Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 April 2009
In the 1990s, policymakers at Yellowstone and Banff National Parks enacted two of the most controversial programs in the history of protected lands. At Yellowstone, the U.S. National Park Service (nps) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (fws) personnel reintroduced wolves into the Yellowstone ecosystem. This program restored a crucial element to the park ecosystem that had been eliminated decades before and not returned since extermination. At Banff, federal authorities imposed strict limits to growth of the town of Banff. This action reversed a policy dating to the park's establishment in the late nineteenth century of allowing and encouraging growth and development of the town within Banff. How did these policy changes occur?
1. Lindblom, Charles E., “The Science of Muddling Through,” Public Administration Review 14 (1959): 79–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. For important collections, see Baumgartner, Frank R. and Jones, Bryan D., Policy Dynamics (Chicago, 2002)Google Scholar; Sabatier, Paul and Jenkins-Smith, Hank, Theories of the Policy Process (Boulder, 1999).Google Scholar
3. Aronson, Peter, Gelhorn, Ernest, and Robinson, Glen. “A Theory of Legislative Delegation.” Cornell Law Review 68 (1982): 1–67Google Scholar; Mayhew, David R., Congress: The Electoral Connection (New Haven, 1974)Google Scholar; Ripley, Randall B. and Franklin, Grace A., Congress, the Bureaucracy, and Public Policy, 2d ed. (Homewood, Ill., 1980), 16.Google Scholar
4. Rourke, Francis E., Bureaucracy, Politics, and Public Policy, 3d ed. (Boston, 1984), 41–42.Google Scholar
5. Downs, Anthony, Inside Bureaucracy (Boston, 1967), 264Google Scholar; Kaufman, Herbert, The Forest Ranger (Baltimore, 1967), 235Google Scholar; Wilson, James Q., Bureaucracy (New York, 1989), 69.Google Scholar
6. Schattschneider, E. E., The Semisovereign People (New York, 1960).Google Scholar
7. Ibid., 10.
8. Matland, Richard E., “Synthesizing the Implementation Literature: The Ambiguity-Conflict Model of Policy Implementation,” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 5, no. 2 (1995): 145–174.Google Scholar
9. Mayhew, Congress.
10. Sabatier, Paul A. and Mazmanian, Daniel, “The Implementation of Public Policy: A Framework for Analysis,” Policy Studies Journal 8 (1980): 538–560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11. Ibid.
12. Kaiser, Lael R. and Meier, Kenneth J., “Policy Design, Bureaucratic Incentives, and Public Management,” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 6, no. 3 (1996): 337–364Google Scholar; Lester, James P. and Bowman, Ann O'M., “Implementing Environmental Policy in a Federal System,” Polity 21, no. 4 (1984): 731–753Google Scholar; Longbein, Laura and Kerwin, Cornelius M., “Implementation, Negotiation, and Compliance in Environmental and Safety Regulation,” Journal of Politics 47, no. 3 (1985): 854–880.Google Scholar
13. Bella, Leslie, Parks for Profit (Montreal, 1987)Google Scholar; Lowry, William, Preserving Public Lands for the Future (Washington, D.C., 1998)Google Scholar; O'Brien, Bob R., Our National Parks and the Search for Sustainability (Austin, 1999).Google Scholar
14. Chase, Alston, Playing God in Yellowstone (New York, 1987)Google Scholar; Schullery, Paul, The Yellowstone Wolf: A Guide and Sourcebook (Laramie, Wyo., 1997)Google Scholar; Sellars, Richard West, Preserving Nature in the National Parks (New Haven, 1997).Google Scholar
15. Leopold, Also S., “Wildlife Management in the National Parks,” Report to Secretary of the Interior Udall (Washington, D.C., 1963), 32.Google Scholar
16. Bangs, Edward F. and Fritts, Steven H., “Reintroducing the Gray Wolf to Central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park,” Wildlife Society Bulletin 24, no. 3 (1996): 402–413.Google Scholar
17. ESA, Sec. 4(b)(1)(A).
18. U.S. National Park Service, Yellowstone Master Plan (Washington, D.C., 1974), 25.Google Scholar
19. U.S. House of Representatives, Restoration of Gray Wolves to Yellowstone National Park. Hearing before the Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands, 20 July 1989, 101st Cong., 1st sess. (Washington, D.C., 1989), 8.Google Scholar
20. Ferguson, Gary, The Yellowstone Wolves (New York, 1996), 69.Google Scholar
21. Bangs and Fritts, “Reintroducing the Gray Wolf,” 403; Wilkinson, Todd, “Bringing Back the Pack,” National Parks, 05 1993, 25–29.Google Scholar
