By understanding the inter-relatedness of our natural and cultural landscapes-and of the people, creatures, and plants who call those places home-perhaps it is possible, despite our past history, to become better stewards of the land and better caretakers of our fellow human beings and compatriot life forms. By appreciating the everyday places of our existence, as well as the spectacular places we often can only imagine from afar with the aid of words and pictures, it is possible for us to comprehend what is at risk when we fail to care for those places properly.

- George F. Thompson
Landscape in America, 1995