ATTITUDES AND KNOWLEDGE OF PEOPLE LIVING IN THE GREATER YELLOWSTONE ECOSYSTEM

Concerns over threats to the integrity of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) have increasingly led to calls for coordinated management of the region. To be most effective, GYE management requires an understanding of the attitudes and knowledge of local people. A structured knowledge and attitude survey of 308 people living within the GYE was conducted. A large majority of respondents recognized the importance of coordinated management of the GYE to conserve and protect the region's natural attractions, but most misunderstood or were worried about the economic and political implications of ecosystem management. The belief that ecosystem management would lead to loss of local control in the region was prevalent. Most respondents also believed that ecosystem management would negatively affect their communities, lifestyles, and natural resource-based industries. Although most people were knowledgeable about the area's attributes, few were aware of the sizable problems facing coordinated management of the GYE. Strong utilitarian, dominionistic, and libertarian values, as well as a relatively good understanding of the natural world, were evident among respondents dependent on agriculture and natural resource extraction. Ascriptive demographic and socioeconomic factors were also found to be important influences on attitudes toward the GYE and its management. Despite a shift of local economies away from resource exploitation toward a service sector economy based on nature tourism, the historical orientation toward agriculture and natural resource extraction strongly shapes and influences local values and attitudes.