Park ethnography is open and collaborative, inviting participation by those with a stake in how a park is planned and run, such as park neighbors and other constituents. Such stakeholders must concur with the ethnography project's goals before it can proceed. In fact, they often take part in the research and report writing, with drafts circulated so they can suggest mid-course corrections. Ethnographers have found that a group's participation enhances the study's value. Below are a few examples of research projects.

EDISON NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE
Edison National Historic Site, about 20 miles west of New York City in West Orange, New Jersey, inhabits one of the most developed areas of the state. The park memorializes the achievements of inventor Thomas Alva Edison, preserving his home and laboratory. About 60,000 people visit each year, but until a traditional use study, few realized the full import of the place. Read article.

OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK
Several reservations, ranging from 200 to almost 200,000 acres, border Olympic National Park. In 1990, a project began to look at the traditional ties with the Makah, Lower Elwha Klallam, Jamestown S'Klallam, Port Gamble S'Klallam, Skokomish, Squaxin, Chehalis, Shoalwater Bay, Quinault, Quileute, and Hoh. What was discovered was a wealth of information that shed new light on the region and its native inhabitants. Read article.

ALASKA'S NATIONAL PARKS
Statistics show that wildlife is essential to survival in the Alaska bush. In Anchorage, food is 25 percent more costly than in most cities of the western United States; rural Alaskans pay double that--with considerably lower incomes. They consume almost 75 percent of the wildlife hunted in the state. Statistics tell only part of the story, however. A traditional use study, ethnographic landscape study, ethnohistory, and oral history were commissioned to profile both the wildlife and the communities whose survival depends on hunting-in the parks and the landscapes that surround them. Read article.

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