Sources of Variation in Attitudes and Beliefs about Federal Rangeland Management

Successful managers of federal rangelands in the next century will have to implement politically supportable policies that address both forage and non-forage values. To do so will require an understanding of beliefs and attitudes across a wider spectrum of American society than the traditional range clientele. In 1993 a study was conducted to examine geographic variation in general public attitudes and beliefs about federal range management, and the linkage between general environmental values, attitudes toward federal range policiy and management, and beliefs about environmental conditions on federal rangelands. While there was some evidence of an East-West dichotomy on range issues, greater support was found for a dichotomy between urban areas throughout the U.S. and rural regions where rangelands are important to local economies. Attitudes and beliefs about rangelands were typically rooted in simplistic, value-based ideas about the goodness or badness of range practices and conditions.