A review on the manufacturing of a national icon: Institutions and incentives in the management of Yellowstone National Park

Abstract

In Yellowstone National Park, the National Park Service (NPS) is legally obligated to preserve ecological health and promote recreation. These two mandates have been interpreted differently over the course of NPS management, and these changing interpretations have altered the park's ecosystems. We use a branch of political economy known as public choice analysis to explore how and why management regimes in Yellowstone have changed over time. We also examine what the ecological effects have been from these management changes.Political pressures, both from the public and Congress, have pushed the NPS to drastically change management policies that have ultimately altered the park's ecology. Many policies in Yellowstone are rooted in the public mischaracterization that Yellowstone is a primeval wilderness. Because of this mischaracterization and political pressures, the NPS in Yellowstone has adopted management philosophies and practices that are causing environmental degradation in the park. The NPS's current hands-off management approach, called “natural regulation” or “ecological process management,” assumes that nature will self-correct when ecological problems occur. This management philosophy ignores the fact that Yellowstone's ecosystem evolved for millennia with Native American's active management. The health of rangelands and riparian.

Keywords

• Yellowstone National Park
• Natural regulation
• Park management
• Ecological process management
• Politics and parks
• National parks