AASCU > Programs

Stewardship of Public Lands

Topic:

Throughout the United States, but especially in the West, the question of who will control public lands is a hotly debated topic. The public lands of the West including national parks, forests, grazing, and prairie lands are all sites of controversy. The major points of contention are over ownership and use of the land, federal and state-level interests in the land, and local citizen use of the lands. Timber, mining, oil and gas producers, developers, farmers, ranchers, hunters, business owners, recreational users, and environmentalists are all groups who assert claims to influence and use. Yet whose interests have primacy? And in a democracy, how do the interests of all of these groups get addressed and resolved?

Goals:

For the past five summers, faculty representatives from participating AASCU institutions have spent a week in Yellowstone National Park with our partner, the Yellowstone Association, studying controversies about wolves, bison, snowmobiles, and grizzlies. To date, more than one hundred faculty members from more than fifty campuses have participated in the program. Each summer, the week-long program begins with study of the science and history of the controversies, listening to scientists and park rangers. Then at the end of the week, the faculty participants interview local citizens on both sides of the issues, including political activists, business people, ranchers, and ordinary citizens. Faculty then return to their campuses to design programs for students, some focused on the controversies in the Yellowstone ecosystem, while others are focused on local public land and resource issues.

Achievements:

In 2007 a documentary entitled Mammoth to Mammoth about this initiative was produced. A number of former participants have created programs for undergraduates that take place in Yellowstone. Many more have created programs on their own campuses and in their own regions about public lands or public resource issues, modeling their program curricular programs on the Yellowstone experience. In 2010 a monograph will be published detailing the work of the AASCU institutions as they explore the various issues surrounding the Stewardship of Public Lands.

Stewardship of Public Lands Multimedia Tools:

A wiki was created to collect resources faculty members have created as they explore issues surrounding the Stewardship of Public lands with their students.

You can also join the Stewardship of Public Lands group on Facebook.