Since the beginning of their history, national parks were created to provide the urban populations with alternatives for recreation and contemplation of the natural environment. The conception of protected areas with this purpose has been established since the last century, beginning in the United States of America (USA). The American model for the establishment of protected areas has been questioned ever since its creation, as it raises the issue on an utilitarian and fragmented view of nature, while not considering human beings as an integral part of it. This model was used in several initiatives in Brazil until the country started drawing up its own versions, based on its reality. The Brazilian system of conservation units has advanced greatly in this sense. However, the creation of strict protection conservation units has historically brought negative consequences due to a number of factors that have not been considered along the process. These factors raised several social conflicts that questioned the model of creation, implementation and management of these units. The present study sought to discuss the model upon which the strict protection conservation units, specifically the category Park, have been historically conceived in Brazil, and to suggest alternatives to such models. In this way, we present a case study using an analysis of the experience of creation of the Serra do Brigadeiro State Park (PESB) in all its aspects (historical, technical, procedural and methodological), starting from the participatory systematization of this experience. It is a qualitative, comparative and descriptive study, within the ambit of participatory research. The study area comprises the PESB and its surroundings. The PESB was created in 1996 through a historical process involving different organizations to preserve a considerable fragment of the Atlantic forest biome in the area. The regulatory agency in charge for its management is the Forest State Institution of Minas Gerais (IEF/MG). Ten years after its creation this experience was systematized, together with some of the main involved actors (social and institutional). The main objective of the systematization was to identify the accumulated knowledge or the lessons learned by the group of actors, so they can contribute to the consolidation of a process of creation, implementation and management of PESB, using the social participation and other similar processes. This study enabled us to recover and record the history of PESB creation; promote experience exchange among the participants; contribute to the debate and reflections on their lived experiences; to raise perceptions of different themes pertinent to the analysis, and to identify a set of lessons learned by the actors, concerning the lived experience, that can contribute to the implementation and management of this conservation unit, in an integrated and participatory way along with other similar existing experiences in Brazil.
