Many Jurisdictions, One Landscape
A central challenge of working at the many different scales of the Crown of the Continent is the number of boundaries that exist across the landscape. While these boundaries delineate ownership and management authority, they also divide disparate cultures, attitudes, goals, and values. Of course, the most significant borders are between Nations: Canada and the U.S. must work together along with the seven Tribal Nations in the region. But challenges within Nations are also significant. In the U.S., not only are there differing management priorities within the U.S. federal land management agencies, there are different state and local land management agencies to consider as well. Private landowners come in the form of huge industrial tracts that may be logging or mining, as well as working family ranches with agricultural production as the priority.
Even though they do not have jurisdictional authority, some of the loudest voices heard in land management decisions are those of the non-profit conservation groups. Among these organizations are strong differences in perspective about strategies and goals for conserving and managing the land. Such division can challenge efforts that seek to find common ground and coordination among land managers. People who care about the Crown and its future are increasingly looking to bridge these jurisdictional and cultural barriers to advance collective problem solving and collective action across scales. The Roundtable should be viewed as a large-scale neighborhood association that promotes conservation and coordinated land stewardship. In an era when people and communities struggle for cohesion, the Roundtable provides the connective tissue for local and regional sustainability. |