During 2000 and 2001, CSI invited three outstanding conservation scholars and practitioners to become fellows of the Institute. In each case, the fellow's current research in conservation history or current conservation practice coincided with the specific interests of the Institute.

Photo: Rolf Diamant

CSI's first fellow, John Elder, is Middlebury College's Stewart Professor of English and Environmental Studies. During six months on a Fulbright Fellowship in Florence, Italy, he researched the 21 years when George Perkins Marsh lived in Italy as the U.S. ambassador to Italy, and the role of landscape stewardship in the evolution of environmental thought. In the tradition of Marsh, he reflected on the stewardship of the Italian and Vermont landscapes for insights into conservation and people's relationship to place.

Gil Latz is professor of geography and international studies at Portland State University and senior research fellow at the Forest History Society. His current research as a Fulbright fellow in Italy compares the policies and legal instruments in the U.S. and Italy for conserving cultural landscapes. His special interest lies in opportunities for sustainable forestry and agriculture demonstration sites for public education. He is using a comparative analysis of Spannocchia, a traditional Tuscan farm, with Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park and Shelburne Farms (a historic Vermont farm and national historic landmark).

Judith Benedict recently returned from sabbatical to her position as director of land acquisition for the Rhode Island office of The Nature Conservancy. Her research as a CSI fellow based at Oxford University was focused on international approaches to land planning and strategies for conservation.