Since its creation in 1916, the National Park Service has managed cultural resources through different strategies, one of the primary being protecting resources for the public in perpetuity through acquiring land and resources. Through land acquisition, these cultural landscapes and historic resources are protected for the enjoyment of the public. In some National Parks, life tenancy has been the process through which land and resources have been acquired. By learning how the NPS land management options are defined, identifying and studying properties that have been or are currently under life tenancy, and how they are used by the NPS after the life tenancy has ended, this thesis will serve to better understand the process of life tenancy and one unique facet of the NPS land management strategy for cultural resources, as well as explore the possibility for recommendations for how this system could be improved upon.