Publication Date

12-2025

Date of Final Oral Examination (Defense)

10-8-2025

Type of Culminating Activity

Dissertation

Degree Title

Doctor of Philosophy in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior

Department

Biological Sciences

Supervisory Committee Chair

Vicken Hillis, Ph.D.

Supervisory Committee Member

Rebecca Som Castellano, Ph.D.

Supervisory Committee Member

Kelly Hopping, Ph.D.

Supervisory Committee Member

Matt Williamson, Ph.D.

Abstract

Public rangelands in the American West are sites of enduring contestation, where ecological change, competing values, and institutional complexity converge. Long-standing debates over livestock grazing, wildlife conservation, and land stewardship highlight fundamental questions of whose knowledge counts, whose authority is legitimate, and how resource use should adapt under shifting social and ecological conditions. This dissertation examines the intersections of knowledge, power, and land use in collaborative governance of contested landscapes. Using the Thunder Basin ecoregion (TBER) in northeastern Wyoming as a case study, I adopt a mixed-methods approach that integrates qualitative interviews, participant observation, archival research, and quantitative analysis of long-term grazing records. Together, these studies investigate how diverse ways of knowing are engaged in collaboration, how place attachment functions as a form of power, and how grazing practices have shifted across eight decades of public land management.

The first chapter investigates how stakeholders engage with scientific, experiential, and administrative ways of knowing in collaborative governance. Interviews, focus groups, and observation reveal that knowledge was strategically interpreted through participants’ institutional roles and values. While integration was possible when stakeholders embraced epistemic humility, tensions over credibility and authority often constrained integration. These findings underscore both the opportunities and the challenges of navigating epistemic diversity in collaborative processes.

The second chapter examines how place attachment operates as a form of power in the same collaborative setting. Drawing on Luke’s (2005) forms of power and Lecuyer’s (2024) multidimensional framework, the analysis reveals how stakeholders mobilized emotional and symbolic ties to construct legitimacy, frame narratives, and validate knowledge. Insider/outsider dynamics and symbolic struggles over belonging shaped who was viewed as a legitimate participant, whose knowledge was recognized, and how conflicts were resolved. This highlights the dual role of place attachment as both an affective bond and a political resource in governance.

The third chapter traces long-term trajectories of livestock grazing on the Thunder Basin National Grassland using 85 years of rangeland management records. Trend and change-point analysis paired with process tracing reveal consistent declines in stocking rates, evidencing a system-wide decrease in grazing pressure. However, total use followed heterogeneous pathways shaped by ecological variability, land-use conversion, policy changes, and ranch-level transitions.

Through this dissertation, the theory and practice of collaborative governance are advanced in three ways: (1) by demonstrating how epistemic diversity and strategic use of knowledge influence collaboration; (2) by developing a multidimensional account of place-based power that connects emotional and symbolic attachments to governance outcomes; and (3) by linking long-term ecological trajectories with social and institutional drivers of change in public land grazing. Collectively, these findings underscore that rangeland governance is co-produced through the interplay of knowledge, power, and place. By integrating social and ecological dynamics, this research contributes to more nuanced understandings of collaborative governance and offers insights for managing rangelands amid conflict, ecological change, and diverse stakeholder values.

Download

Share

COinS