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The 'Long Paddock'
The Heritage of Traveling Stock Routes in Australia
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 | | Tailing a mob, Brigalow, Queensland, 2009. Credit: Steve O'Connor |
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Traveling stock routes known colloquially as 'the long paddock' developed from the 1860s in all States and Territories of Australia.
The countryside still bears the traces of the many droving routes to railheads and to metropolitan sale yards, wool stores, abattoirs, wharf facilities, railways, roads, and river and ocean transport systems.
They were developed to link the pastoral interior, 'over the ranges and far away', with the urban and market infrastructure needed to distribute the pastoral products of sheep, cattle, wool, meat, skins and hides. Learn more here.
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Living Landscape Observer
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The Atlantic Coast Flyway - a Large Landscape
Each year shorebirds use habitats across a vast geography, undertaking some of the longest migrations of any animals on earth. Atlantic Flyway shorebirds are exposed to a diverse set of human-induced threats like habitat loss and change, hunting in the Caribbean, and predators.
Effective shorebird conservation thus requires a wide-ranging approach to identify and reduce these threats at sites all along the flyway. Only with such a flyway-scale vision can we reverse the serious declines we are witnessing in many of our shorebird populations. Read more.
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NHA@30: A Case for Program Legislation
Congress designated the first National Heritage Corridor 30 years ago, but has yet to pass comprehensive heritage area program legislation. While the lack of a unifying policy framework has not hindered new heritage area designations, it has been raised as a justification to cut the NHA budget and to challenge the very legitimacy of the heritage area model.
What is the history of NHA program legislation and what - if anything - should be done to promote a more sweeping heritage area policy bill? Find out more.
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NHA@30: Key Documents
The 1970s and early 1980s were a period of experimentation in conservation, historic preservation and planning. Looking back, what is perhaps most exciting were the exchanges that occurred across these fields at the local, state and federal levels. Learn more about key projects in the proceedings from a New York State Conference on Greenline and Urbanline Parks held in the early 1980s.
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In the News
House of Representatives Passes Bill to Limit Creation of National Monuments
Beginning with Theodore Roosevelt, Presidents have used powers outlined in the Antiquities Act (1906) to designate National Monuments. In a largely party line vote last week, the House sought to curtail the executive branch's authority to create monuments, limiting the President, for example, to only 1 new monument designation per term. The bill is not expected to generate much support in the Senate. Read more.
Gas and Preservation Partnership
Effort to Pass W.A. State Maritime Heritage Area Comes up Short
In 2009, Washington State completed a feasibility study in support of a National Maritime Heritage Area. While the effort did not result in a Congressional authorization, the state legislature considered a similar effort during its recent session in Olympia. The bill would have designated all the state's saltwater shorelines as part of the heritage area, a symbolic recognition without regulatory authority, but, potentially, offering the ability to promote tourism.
Ultimately, the recent effort failed to pass, coming up short in the state Senate, with some lawmakers voicing concerns over possible impacts on property rights. There are no currently no state or federal heritage areas in Washington, though the Mountains to Sound Greenway National Heritage Area (stretching from Puget Sound to the Cascades) is now under consideration in Congress. |
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About Us
The Living Landscape Observer is a website, blog and monthly e-newsletter that offers commentary and information on the emerging field of large landscape conservation. This approach emphasizes the preservation of a "sense of place" and blends ingredients of land conservation, heritage preservation, and sustainable community development. Learn more about how you can get involved or sign up for the newsletter here.
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