Learning from the past to preserve the future of public lands
Welcome to the Public Lands History Center!
Established in 2007, the award-winning Public Lands History Center (PLHC) integrates research, education, and outreach in the best tradition of a land-grant university. Projects with National Parks and other public land management agencies enlist faculty, graduate students, and other researchers to conduct historical research that directly informs current resource management challenges. Our American West Program seeks to expose audiences to significant research, dynamic speakers, narratives of change and contestation, and the excitement of interdisciplinary dialogue on human-environment issues in the West. The PLHC gets students out of the classroom and into the field to get the experience and connections they need for fulfilling careers after graduation.
Recent News
PLHC Intern Gentrice Petrie on Her Experience
Gentrice summarized her experience working at the PLHC in the following words; “During my semester as an Undergraduate Intern at the PLHC, I had the opportunity to shadow several historians as a means to accumulate understanding of their practical, every day work. I attended meetings with some of the PLHC’s clients, and shadowed an oral […]
Strong Praise in a Review for “A History of Mortgage Banking in the West: Financing America’s Dreams” By E. Michael Rosser and Diane M. Sanders
A review written by Michael J. Hightower, independent historian and blogger, for the Western Historical Quarterly on Michael Rosser and Diane M. Sanders book, A History of Mortgage Banking in the West: Financing America’s Dreams offers positive feedback. The review concludes that, “Industry professionals and students alike will find this book to be a useful guide to the myriad ways […]
Researcher Tim Johansen on Working with the Public Lands History Center
The following is written by Tim Johansen, written in reflection of his time spent working with the PLHC and on his work with the Shenandoah National Park Project: After completing my Masters in American History at Colorado State University, I was fortunate enough to become part of this project for the PLHC and Shenandoah NP. […]