A National non-profit organization, Scenic America works to promote community planning, development, and change that maintains the character of American communities or even improves the aesthetics.
Activities
Scenic America’s work is based upon the theory that:
Throughout the country, our most cherished scenic resources and hometown assets are being obscured by a blizzard of monstrous billboards, badly sited telecommunications towers, a tangle of overhead lines, and a hodgepodge of visual clutter. Open space is being lost. Our natural and cultural heritage is being buried under unconstrained development and poorly designed transportation systems. America's beauty and community character are being obliterated by a steel curtain of visual spam.
Scenic America attempts to address this problem by working with specific communities with threats to scenic resources; by providing information and tools for communities working on their own; and publicizing the issue and educating people on scenic issues; and by encouraging policy initiatives that protect scenic resources.
Relevant Project(s)
- Major initiatives include: reducing billboard blight; keeping highways scenic; promoting use of scenic easements for land conservation; mitigating scenic impact of telecommunication and utility wires; and promoting tree conservation.
- Last Chance Landscapes—encourages communities to identify important spaces that are critically threatened by sprawl, new highways, or other inappropriate development.
- Journey Through Hallowed Ground— initiative seeks to balance economic development with protection of historic resources.
- Many publications address specific tools or methods for conserving landscapes, or specific landscapes that need protection.
Relevant Methodologies
Conferences, community workshops, online “Context-Sensitive Solutions Resource Center.”
Region
National
More Information
1634 I Street NW Suite 510
Washington, D.C. 20006
(202) 638-0550 (phone)
(202) 638-3171 (fax)