22. Wilkinson, “Bringing Back the Pack,” 27.
23. U.S. National Park Service, Yellowstone Statement for Management (Washington, D.C., 1991), 29.Google Scholar
24. Begley, Sharon, “Return of the Wolf,” Newsweek, 12 08 1991, 44–50Google Scholar; Skow, John, “The Brawl of the Wild,” Time, 6 11 1989, 14–15.Google Scholar
25. Schullery, The Yellowstone Wolf, 244; Wilkinson, “Bringing Back the Pack,” 26.
26. Satchell, Michael, “The New Call of the Wild,” Newsweek, 29 10 1990, 29.Google Scholar
27. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Environmental Impact Statement for The Reintroduction of Gray Wolves to Yellowstone National Park and Central Idaho (Washington, D.C., 1993).
28. Endangered Species Act of 1973, Sec. 10(j)(2).
29. U.S. House 1989, 42.
30. Interview with Yellowstone Superintendent Mike Finley, 15 July 1996.
31. Bangs and Fritts, “Reintroducing the Gray Wolf,” 411.
32. Interview with author, 13 July 1999.
33. Interview with author, 21 June 1999. See also Jack Hamann, “Wolves' return to Yellowstone sparks controversy,” CNN, 12 November 1997.
34. Interview with wolf project leader Doug Smith, 21 June 1999.
35. Begley, Sharon, “Return of the Native,” Newsweek, 23 01 1995, 53.Google Scholar
36. Skeele, Tom, “Let Nature Fill the Niche,” High Country News, 17 05 1993, 9.Google Scholar
37. Ferguson, , The Yellowstone Wolves; O'Brien 1999: 115Google Scholar; Pickrell, John, “Wolves' Leftovers Are Yellowstone's Gain, Study Says,” National Geographic News, 4 12 2003.Google Scholar
38. Robbins, Jim, “With Return of Wolves to West, Predatory Habits Bring Back Fear,” New York Times, 29 12 1995, A22.Google Scholar
39. Interview with author, 17 July 1999.
40. Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation et al. vs. Bruce Babbitt, Civil Case No. 94-CV-286-D, ruling of 12 December 1997.
41. Quoted in Associated Press 2000, “Court to Keep Wolves,” 1; ABC News, “Appeals Court: Wolves Can Stay in Yellowstone,” 13 January 2000.
42. Associated Press, “U.S. Loses Ruling on Gray Wolves,” New York Times, 1 February 2005, A1; Johnson, Kirk, “Limits Eased on Killing of Wolves,” New York Times, 4 01 2005, A1.Google Scholar
43. Interview with author, 21 June 1999.
45. Bangs and Fritts, “Reintroducing the Gray Wolf,” 403; U.S. FWS 1993, 4.
46. McNamee, Thomas, The Return of the Wolf to Yellowstone (New York, 1997)Google Scholar; Robbins, Jim, “In Two Years, Wolves Have Reshaped Yellowstone Ecosystem,” New York Times, 30 12 1997, F1Google Scholar; Smith, Douglas W. and Ferguson, Gary, Decade of the Wolf (Guilford, Conn., 2005).Google Scholar
47. Interview with author, 13 July 1999.
48. Schullery, The Yellowstone Wolf, 212.
49. Smith and Ferguson, Decade of the Wolf, 193.
50. Hildebrandt, Walter, “An Historical Analysis of Parks Canada and Banff National Park, 1968–1995,” manuscript for Banff–Bow Valley Study (Ottawa, 1996)Google Scholar; Lothian, W. F., A Brief History of Canada's National Parks (Ottawa, 1987).Google Scholar
51. Corbett, Bill, “The Battle for Banff,” in Assault on the Rockies, ed. Urquhart, Ian (Edmonton, 1998), 129–136.Google Scholar
52. Bella, Parks for Profit; Hildebrandt, “An Historical Analysis of Parks Canada and Banff”; Lowry, , Preserving Public Lands for Profit, 1998.Google Scholar
