An important continental work that brings Canadian, American, and Mexican perspectives on the role of regional planning and conservation of protected areas. The first book of its kind to provide a tri-nation perspective on protected areas (and the role of regional planning), including marine parks. Some areas discussed include: Yellowstone National Park, Tijuana River National Estuarine, Yukon, Sky Islands Wildlands, Baja California. This timely collection of essays presents new protected area theory, method, and practice as an explicit part of regional planning. With a North American focus, these essays consider the history of ecology, policy, and planning of protected areas in the context of the fundamental need for a linkage with ongoing regional planning. Includes an important chapter on the Commission on Environmental Co-Operation (CEC), set up under NAFTA, that refers to a major marine program for North America.