Stakeholder representation in park planning: Localized place meanings at Grand Canyon

This research explores stakeholder representation in park [pre]planning at Grand Canyon National Park through an examination of place meanings from a lived experience perspective. Using a combination of photo-elicitation methods and semi-structured interviewing this research offers a novel form of representation among localized stakeholders to the backcountry at Grand Canyon and follows up on that by asking the participants about their experience with the research itself. It is found that stakeholders who participated in this process expressed a natural form of caring and sensed the same in others representation of the meanings associated with their important backcountry places. As a form of participatory action research, this research shows promise for improving stakeholder dialogue surrounding park planning through the productive inclusion of experiential, emotional knowledge.