Rangers, Ranchers, and Resource Specialists: A Study of Cultural Values in the American West

The grant allowed international students at Montana State University to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Yellowstone National Park by exploring several of the controversial environmental and resource management issues salient in Montana communities today and by making three focused trips to the Park.

Objectives of the project were to:

• Expose a selected group of international students to the broad environmental issues of the "American West" through a series of seminars and field trips;
• Allow students to see the complexity of balancing resource and wildlife management with sustainable development; and
  
• Introduce the students to the concept of "living with wilderness" in the western United States and to grassroots wildland conservation efforts in a Montana community.