As the founding director of the Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation at the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site in Brookline, Massachusetts, Dr. Mitchell brings a wealth of experience in testing new methodologies for preserving cultural landscapes through her direct involvement with both the Stewardship Institute and the Conservation Study Institute at the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock, Vermont. Nora Mitchell is also the author of numerous scholarly articles and edited volumes (often in collaboration with Rolf Diamant) that emphasize the importance of recognizing the nature-culture connection in resource planning and advocacy.

As the inaugural superintendent of Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock, Vermont (the country’s only national historic site devoted to conservation history), Rolf Diamant brings career perspectives as a landscape architect that have combined cultural resource protection with natural resource protection. Through his roles with the National Park Service assisting with the creation of the John F. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Area, Rolf is keenly aware of the inseparable union of cultural and natural resources in such landscapes as linear heritage corridors.