Abstract :
Historically, the US National Park Service (NPS) has been an uneasy, often unwelcome, presence in rural communities. Broader recent acceptance of non-traditional types of national park units has opened the door to more positive collaborative relationships between the NPS and rural communities. I present three case studies of ‘partnership parks’ that vary from extensive federal land ownership while retaining traditional land uses to virtually no federal land ownership where achievement of unit goals rests on developing locally collaborative relationships. Reasons for the change are presented, and lessons for new partnership park units are explored.
