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Named “Last Chance Landscape” Report Lists Nation’s Landscapes
Most Threatened
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Mary Houser, Communications Director, (202) 543-6200(WASHINGTON, DC, November 20, 2000) – Scenic America, a national conservation organization, released a report naming State Highway 131 from Ontario to Rockton, Wisconsin one of its ten Last Chance Landscapes. These endangered landscapes are places of beauty or distinctive community character with both a pending threat and a potential solution.
Pat Conway, 131 Scenic Byway Coalition, (608) 337-4455
Meandering through the rolling hills of southwestern Wisconsin’s Ocooch Mountains, the two-lane State Highway 131 travels through countryside that is home to diverse wildlife and is one of the only preserved unglaciated landscapes in the world. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) plans to reconstruct State Highway 131 through the Kickapoo Valley as an arterial thoroughfare, threatening the rich scenic, natural, recreational, and archaeological resources along the roadway.
“Thanksgiving draws us to the people and places we love, to traditions we keep year after year. More Americans travel on the Thanksgiving weekend than at any other time of the year. So this is a good time to reflect on both the promise and the reality of “America the Beautiful,” said Meg Maguire, president of Scenic America.
Maguire said that unplanned growth is overrunning rural landscapes and draining America’s cities and towns. New and poorly designed roads and strip malls are paving over farmland and historic sites; billboards litter the nation’s roadsides; and wireless communication towers puncture communities and scenic vistas.
Designating Highway 131 as a state scenic byway and implementation of a more context-sensitive highway design for the road project can preserve the beauty of the road while allowing visitors and residents to continue to enjoy the corridor’s outstanding resources.
“Americans want to save natural beauty, protect open space, and live in well-designed communities,” continued Maguire, referring to over 35 state and hundreds of local growth-related ballot initiatives on the November 7, 2000 ballot. “People everywhere need to look around, identify what they love, and demand better scenic conservation and land use practices as their communities grow.”
Scenic America is a national, nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC whose mission is to preserve natural beauty and distinctive community character. Since 1978, Scenic America has helped citizens and public officials in thousands of communities nationwide protect their scenic heritage. Scenic America advocates for federal, state, and local laws and policies that support scenic conservation and community livability.
The organization supports strong sign control, progressive transportation policy, responsible land-use planning, and other measures to preserve and enhance the scenic character of America’s communities and countryside. Scenic America is dedicated to the principle that “change is inevitable; ugliness is not.”