
Treasured Views
Background
Scenic Virginia has developed a first-of-its-kind Virginia Treasured Views Program to identify the Commonwealth’s most scenic areas and recognize them in the Scenic Virginia Register. This project is an outgrowth of years invested in identifying and preserving special scenic places, for the benefit of both rural and urban citizens. We have created a repeatable, scientifically based format for proving viewsheds are scenic. This process and evaluation criteria include both science-based criteria and informed community values to identify, establish significance and to map the important scenic views so these can be inventoried and the information used to inform planning and protection.
A distinguished panel of viewshed scholars and experts provided the program’s approval, and we are now working on our plan to roll out the locally inspired program based on Virginia Tech research done at Scenic Virginia’s request. The program has been vetted by two Virginia universities and visual resource experts. We have deployed the procedure with partner organizations at varied sites.
Scenic Virginia has presented the Virginia Treasured Views Program at the following state, national, and international conferences:
Environment Virginia Symposium at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia (2019)
Virginia Land Conservation & Greenways Conference in Richmond, Virginia (2019)
Views Matter! Symposium at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew in London, England (2019)
Visual Resource Stewardship Conference at Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Illinois (2019, 2021, 2023)
Virginia Recreation and Parks Society
River Management Society Symposium Visual Resources Tract (virtually 2022)
The Treasured Views project has been strongly received and many are looking forward to implementing viewsheds identification in their communities.
If you are interested in having Scenic Virginia come to your community to work with you to help identify your Treasured Views, contact Lynn Crump, PLA at lynn.crump@scenicvirginia.org .