THE FARM LANDSCAPE 293 



agriculture and other forms of resource use and involving citizens 

 and business interests as well as the governmental agencies. 



Basic adjustments, however, are going to be needed if these in- 

 stitutions are to respond fully to this challenge. The transition will 

 not be automatic or easy. It is going to require more than the addi- 

 tion of some new programs and the retraining of existing personnel. 

 Within many disciplines there will have to be a redirection of 

 academic and research emphasis, one that recognizes beauty and 

 natural amenities as integral and legitimate products of the land, 

 equal in importance to the more traditional resource commodities 

 and services. Areas of responsibility must be extended to include 

 urban and community interests in the land. 



In the final analysis, it seems that the citizen, as well as the land- 

 owner and the landscape shapers (both the public and the private 

 ones ) must begin to participate more actively in determining stand- 

 ards of quality and beauty in communities and on landscapes 

 throughout the Nation. As Professor Sears pointed out, this is 

 basically a question of attitudes and values. The basic need is to in- 

 crease the citizen's sense of environmental awareness, to promote 

 keener sensitivity to the changes that are taking place and fuller 

 understanding of the possibilities for alternative forms of develop- 

 ment. 



All of this is going to demand a sustained educational effort. It 

 is a task which the State university systems adapted to local political 

 and ecological conditions and with a tradition of service to the larger 

 statewide community, are particularly qualified to accept. 



They can provide continuity and integration for other public pro- 

 grams and they can participate in the training of future landscape 

 managers. 



Therefore, in conclusion, I would suggest that we look to the 

 State universities to assume much of the leadership in providing 

 followup action to many of the proposals stemming from this con- 

 ference. These institutions might well be encouraged to sponsor 

 similar statewide natural beauty gatherings, applying the findings of 

 this conference to localized situations. And finally, we might con- 

 sider the establishment in several parts of the country, in connection 

 with several major institutions, of a series of pilot demonstration 

 programs in landscape planning on a regional basis, designed to 

 undertake research, to promote more imaginative approaches to 

 public education and community involvement in these problems, 



