Bear/People Conflicts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee: An Analysis of the Social, Political, and Ecological Elements

Newton, Kate

ABSTRACT: Nuisance black bears cause property damage, threaten public safety, and heighten wildlife use conflicts among people across the United States. Wildlife managers have solutions to control nuisance black bear behavior and the accompanying conflicts that occur. The solutions are to require bear-proof garbage disposal, to prohibit intentional feeding, and to educate the public about black bear behavior. However, these solutions are either slow to be adopted or are ignored by local legislative bodies. In 1999, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, adopted a local ordinance mandating bear-proof garbage containers. This thesis will explain why the city of Gatlinburg adopted the ordinance by documenting the influence of the cultural, political, economic, and ecological dynamics contributing to this decision concerning wildlife policy. The symptoms of these dynamic human interactions are revealed through the bear/people conflicts and related people/people conflicts that occurred at an increasing rate in the area. This thesis will assert that Gatlinburg adopted the ordinance due to negative publicity and public pressures that threatened the success of the tourism industry. The model used to test this hypothesis is Stephen Kellert's (1994) wildlife policy model. The model categorizes the types of human interactions that influence constituency relations over time into four forces: biophysical; valuational; socio-structural forces; and the institutional regulatory. Each force interacts and influences one another. The information sources used to test this hypothesis are newspaper articles, memos, letters, interviews, pamphlets, ordinances, and brochures....