{"title":"Eighty Years of Public Participation on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge","authors":"J. Lacey, D. Egan","doi":"10.1353/gpq.2021.0007","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:In 1936 President Roosevelt designated an area in northeastern Montana along the Missouri River as the Fort Peck Game Range. This federally managed site would later become the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. Our historical review of the wildlife refuge indicates conflicts between administrative agencies and ranchers, primarily over reduction in livestock grazing and an increasing emphasis on wildlife conservation. Our review also finds that public participation in matters related to resource management was irrelevant during the formative years of the wildlife refuge. Participation became more visible during the development of several environmental impact statements, when the US Fish and Wildlife Service used the conventional participation approach of mailing information and inviting citizens to meetings. More recently, collaborative participation, where the planning process is influenced and driven by citizens and stakeholders, has gradually become more common and successful on federal lands. While we were unable to document effective collaborative efforts on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, we believe that the adoption of collaboration to enhance discussion and resolution of current challenges would prove mutually beneficial to citizens of northeastern Montana and natural resources on the refuge.","PeriodicalId":12757,"journal":{"name":"Great Plains Quarterly","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1000,"publicationDate":"2022-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Great Plains Quarterly","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/gpq.2021.0007","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"N/A","JCRName":"HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract:In 1936 President Roosevelt designated an area in northeastern Montana along the Missouri River as the Fort Peck Game Range. This federally managed site would later become the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. Our historical review of the wildlife refuge indicates conflicts between administrative agencies and ranchers, primarily over reduction in livestock grazing and an increasing emphasis on wildlife conservation. Our review also finds that public participation in matters related to resource management was irrelevant during the formative years of the wildlife refuge. Participation became more visible during the development of several environmental impact statements, when the US Fish and Wildlife Service used the conventional participation approach of mailing information and inviting citizens to meetings. More recently, collaborative participation, where the planning process is influenced and driven by citizens and stakeholders, has gradually become more common and successful on federal lands. While we were unable to document effective collaborative efforts on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, we believe that the adoption of collaboration to enhance discussion and resolution of current challenges would prove mutually beneficial to citizens of northeastern Montana and natural resources on the refuge.
期刊介绍:
In 1981, noted historian Frederick C. Luebke edited the first issue of Great Plains Quarterly. In his editorial introduction, he wrote The Center for Great Plains Studies has several purposes in publishing the Great Plains Quarterly. Its general purpose is to use this means to promote appreciation of the history and culture of the people of the Great Plains and to explore their contemporary social, economic, and political problems. The Center seeks further to stimulate research in the Great Plains region by providing a publishing outlet for scholars interested in the past, present, and future of the region."