Race, ethnicity, and natural resources in the United States: A review

The United States is a racially and ethnically diverse country, but only recently have researchers and scholars paid much attention to the significance of this diversity for natural resource management and. policy. This article reviews the literature on racial discrimination and ethnic differences in valuing and using natural resources. The review indicates that the effects of past and current racial discrimination and ethnocentrism in the natural resource field continue to be felt today, both in individual behavior and in social structures. The review also finds complex linkages between culture and values, natural resource uses; social organization, and ecosystem characteristics that highlight the need for serious attention to racial and ethnic diversity in natural resource management and policy. Ethnocentrism in the natural resource field comes into play in many ways but may be most pernicious in cases of scientific uncertainty when managers and policy makers tend to fall back on culturally and professionally coded models that may have biases built into them. There is a need for greater attention to race and ethnicity by all in the natural resource field, and also for greater diversity among professionals in the field itself. A broader and more inclusive view of natural resource values, use, and management will both better serve a diverse U.S. population and attract more diversity to the natural resource professions.