Opportunities
Spring 2012

LSA 481/681 Cultural Landscape Preservation
SUNY ESF Course Offering

The purpose of the course is to provide an overview and introduction to the historic preservation movement in the United States, with a focus on its application to cultural landscapes. The course will review preservation philosophy, history, and legislation, including key preservation terminology, standards, guidelines, and procedures. Identification, evaluation of significance and integrity, and design issues will be explored. Prior enrollment in a design history or land-use planning course is helpful, but not required.

LSA 481/681 (3 credits) will meet Tuesdays from 1:30-2:30 pm and Thursdays from 1:30-3:30 pm during the spring 2012 semester. The seminar format course will include discussion of weekly readings, lectures, and a semester project. Enrollment is limited to 18. A permission number is required from the instructor, John Auwaerter, at 470-6995, 405 Marshall Hall, or jeauwaer@esf.edu.

National Park Service Field School

Acadia National Park, Mount Desert Island, Maine

June 10 to July 21, 2012

Offered in partnership with the National Park Service Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation (www.nps.gov/oclp/), the National Park Service Field School is designed to provide students with hands-on experience in park management and cultural landscape preservation. The 2012 summer field school, the third offered through SUNY ESF, will be held at Acadia National Park, located on the Atlantic coastline of Maine approximately six hours north of Boston. The focus of the field school will be compiling field data for a cultural landscape inventory of the park's historic carriage road system.

About Acadia

Located on Mount Desert Island and neighboring lands along the Atlantic coastline of Maine, Acadia was initially established as Sieur de Monts National Monument in 1916 based on a donation of private land to the federal government for conservation purposes. In 1919, it became Lafayette National Park, the first national park in the East, and was renamed Acadia National Park in 1929. Today, the park comprises more than 47,000 acres. The park’s 45-mile-long carriage road system, built between 1913 and 1940 as a gift from John D. Rockefeller Jr. and family, has been called the finest example of broken stone roads designed for horse-drawn vehicles still extant in America. The system has a number of distinctive landscape features, including coping stones, signposts, roadside plantings, gate lodges, stone bridges, and scenic vistas.

The Field School

During the six weeks of the field school, students will participate in lectures and discussions with National Park Service and SUNY ESF staff, and collect field data on the Acadia carriage road system. Topics will include natural and cultural resource management, historic preservation standards and guidelines, mapping techniques, photography, the history of Acadia, and park operations. Field work on the carriage roads, using manual and GPS systems, will inventory all cultural features such as bridges, signs, and views as the basis for a Cultural Landscape Inventory, which is the National Park's Service's database of its historically significant landscapes.

Who Should Attend?

The field school is designed for graduate and undergraduate students in landscape architecture, environmental studies, historic preservation, forest and natural resource management, and related fields who are interested in gaining practical experience in cultural landscape preservation, land stewardship, and park management. Enrollment is limited to six. SUNY ESF students and students from other institutions are invited to apply.

Particulars of the Field School

• The field school will operate five days a week, Monday through Friday, except the 4th of July. Weekends are free, although field trips may be planned for those interested.
• Academic credit: The field school is being offered as a three credit course LSA 496/696 offering during the SUNY ESF Summer Session. Tuition credit may be available.
• Stipend: A $1,000 stipend will be offered to each participant to offset living expenses during the field school.
• Housing: A six-person cottage with kitchen facilities will be provided through the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island. Housing costs are covered by the field school.
• Transportation: A SUNY ESF van will depart from Syracuse on Sunday, June 10, 2012, and return to Syracuse on Friday, July 21. The van will be used during the field school for field work and other related travel. Students are also welcome to arrive at Acadia using their own vehicle, although parking may be limited.

For further information on the field school, please contact John Auwaerter at jeauwaer@esf.edu or (315) 470-6995.

How to Apply

The field school is listed as course LSA 496/696 National Park Service Field School in the SUNY ESF Summer Session. For particulars on tuition, credits, application process, and other academic information, contact ESF Outreach at http://www.esf.edu/outreach/ce/ or (315) 470-6817. Registration for the field school is limited to 6 (six) students. Permission of the instructure is required to register. To gain permission, submit a letter of interest, resume, and transcript by mail to Professor George W. Curry, Department of Landscape Architecture, Marshall Hall 311, 1 Forestry Drive, Syracuse, NY 13210, or by e-mail at gwcurry@esf.edu. Current students in landscape architecture, historic preservation, forest and natural resource management, environmental studies, or related fields are preferred. Applications will be accepted through March 15, 2012.