Development of the Indigenous Cultural Landscape Concept in the Chesapeake

The 2010 Comprehensive Management Plan and Environmental Assessment: Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail (CMP) identified natural and cultural resources along 2000 miles of water routes, including regional cultural landscapes considered a high priority for protection along the Captain John Smith NHT. Primarily defined using National Register of Historic Places criteria, the CMP also proposed an innovative new category of cultural landscape that expands the scope of the ethnographic landscape: the Indigenous Cultural Landscape (ICL). The NPS Chesapeake Bay defines ICLs as reflecting “the context of the American Indian peoples in the Chesapeake Bay and their interaction with the landscape.” The concept “includes both cultural and natural resources and the wildlife therein associated with the historic lifestyle and settlement patterns and exhibiting the cultural or aesthetic values of American Indian peoples”.

By adopting this approach the NPS can more fully represent the stories of  American Indian peoples who have historically lived in the area that the Captain John Smith NHT traverses. The NPS has overseen two pilot study projects in the watershed: along the Lower Susquehanna River, and within the Nanticoke River watershed. Several partner organizations and agencies, including Maryland Historical Trust, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, have begun similar projects utilizing the ICL concept, many on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and in southern Maryland. The products of this work inform the ways that state and federal agencies work with descendent communities and other stakeholders to manage resources, and prioritize further resource protection needs.