This text explains cultural and natural environments and how to process information for the public in museums, parks, forests, and many other private and public interpretive agencies worldwide. Based in research and theory, this book defines, affirms, and unifies this diverse field for both professionals and students by presenting the challenges and possibilities of the field including the presentation of interpretation to diverse audiences; effective programming strategies; state-of-the-art management and marketing techniques; training and using volunteers; and the trends facing interpretation today and in the future.

From the Foreword by Eric Blehm. May the authors words inspire readers on their own journeys to better understand the nuances of this fascinating profession and to conduct their work as a labor of love; not a job, but rather a calling and a joy. This solid interpretation of our natural and cultural heritage is essential to move us in ways that compel us to change the world. Eric Blehm is the bestselling author of Fearless, The Only Thing Worth Dying For, and Legend. Hundreds of millions of people seek out opportunities for enjoyment, learning, and inspiration through visits to our national parks, historic sites, museums, zoos, aquariums, and other tourism destinations. And yet very few are aware of the behind-the-scenes efforts of interpretation to provide deeper understanding and enriched experience of these places. Interpreting Cultural and Natural Heritage is written for those who work at various interpretive sites and wish to know more about all of the fascinating nuances of this field. It exposes readers to the art and science of interpretation and how its proper use can indeed change the world. Larry Beck, Ph.D., Ted T Cable, Ph.D., and Douglas M Knudson, Ph.D. have more than 125 years of combined experience in the broad field of interpretation.

The publication is the first in a new series on existing and innovative paradigms in Heritage Studies. The series aims at systematising and developing the academic discourse on heritage, which has yielded a wealth and breadth of contributions over the past few years. The publication offers its own emphasis by developing heritage studies with a perspective towards and as a contribution to human development. It thus offers a vision for the construction and establishment of a new discipline. The academic mainsprings and research interests of this repositioning of heritage studies as an academic discipline are discussed by internationally renowned thinkers and heritage practitioners. The publication thus establishes first important points for discussion. Central to this publication are questions concerning the sustainable protection and use of heritage, focussing on the world cultural heritage and intangible cultural heritage, but equally questions on the relation of heritage and memory and how these could mutually enrich our understanding of heritage.

This book is uplifting and inspiring as it enhances the reader's understanding of how to compellingly interpret our cultural and natural legacy. The 15 guiding principles set forth in this book will assist anyone who works in parks, forests, wildlife refuges, zoos, museums, historic areas, nature centres, and tourism sites to more effectively, and joyously, conduct their work. This book, updated and in its second edition, has been used internationally and has been translated into Chinese. It serves as inspirational reading for students in environmental education, forestry, conservation, history, communications, outdoor recreation, and park management.

Presents both traditional and current concepts in the interpretive profession.

The topic of intangible natural heritage is new, recently emerging as an important subject of inquiry. It describes the untouchable elements of the environment that combine to create natural objects, and help define our relationship to them. These elements can be sensory, like auditory landscapes, or processes like natural selection. As a concept, intangible natural heritage is growing in prominence, as museums are increasingly charged safeguarding and interpreting the milieux from which their objects originate. This book is a significant advance on the subject of intangible natural heritage; no book on the topic has yet been written and current scholarship is confined to a few isolated papers. As such, there exists a wide variety of perspectives on the topic. Intangible Natural Heritage presents a spectrum of opinion, making the first attempt at a unifying concept on which future work can be based. Authors from Europe, Asia, Australasia, Britain, and North America, address topics on scales from minute insects to sweeping landscapes. The common thread in these explorations is the importance of human relationships with nature that is passed down from generation to generation. In a world that is becoming increasingly fragile, recognizing and fostering these relationships has never been more vital.

Environmental Interpretation is the first truly applied treatment of environmental communication written specifically for people with big ideas and small budgets. Drawing on 20 years experience and the successes of his colleagues worldwide, Sam Ham presents an unusually diverse collection of low-cost communication techniques that really work. More than 200 illustrations, photos, and technical insets provide simple instructions for designing and implementing effective education programs in forests, parks, protected areas, zoos, botanical gardens, extension and community programs, and in all kinds of agriculture and natural resource management programs. Aside from its step-by-step, "how-to" approach, what sets this volume apart is its solid theoretical foundation. Readers learn not only how to communicate their ideas more forcefully but why the methods work. Some 20 case studies, carefully selected from throughout the Western Hemisphere, stimulate the imagination and show how others have successfully applied what this book is about. Written for beginners and experts alike, the book represents a valuable resource for anyone faced with the need to communicate about the environment yet constrained by lack of money and experience.

Every year millions of Americans visit national parks and monuments, state and municipal parks, battlefields, historic houses, and museums. By means of guided walks and talks, tours, exhibits, and signs, visitors experience these areas through a very special kind of communication technique known as ''interpretation.'' For fifty years, Freeman Tilden's Interpreting Our Heritage has been an indispensable sourcebook for those who are responsible for developing and delivering interpretive programs. This expanded and revised anniversary edition includes not only Tilden's classic work but also an entirely new selection of accompanying photographs as well as five additional essays by Tilden on the art and craft of interpretation. Whether the challenge is to make a prehistoric site come to life; to explain the geological basis behind a particular rock formation; to touch the hearts and minds of visitors to battlefields, historic homes, and sites; or to teach a child about the wonders of the natural world, Tilden's book, with its explanation of the famed ''six principles'' of interpretation, provides a guiding hand.

Focusing on the agency of enslaved Africans and their descendants in the South, this work argues for the systematic unveiling and recovery of subjugated knowledge, histories, and cultural practices of those traditionally silenced and overlooked by national heritage projects and national public memories. Jackson uses both ethnographic and ethnohistorical data to show the various ways African Americans actively created and maintained their own heritage and cultural formations. Viewed through the lens of four distinctive plantation sites—including the one on which that the ancestors of First Lady Michelle Obama lived—everyday acts of living, learning, and surviving profoundly challenge the way American heritage has been constructed and represented. A fascinating, critical view of the ways culture, history, social policy, and identity influence heritage sites and the business of heritage research management in public spaces.