Discussion: The Big Picture

ENV 761 - Landscape GIS   |   Spring 2024   |   Instructors: Peter Cada & John Fay  

Overview

Over the span of this course, we covered many techniques for characterizing a landscape and prioritizing areas for conservation. Our examples revolved around conserving nature and mitigating impacts on its long term viability. This approach served well our class goals of learning various geospatial techniques in project-based settings. However, it also overlooked a very important piece in the grand puzzle: people. This is something I want to address here, ensuring that it is included in your thoughts about landscape management.

Now, let me preface the remainder of this document, this lesson, by stating : (1) that I don’t profess to be any more knowledgeable on this topic than any of you; and (2) that any ideas I present come from my personal perspective of a white male, i.e. one who has not faced the amounts of systemic racism or gender discrimination that many others have.

With that, let me get to the point: in identifying areas for protection from development or in targeting areas for restoration, we really must also consider the costs and benefits to people, but in particular, groups of people who have long been treated unfavorably by the system. Put bluntly, we need to work against systemic racism even in, perhaps especially in, our land management practices.

Beginning the discussion

Where to start? Well, tacking something on at the end of a long semester is perhaps a lesson in what not to do. However, I need to start somewhere, and so I invite you in my first foray into having this discussion in a classroom settings.

To spark things, I wanted to share a talk recorded as part of NC State’s recent Race and Place lecture series. This video, titled “The importance of your eco-system” features Mickey Fearn discussing, among other things, the US National Park System in the context of race. Watching this video, I feel, gives us a bit of common ground to at least initiate a discussion, which we’ll have in our synchronous section on April 19th.

The “assignment”

  1. Watch Mickey Fearn’s video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCs0nPWkArI. It’s a bit meandering and focuses somewhat on the recreational aspects of nature, but I found many interesting lessons within and hope you do too.

  2. Come to class prepared to discuss the role race, inequity, and bias plays in any part of our class. We can use the video as a starting point, but I’m happy to open this discussion up to any aspect of race, diversity, equity in the context of land management and the concepts we covered in class.

    Below are some questions to serve as some discussion starters, or to help guide you in watching Mr. Fearn’s talk.

    • Fearn spends the first several minutes just introducing himself and discussing his background. Was that a productive use of time?
    • Why does Fearn describe the National Park Service (NPS) as “one of the most segregated organization in the federal government”? Do you agree with this?
    • Fearn also alludes to the Park Service’s inability to address this issue over the last several decades. What does Fearn feel is standing in the way of the NPS “attracting more Blacks visit state and national parks”? Do you agree?
    • While Fearn’s discussion revolves around recreation and parks, what lessons might be applied to our examination of the Mogollon Plateau? Of Wildlands Network’s map of Eastern Wildways? Of Julie Tuttle’s work on connectivity of between the Eno and New Hope natural araeas?
    • Are there ever conflicts between managing land for nature/conservation vs for other human aspects? How might we reconcile these conflicts? And more specifically, what might we change in this course to address these conflicts?
    • Of the issues discussed, which are specific to the US? Are there similar issues occurring in other countries or regions?

Note that this can be a difficult topic to discuss. I won’t force anyone to talk, but I will do my best to make this a safe place where we can all state our opinions in a atmosphere of respect and inquiry. In that spirit, please be mindful and courteous of other’s views which may be different than your own. We each bring a unique background to this class, and thus the best outcome is one where we all share our observations and learn from each other.