Finding Meaning and Debating Value in a Historical Landscape

Rural Oregon has shifted from an emphasis on resource extraction to a reliance on ecotourism.  This transition exacerbated a clash of opposing visions of the value of history and the natural world. Competing interpretations of landscape as a resource or as a haven is an old dichotomy in environmental history. This paper adds nuance by employing a third category that intermingles the others: historical significance.