Urban Lights is a collection of stories and learnings from across the country, showcasing the breadth and depth of innovative work in the urban sphere from coast to coast. The programs and partnerships featured here illustrate a variety of relationships between public lands and urban communities. These stories shine a light on new approaches to working and illuminate a path forward for parks and programs working in urban areas.
As the Service aspires to meet its Centennial goals, it is now time that the NPS strategically organizes its many parks and programs to build relevancy for all Americans. As the Urban Agenda was developed, many National Park Service employees and partners shared their pioneering stories that embrace the urban mission as a critical component of our second century of National Park stewardship. The Agenda calls all urban park practitioners to embrace three bold principles:
- Be Relevant to All Americans
- Activate "ONE NPS"
- Nurture a Culture of Collaboration
- Activate "ONE NPS"
- Nurture a Culture of Collaboration
Expanding Horizons: Highlights from the National Workshop on Large Landscape Conservation 2014
Expanding Horizons summarizes the National Workshop on Large Landscape Conservation. The report stresses a multi-disciplinary, networked approach to finding solutions that benefit human, wildlife, cultural and ecological health. The report was developed by QLF Atlantic Center through a cooperative agreement with the National Park Service Stewardship Institute.
Scaling Up: Collaborative Approaches to Large Landscape Conservation, 2014
Published jointly by NPS Chesapeake Bay Office and NPS Stewardship Institute
This publication contains a collection of 20 examples of parks, programs and initiatives that are already working at landscape scale. The sampling represents varied sizes, complexities, geography, and vision. They show that large landscape conservation is not new to the National Park Service. As the pace of change quickens, and the need grows, more and more parks and partners are answering the call to "scale up" their efforts.
Communication Strategies that Promote Ocean Stewardship Action: A Booklet for Interpreters and Educators, 2010
This booklet is a direct result of a June 2009 workshop on “Ocean Literacy and Stewardship Messages". Its purpose is to share key lessons learned and key concepts developed, thereby helping agencies and their partners shape effective communications to foster public awareness and ocean stewardship. It is not meant to be a final, definitive work, but rather a foundation for further collaboration and development of more-refined programs to engage and motivate people to take action on behalf of our oceans.
Engaging Young Adults in a Sustainable Future: Strategies for National Parks and Other Special Places, 2009
The purpose of this project was to inform the National Park Foundation’s (NPF) program development strategy for engaging young adults age 18 to 25 in environmental sustainability through collaboration with national parks and their partners and communities. This project positions the NPF to capitalize on research- and experienced-based knowledge about engaging young adults in the design of new initiatives. Program development for this key age group is an essential part of the NPF’s overall strategy of engaging the full spectrum of youth audiences.
Shared Legacies in Cane River National Heritage Area: Linking People, Traditions, and Landscapes. A Technical Assistance Report for the Cane River National Heritage Area Commission Report, 2008
Stewardship Begins With People: An Atlas of Places, People & Handmade Products, 2007 (Paper copies only. Request copies from: e-mail us) This report marks the culmination of a multi-year research project on heritage-based products that began with planning for the historic Mount Tom forest at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP. Concurrent with these discussions, there has been growing interest in finding ways to enhance the cultural and economic sustainability of distinctive regional identities. Congress recently demonstrated its interest as well, asking the NPS to explore viable ways to encourage sale of traditional products in national parks. Several international exchanges with Italy and with the Czech Republic provided added stimulus and ideas for this Atlas.
Learning to be Better Neighbors: Case Studies in Civic Engagement between National Parks and Neighboring Communities, 2006
This handbook discusses five different models of civic engagement, and uses case studies (“success stories”) to illustrate how people worked together to create effective community–public land initiatives. Each case study includes a set of “success factors” that can help guide others interested in learning about effective community engagement.
Opportunities for Communities that Neighbor Public Lands: A Guide to Federal Programs, 2006 The information that follows provides brief descriptions of federal funding and technical assistance programs available to communities that neighbor public lands.
Keeping National Parks Relevant in the 21st Century, 2006
At the request of then Northeast Regional Director Bomar, the Conservation Study Institute prepared a report on a conference convened by the NPS Northeast Regional Office (NER) and the National Parks Mid-Atlantic Council at Independence NHP, October 14-15, 2005. The conference brought people together to have a serious conversation on relevancy and engaging an increasingly diverse population. This conference was described as a “foundational conversation: with the intent that there would be an ongoing dialogue and programs in the NER." Two task groups were created to carry this work forward.
Connecting Stories, Landscapes, and People: Exploring the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor: Sustainability Study Report. A Technical Assistance Project for the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor Commission and the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, 2006 Executive Summary, Full Report. This technical assistance report was prepared by the Conservation Study Institute in cooperation with QLF/Atlantic Center for the Environment at the request (in 2005) of the Delaware & Lehigh NHA Commission
Reflecting on the Past, Looking to the Future: Sustainability Study Report. A Technical Assistance Report to the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission, 2005. In 2004, the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission (Commission) initiated the Blackstone Sustainability Study to evaluate the past 18 years of work in the National Heritage Corridor (Corridor) and use this as a foundation for a dialogue about future management of the Corridor.
Collaboration and Conservation: Lessons Learned from National Park Service Partnership Areas in the Western United States, 2004
This workshop report distills partnership lessons learned and key components of successful partnership areas from a diversity of federal and private practitioners and examination of a series of case studies. The participants also identify a set of strategic recommendations for creating a sustainable environment for partnerships.
A Handbook for Managers of Cultural Landscapes with Natural Resource Values, 2003
The multidisciplinary aspect of cultural landscapes challenges our traditional approach to resource management, which has been discipline-oriented and has created a dichotomy between nature and culture. This dichotomy has proved to be a barrier to developing an integrated approach to landscape management. In response to the need for a more holistic approach to cultural landscape, the purpose of this project is to share some of the innovative work being done by resource management professionals: comprehensive approaches that integrate multiple values in management.
Speaking of the Future: A Dialogue on Conservation, 2003
This publication was based on a national symposium, “Reconstructing Conservation: History, Values and Practice” held at the University of Vermont and in Woodstock, Nov. 2-6, 2001 convened and co-sponsored by The Woodstock Foundation, Inc., University of Vermont, Conservation Study Institute, Trust for Public Land, and Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP. Fifty conservation scholars and practitioners participated in the symposium and contributed chapters to the book. The symposium challenged participants to critically examine long-held tenets of conservation history and philosophy, and to envision principles for conservation for the 21st century.
International Concepts in Protected Landscapes: Exploring Their Values for Communities in the Northeast, 2001
The public forum, “International Concepts in Protected Landscapes: Exploring Their Value for Communities in the Northeast,” was designed to explore successful experiences with conservation of working landscapes, to foster an exchange of ideas among practitioners from diverse regions of the world, and to define future challenges and international collaboration in support of protecting working landscapes.
Landscape Conservation: An International Working Session on the Stewardship of Protected Landscapes, 2001
This is the first effort launched by the park and institute to to understand contemporary conservation and future directions. This report explores stewardship practice across the U.S. and internationally under the sponsorship of three institutions: Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, the Conservation Study Institute; and the Woodstock Foundation.
Last updated: June 20, 2023