More about the Ten Chimneys Cultural Landscape Workshop

If you read my post about the Ten Chimneys cultural landscape workshop that was held on September 12th, you already know it was a great day for the attendees.  It is my hope that more activities focused on the preservation of cultural landscapes in Wisconsin will result from ideas generated during the workshop.  Throughout the day, the group discussed ideas for increasing visibility and support for significant cultural landscapes.  Many of these ideas will apply to efforts in other states, so I’m sharing them with the hope that they will be helpful.

• Promote National Register of Historic Places nominations for important cultural landscapes in Wisconsin.
• Initiate efforts to encourage State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) staff and programs to increase engagement in landscape preservation efforts.
• Attend SHPO National Register panel review meetings to learn about significant landscapes in the state and to draw attention to the potential significance of landscapes associated with properties being nominated or reviewed.
• Support SHPO staff site visits and participation in other historic landscape activities.
• Amend or revise old National Register nominations to add landscape components when appropriate.
• Engage preservation professionals in non-preservation projects focused on landscape heritage – riverway studies, Native American studies, heritage tourism, parkways, and planning for watersheds within heritage areas.
• Highlight Wisconsin historic landscapes at Vernacular Architecture Forum conference in Madison in June 2012.
• Encourage Friends groups that focus on landscapes to carefully consider the cultural resources associated with their properties (many begin with focus on natural resources).  Sharing a presentation about the history of the site is a great way to do this.
• Publish information about cultural landscapes in Wisconsin and develop promotional or interpretive literature highlighting historic landscape aspects of sites. Consider the print and internet formats that will attract attention.
• Online collections / archives can be used to make historic documents related to historic landscapes more accessible.
• Consider use of Certified Local Government grants to fund National Register Nominations for historic landscapes.
• Historic American Landscape Program (HALS) – step up efforts in Wisconsin.  The program is intended to be collaborative, integrating efforts of local governments, State Historic Preservation Offices, and non-profit groups.  How to make more visible?  What have other states done?
• Create an informal group to meet a couple of times each year and learn about a historic landscape in our community.  Short presentation, background information, and site tour.

Here in Wisconsin, plans are getting underway to bring the group (and others!) together again for site visits to Lake View Hill Park in Madison and Greenfield Park in Milwaukee.  I’ll let you know more about these as the plans develop.