Subdivisions and Deer Uses: Conflicts between Nature and Private Property on the Urban Fringe

Abstract

This article examines a series of controversies concerning migratory deer ranges in Deschutes County, Oregon, USA, to reveal a set of tensions in the process of governing landscapes on the urban fringe. The complex and contentious processes involved in decisions concerning the zoning of these deer ranges revealed conflicts between deer migration routes, private property rights, the public good and cultural values attached to open space. These issues raised by the movement of deer and the seasonal variability of their habitat provided an opportunity to reshape the process of environmental governance on the urban fringe that was attentive to the cultural value of open space and challenged rigid property boundaries and property rights. This resulted in a fractured governance process that sought to balance private property rights, the public good, and the ecological demands of migratory deer.