Elk, the cow, the ranger, and the rolex: Urban/wildland resource management conflict at Mt. Diablo State Partk, California

摘要

The grazing dispute at Mt. Diablo State Park in California provides a case study for examining the dynamics of conflict over park management. It also offers a glimpse of what the future likely holds for many wildland parks in the United States. The dispute illustrates that no park is an island, wither ecologically or socially. The ecological setting and the human participants in the conflict have a dynamic interaction moderated by cultural values and norms. At Mt. Diablo, cultural values and the myths that give them cohesion have encouraged the participants in the conflict to strive toward impossible and apparently irreconcilable goals for the park. Proposed solutions must offer a way to reconcile these divergent views if they are to last.