From Partnerships to Networks: New Approaches for Measuring U.S. National Heritage Area Effectiveness

Daniel N. Laven, Daniel H. Krymkowski, Curtis L. Ventriss, Robert E. Manning and Nora J. Mitchell
Additional contact information
Daniel N. Laven: Conservation Study Institute, National Park Service, VT, USA
Daniel H. Krymkowski: Department of Sociology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA, daniel.krymkowski@uvm.edu
Curtis L. Ventriss: Rubenstein School of Environment and National Resources, University of Vermont, George D. Aiken Center, Burlington, VT, USA
Robert E. Manning: Rubenstein School of Environment and National Resources, University of Vermont, George D. Aiken Center, Burlington, VT, USA
Nora J. Mitchell: Conservation Study Institute, National Park Service, VT, USA

Evaluation Review, 2010, vol. 34, issue 4, 271-298

Abstract: National Heritage Areas (NHAs) are an alternative and increasingly popular form of protected area management in the United States. NHAs seek to integrate environmental objectives with community and economic objectives at regional or landscape scales. NHA designations have increased rapidly in the last 20 years, generating a substantial need for evaluative information about (a) how NHAs work; (b) outcomes associated with the NHA process; and (c) the costs and benefits of investing public moneys into the NHA approach. Qualitative evaluation studies recently conducted at three NHAs have identified the importance of understanding network structure and function in the context of evaluating NHA management effectiveness. This article extends these case studies by examining quantitative network data from each of the sites. The authors analyze these data using both a descriptive approach and a statistically more robust approach known as exponential random graph modeling. Study findings indicate the presence of transitive structures and the absence of three-cycle structures in each of these networks. This suggests that these networks are relatively ‘‘open,’’ which may be desirable, given the uncertainty of the environments in which they operate. These findings also suggest, at least at the sites reported here, that the NHA approach may be an effective way to activate and develop networks of intersectoral organizational partners. Finally, this study demonstrates the utility of using quantitative network analysis to better understand the effectiveness of protected area management models that rely on partnership networks to achieve their intended outcomes.

Keywords: national heritage areas; protected area management; landscape-scale conservation; evaluation; social network analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0193841X10370668 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:evarev:v:34:y:2010:i:4:p:271-298

DOI: 10.1177/0193841X10370668

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Evaluation Review
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().