Title

The End Of Wilderness: Conflict And Defeat Of Wilderness In The Grand Canyon

Abstract

In the early 1970s, Grand Canyon National Park intended to designate its land to "Wilderness," including the controversial Colorado River corridor. However, by the end of the 1970s the potential for Wilderness designation was off the table, and would never seriously return for genuine consideration. Using Schattschneider's model of conflict, we explain how the organization of this conflict privileges the "causal story" of Wilderness opponents, and therefore why the canyon is not designated. It is our contention that members of Congress will not stand forward to support Wilderness designations without simultaneously providing benefits for extractive land use because (1) congressional representatives are more penalized for supporting than opposing Wilderness designations, (2) Wilderness advocacy groups do not pressure congressional delegates as firmly as opposition groups, and (3) key local congressional members are not likely to see Wilderness as a salient issue worth the risk of negative exposure. If these findings hold, the implication is that we may have reached the end of significant Wilderness designations in highly visible areas, unless critical aspects in land use conflict change. © 2006 by The Policy Studies Organization.

Publication Date

1-1-2006

Publication Title

Review of Policy Research

Volume

23

Issue

2

Number of Pages

573-588

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-1338.2006.00216.x

Socpus ID

33646038539 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/33646038539

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