Landmark and Landscape: A Contextual Approach to the Management of American Indian Resources

Abstract

Raising the possibility that two historically polarized factions—American Indians and the U.S. government—may come to join forces in the conservation of natural and cultural resources appears at once Utopian. Similarly, the proposition that anthropology could lend valuable insights to resource management seems at odds with the current of contempt that permeates interactions between American Indians and Western social scientists. Yet, present government emphasis on natural resource conservation and stewardship and increased anthropological awareness of the importance of native concerns and categories regarding cultural resource preservation (e.g., Carmichael et al. 1994; Doll 1994; Reeves and Kennedy 1993; Stoffle and Evans 1990; Stoffle, Halmo, and Austin 1997) can lead to the implementation of management strategies that address the needs of all interested parties. Management of natural resources in a broader context, too, should benefit from strategies based on systematic research and detailed knowledge about traditional views of land and resource use.