The form of national parks are the legacy of 19th-century landscape concepts. As Geoff Park describes national parks tend to be perceived as places where culture stops and nature starts; culture is supressed, nature is ‘preserved’ as a terra nullius. In this examination of the Mackenzie Basin we explore ways conservation parks might be better integrated within places of recreation and production (and vice versa). The highly innovative and collaborative Mackenzie Agreement forms the inspiration for this project. In it we suggest alternative scenarios that uses seven distinct drivers to distribute across the region its environmental social cultural and economic potential.