SOURCES OF VARIATION IN ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS ABOUT FEDERAL RANGELANDMANAGEMENT

Successful managers of federal rangelands in the next century will hav e to implement politically supportable policies that address both fora ge and non-forage values. To do so will require an understanding of be liefs and attitudes across a wider spectrum of American society than t he traditional range clientele, In 1993 a study was conducted to exami ne geographic variation in general public attitudes and beliefs about federal range management, and the linkage between general environmenta l values, attitudes toward federal range policy and management, and be liefs about environmental conditions on federal rangelands. While ther e 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 economi es, Attitudes and beliefs about rangelands were typically rooted in si mplistic, value-based ideas about the goodness or badness of range pra ctices and conditions.