Binational Parks

About the Project

Binational Parks@250 provides historical counterstories to inform present-day debates on border militarization, national security, and border-building at the US-Mexico border in favor of reading borderlands as ecological communities with a history of human and more-than-human relationships and conflict. Ultimately, this project serves as a foundational resource for future binational research projects, collaborations, and environmental actions across borders.

Project Goals

• to tell stories of the unique history of the failed promises of binational parks in the US-Mexico borderlands

• to combine “science, spirit, and story” (Kimmerer 2013) to accurately depict the biodiverse, binational landscapes that exist in between the two countries from an environmental humanities perspective
• to demonstrate past and present conservation and environmental challenges between these shared ecosystems—unique challenges that would arguably only benefit from cross border alliances, cross cultural perspectives, and binational collaborations
• to amplify voices and stories that are often lost to historical erasure and/or overlooked in present-day retellings and conservation projects
• to explore potential binational avenues for establishing a network of US-Mexico international borderlands parks for future generations

As a shared, public place (much like a park itself!), Binational Parks@250 offers a moderated “Visitor’s Log” for visitors to contribute to the digital archive and record in order to share stories and commentary on borderlands binational parks and conservation, in an effort to continue the conversation and debate toward a civic-minded democracy—starting with access for all to public lands.