The Project Conference was held on 3 - 6 September 2008. See the conference programme for details.
There has been an article published on the project in the latest issue of The Ministry of Defence Conservation Magazine 'SANCTURY' (pp. 26-29)
BBC1 - The 'One Show'
Short documentary on the great bustard for the endangered British wildlife series 'Back from the Brink'. Date of broadcast coming soon.
All photographs © P Coates
Militarized landscapes
Full title: Militarized landscapes in the twentieth-century; Britain, France and the United States
Duration: Launched June 2007, running for 36 months
Principle Investigator: Professor Peter Coates
Project team members: Dr Tim Cole (CI), Dr Chris Pearson, Marianna Dudley (Phd student)
Higher Education Institution: The University of Bristol
Other partnerships: MOD Environmental Support Team; Icon Films
Project associate: Professor Mike Pearson
Contact information:Tel: ++44 (0)117 9288393 or email p.a.coates@bristol.ac.uk
Project web page: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/history/militarylandscapes
Further links :
French Armée de la Terre environmental webpage
MOD Defence Estates Conservation and Environmental webpage
Department of Historical Studies, School of Humanities, University of Bristol
Icon films
Project summary
The black smoke billowing from burning oil wells during the Gulf War of 1990-91 directed media and public attention towards war's environmental impact. Yet even before the first bomb is dropped, preparation for warfare materially and imaginatively reshapes landscapes and environments. This project seeks to rectify this neglect through a comparative analysis of the emergence, management and meaning of militarized landscapes.
For more details please go to the project summary document 
Progress and Highlights
Year 1
• Call for Papers issued for Project Conference (4-6 September 2008).
• Project Website published.
• Work began on a comparative study of how different social and environmental histories of our selected UK militarized landscapes are constructed, with particular reference, to date, to Mynydd Epynt, Imber and Tyneham.
• Work began on a review of the broad literature of the field and a paper was delivered as part of the Department of Historical Studies' research seminar series.
• The PR spent July & August in France on an initial research trip, focusing on military archives and meetings with officials responsible for ecological policies.
Year 2
• Icon Films agreed to include the great bustard among the six species it would submit to the commissioning editors of the BBC’s ‘One Show’ for the second instalment of its series on endangered British wildlife, ‘Back from the Brink’. This was approved by the BBC filming took place in April.
• The MOD’s Environmental Support Team, invited the team to write an article for the forthcoming issue (2008) of the MOD’s nature conservation magazine, Sanctuary, which has been published annually since 1976. This article was submitted in early March.
• Various publishers’ representatives were approached at the annual conference of the American Society for Environmental History in connection with the edited volume that will be based on a selection of papers delivered at the forthcoming Project Conference. Editors from a number expressed interest and proper negotiations begin in September 2008.
