Geographies at National Park Sites in the US–Mexico Borderlands

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article is based on two years of postdoctoral research at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Juan Bautista de Anza Historic Trail. Using visual anthropology, ethnographic site visits, and participatory data collection, I explore how these public lands, often seen as spaces of heritage, recreation, and preservation, also function as sites of surveillance, violence, and contested memory. My research highlights how over-policing, resource shortages, and colonial narratives continue to influence these two National Park Service locations. Despite efforts toward reconciliation and “healing” through co-stewardship with Indigenous groups, both sites’ histories remain deeply tied to settler-colonial violence and ongoing state militarization. This complicates the implementation of practices that could foster community trust and engagement. Drawing from data and projects developed at both sites, I analyze the limitations of federal and community partnerships in addressing historical...

A Spatial History of Thomas Edison National Historical Park: Challenges and Opportunities

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This essay examines how the spatial history of Thomas Edison National Historical Park, New Jersey, reveals long-time tensions between exclusivity and public accessibility. At the center of this study is Glenmont, the Edison family home, located within Llewellyn Park—the nation’s first gated residential community. While Llewellyn Park embodied 19th-century elite ideals of seclusion and pastoral retreat, residents like the Edison family operation relied upon the labor of predominantly female domestic workers and the industrial workforce at Edison’s nearby laboratories. I draw on archival research, cultural landscape studies, and heritage theory to illuminate how class-based insulation at Llewellyn Park both obscured and depended on working-class labor. I argue that these dynamics continue to shape visitor experiences at Thomas Edison National Historical Park: the laboratories remain easily accessible on West Orange’s Main Street, while seeing Glenmont requires a multistep, carefully...

I have come to find myself through the source of food

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A personal chronicle of self-discovery from an entrepreneur working in sustainable agriculture whose work is based in Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Humanities in Exile

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In this "Letter from Woodstock," our columnist Rolf Diamant considers the Trump administration's abrupt termination of the National Park Service's participation in the Mellon Humanities Fellowship Program.

Origins of the Go Go Live at the Capital Centre Concert: The Compared to What Group and Arts Programming in DC Parks

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article looks at the origins of Compared to What, a non-profit arts program that was in operation during the 1970s in Washington, DC. It focuses on the organization’s collaboration with the National Park Service in several DC-area parks, among them the National Mall, Anacostia Park, and Rock Creek Park, and argues that such engagement prepared the founders of the organization to be a major player in the go-go promotion scene of the 1980s, notably in organizing the Go Go Live at the Capital Centre concert.

New Perspectives in Transcontinental Railroad History: An Interview with Laura Dominguez

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This interview reflects on recent efforts by the National Park Service (NPS) to commemorate and interpret the Transcontinental Railroad. Themes explored include public memory, community engagement, and the potential role of the humanities in NPS research and education initiatives.

Steps on the Healing Journey: Investigating the Pipestone Indian Boarding School Archival Records for Survivors, Descendants, Tribes, and National Park Visitors

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In this article, we detail our approach to digitizing, researching, and developing a messaging plan around the archival records from Pipestone Indian Boarding School, a federally run industrial training school that operated from 1893–1953 in southwest Minnesota. We begin by discussing the history of the sacred Pipestone quarries, why the federal government built a boarding school there, and how the quarries went from being protected treaty land to being designated a national monument. We then describe how our project was initiated in response to feedback received in government-to-government consultation between Pipestone National Monument and 23 Tribal Nations with historical ties to the sacred quarries. Tribal partners expressed that they want the full truth about the school known and acknowledged, and they want the public to be educated about what they and their relatives experienced at the school. Our team worked closely with consulting Tribes and Native communities to develop...

Now and Here: Public Humanities and National Parks in Tumultuous Times—An Introduction

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Across the National Park System, visitors, community partners, descendant communities, and researchers are engaging with stories that seek to explore the full breadth of American history. Since 2018, the Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship Program has helped drive this effort. Thirty-five scholars, representing more than a dozen disciplines, have taken part in the initiative, leading efforts such as those described above. Their work has been both challenging and inspiring. They have questioned long-standing agency narratives and norms, while also affirming—often quite vigorously—the capacity of public humanities to bring people together in dialogue and debate. As the national coordinators of the Mellon Humanities Program, we are honored to be guest editors of this special issue of Parks Stewardship Forum. The featured articles offer insight into the depth and breadth of the Mellon Humanities Program’s achievements over the past seven years.

Enslavement to Freedom: A Conversation on Interpreting and Commemorating New York State’s History of Enslavement

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In June 2025, the Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Program separated from the National Park Service. This significantly altered the projects of each Fellow. As part of the second cohort of Fellows, Shanleigh Corrallo has embarked on a research project on enslavement in New York in collaboration with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP, or Parks) and Skidmore College. Corrallo has applied her scholarship on African American history to positions in executive-level policy and advocacy, data analysis, and higher education for reentering students. In her partnership with OPRHP, Corrallo will work with Lavada Nahon, interpreter of African American History at OPRHP. Nahon has over 25 years of experience in New York State (NYS) Black history, with an emphasis on the 17th–19th centuries, including culinary and Black culture. In this interview, which evolves into an exploratory conversation, Nahon and Corrallo discuss what guided them to study histories...

RISE Declaration: “I think we took for granted the value of our service”

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Marianas Wartime Oral Histories Portal—Public-Facing Digital Archive of Island Memory

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article explores the creation of the Marianas Wartime Oral Histories Portal, a public-facing digital archive of island memory that presents first-hand accounts of World War II in the Mariana Islands. It highlights the creative use of public programs to gain feedback from community members on the most appropriate mechanism for accessing oral history interviews. It also details the culturally sensitive transcription and editing techniques employed by lead project partner Guampedia. The oral history portal and supporting programming were undertaken as part of a National Park Service Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship project. The article offers an overview of the scope of the fellowship, as well as insights into successfully blending place-based learning with public-facing digital work.

RISE Declaration: “Look at conservation through a long-term lens”

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

RISE Declaration: “The greatest challenge for me was always questioning if we were doing enough”

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

RISE Declaration: “I could not be more proud of my work and the ongoing service of the men and women at NOAA’s Sanctuary System”

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Disrupted Pathways: Indigenous Knowledge and the Shifting Politics of Federal Resource Governance

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article examines recent efforts to include Indigenous Knowledge and Traditional Ecological Knowledge into the stewardship and governance of US national parks and historic sites in the National Park Service (NPS) Northeast Region. Drawing on Mellon postdoctoral research conducted in collaboration with Tribal communities and NPS between 2023 and 2025, it traces both the transformative possibilities and structural constraints of these initiatives. Under Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland’s leadership (2021–2025), federal agencies began to institutionalize new pathways for equitable Tribal engagement, grounded in principles of sovereignty, relational stewardship, and the inclusion of Indigenous governance practices. Yet the abrupt termination of NPS’s involvement with the postdoctoral program in early 2025 and policy reversals under the Trump administration disrupted these developments, undermining fragile relationships of trust and severing institutional commitments. Through...

Palestinian Village