Globe Pequot Press America's National Heritage Areas

From the publisher: Though NHAs are not officially national parks, their conservation-, education- and recreation-related objectives echo those of the national parks: to conserve nationally significant natural and cultural landscapes and to make them available to the public for purposes of education, recreation and sustainable tourism-related economic development.

But the methods of achieving these objectives are different—very different—than those used in the national parks. While both national parks and NHAs are established by Congress, national parks are conventionally large areas of public land that are owned and managed by the National Park Service. NHAs take a more inclusive, partnership-based approach to their work; they offer local citizens, government at all levels, nonprofit organizations and private sector enterprises the opportunity to define, celebrate and conserve the natural, historic, cultural, scenic and recreational resources that have been vital in shaping their identity and destiny.

NHAs are composed primarily of private lands; they're living landscapes where participants reside, work and play.