| Summary: | The first national park, Yellowstone, was created in 1872 in the United States. Canada was inspired by this model, before turning away from it. These two countries have many things in common: the wilderness, the conquest and control of territory, the creation of parks as strong markers of identity… A comparison of co-border parks between the US and Canada underlines their mutual contributions. Considering these facts, a real dynamic of cooperation should be observed: similar park zonings and management policies, a similar approach of local populations and very few conflicts on each side of the longest undefended borderline in the world. However, our study, based on interviews with both employees and inholders as well as on analysis of official documents, reveals divergences between these co-border parks. The wilderness and the international borderline are perceived differently. The reality of transboundary cooperation does not correspond to the official discourse. Numerous internal boundaries are fragmenting the parks and are thus affecting their capacity for cooperation. These limits reveal the importance of local populations, non-natives and natives, as well as associations that are considered unequally by park managers. The American parks inholdings lead to significant conflicts between the inholders and the National Park Service. In Canada, private property having been banned, internal tensions are more limited. Through a common will to protect wilderness, co-border parks show an unequal cooperation and internal fragmentations which outline border regions, giving another dimension to the international border. From an identical model, Canada and the United States are becoming differentiated in the matters of management, cooperation and the implication of the local populations. The US no longer being a unique model in the matter of parks, Canada may be rising as an alternative model… Le premier parc national, Yellowstone, est né en 1872, aux États-Unis. Le Canada s’est inspiré puis éloigné de ce modèle. Les ...
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