What kind of Ohio landscape
are we bequeathing our children?

Gazing into her bicentennial mirror, does Ohio see "the face she deserves"? To be sure, that face is suffering its share of time's insults and man's outrages. Suburban sprawl, especially around Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, continues to engulf family farms. Elegant, finely detailed older buildings are being razed to make space for newer, more "functional" and "efficient" architecture. Old barns and bridges are succumbing to the ravages of decay, neglect, and vandalism. Standardized commercial signage threatens to reduce every Ohio street to a common denominator of ugliness. Some of Ohio's most architecturally important schools are threatened with closure due to structural concerns and limited educational funding. Recent state budget cuts significantly reduced the manpower and other resources available in the Ohio Department of Natural Resources—especially in its Division of Natural Areas and Preserves. As I observe these continuing threats to Ohio's landscape on my travels around the state, I sometimes despond for the future generations of Ohioans. What kind of Ohio landscape are we bequeathing our children?

Yet I am more often encouraged, for much of the beauty and significance in the Ohio landscape can be—and is being—saved, thanks to the passion, energy, and hard work of many dedicated organizations and individuals...

— Ian Adams, from the preface to Ohio: A Bicentennial Portrait, 1803-2003

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