53. Bella, Parks for Profit, 17; Marty, Sid, A Grand and Fabulous Notion (Toronto, 1984), 133.Google Scholar
54. Interview with author, 30 June 1992.
55. Canadian Parks Service, Banff National Park Management Plan (Ottawa, 1988), 4, 16.Google Scholar
56. Corbett, “The Battle for Banff,” 129.
57. Mitchell, Alanna, “Delicate Banff Will Be Saved, Dupuy Promises,” The Globe and Mail, 17 01 1995, A5.Google Scholar
58. Canada, Parks, Action on the Ground (Ottawa, 2005), 7.Google Scholar
59. DePalma, A., “Popularity Brings a Huge Canadian Park to Crisis,” New York Times, 5 01 1997, 5.Google Scholar
60. Ibid.; Lowry, Preserving Public Lands for Profit; Mitchell, Alanna, “Banff's Outlook Not a Pretty Picture,” The Globe and Mail, 24 12 1994, A1.Google Scholar
61. Interview with Mel Wilson, 19 July 1996.
62. Interview with author, 22 October 2005.
63. Interview with Parks Canada senior planner Judy Otton, 22 July 1996.
64. Hodgins, Douglas W. and Cook, J. Douglas, “The Banff–Bow Valley Study: A Retrospective Review,” Occasional Paper No. 10 (Ottawa, 2000).Google Scholar
65. Banff–Bow Valley Task Force, Banff-Bow Valley: At the Crossroads (Ottawa, 1996), 9.
66. Ibid., 14.
67. Interview with author, 17 October 2005.
68. Ibid.
69. Copps, Sheila, “Highlights of Minister's Direction for the Banff Bow Valley and Response to the Bow Valley Study Report” (Ottawa, 1997).Google Scholar
70. Urquhart, Ian, ed., Assault on the Rockies (Edmonton, 1998), 141Google Scholar; CBC News, “Banff votes for moderate development,” updated 13 November 1998.
71. The growth regulations were formally approved by the Minister on 3 December 1998. Schedule 4, Park Communities in the CNPA, officially came into effect in May 2004 with amendments to the Banff Management Plan.
72. Urquhart, Assault on the Rockies, 143.
73. Canada, Parks, Banff National Park Management Plan (Ottawa, 1997), 13.Google Scholar
74. Canada, Parks, State of the Park Report for Banff (Ottawa, 2002), sec. 2.2.Google Scholar
75. Interview with author, 9 September 2005.
76. Interview with author, 17 October 2005.
77. Ibid.
78. Angus Reid Group, “Identifying Appropriate Activities for Banff National Park,” Paper for Banff–Bow Valley Study (Ottawa, 1996).Google Scholar
79. Quoted in Mitchell, “Delicate Banff Will Be Saved,” A5.
80. The Economist, “Saving Canada's Wilderness–Perhaps,” 19 October 1996, 51.
81. Ritchie, J. R. Brent, Hudson, Simon, and Timur, Seldjan, “Public Reactions to Policy Recommendations from the Banff–Bow Valley Study,” Journal of Sustainable Tourism 10, no. 4 (2002): 295–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
82. Interview with BVN head Mike McIvor, 9 September 2005, and CPAWS director Dave Poulton, 29 November 2005.
83. Hessing, Melody and Howlett, Michael, Canadian Natural Resource and Environmental Policy (Vancouver, 1997), 219Google Scholar; Wilson, Jeremy, “Continuity and Change in the Canadian Environmental Movement,” in Canadian Environmental Policy, ed. VanNijnatten, and Boardman, (Toronto, 2002), 46.Google Scholar
84. Quoted in DePalma, “Popularity Brings a Huge Canadian Park to Crisis,” 3.
85. Dale Eisler, “Battle over Preserving Banff,” Maclean's, 4 August 1997, 10–13.
86. Interview with author, 17 October 2005.
87. Interview with author, 10 November 2005.
88. Ellis, Cathy, “Banff Urged to Live with Growth Limit,” Rocky Mountain Outlook, 24 11 2005, 7.Google Scholar
89. Interview with author, 5 December 2005.
90. Parks Canada, Action on the Ground, 8.
91. Interview with author, 10 November 2005.
92. Interview with author, 22 October 2005.
93. Interview with author, 9 September 2005.
94. Interview with author, 20 June 1997.
95. Interview with author, 7 November 2005.
96. McBeth, Mark K., Shanahan, Elizabeth A., Arnell, Ruth J., and Hathaway, Paul L., “The Intersection of Narrative Policy Analysis and Policy Change Theory,” Policy Studies Journal 35, no. 1 (2007): 87–108Google Scholar; McNamara, Amy, “Wild by Nature,” Greater Yellowstone Report 23 (2006): 6–7Google Scholar; Peacock, Doug, “The Bison Massacre,” Audubon 99 (1997): 40–49Google Scholar; U.S. General Accounting Office, Negotiations on a Long-Term Plan for Managing Yellowstone Bison Still Ongoing (Washington, D.C., 1999).Google Scholar
97. Ellis, Cathy, “Chateau Gets Permit for Convention Center,” Banff Crag & Canyon, 28 03 2002Google Scholar; Thompson, Wendy-Anne, “Chateau Expansion Fought,” Calgary Herald, 30 05 2002.Google Scholar