From “Vision” to Reality: Emerging Public Opinion of Collaborative Management in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Abstract

In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), the most established avenue for collaborative resource management is the Greater Yellowstone Coordinating Committee (GYCC), a coordinating body comprising local units of the four federal land management agencies in the region. Coordinating ecosystem-scale land management activities has been a primary concern of the GYCC since its inception and has been the source of intense public scrutiny, especially following the 1991 “Vision Exercise” which sought a coordinated ecosystem management plan for the region. As collaborative processes remain an important tenet of modern resource management, we revisit the current discourse surrounding the emergent public opinion of interagency collaboration in the Greater Yellowstone. Using Q-method and semi-structured interviews, we identify three themes within the discourse. We consider these themes in light of continued interest in collaborative management and programs.

Keywords:

• Coordinated management
• ecosystem management
• natural resource management
• public lands
• Q-methodology

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to our research participants for their time and participation in the project. Isha Ray, John Harte, and members of the Harte Lab (University of California, Berkeley) provided comments and feedback on early versions of this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

Research funding for this publication was provided by the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming and University of California, Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group.