In the Absence of Predators: Conservation and Controversy on the Kaibab Plateau

by Christian C. Young

The wildlife management controversy over the deer on the Kaibab Plateau, north of the Grand Canyon, remains one of the best-known examples of nature's balance being upset by human efforts to protect a certain aspect of nature. The controversy involves an apparent deer population explosion and crash on the Kaibab Plateau in the 1920s, which was initially blamed on the removal of natural predators. In the first comprehensive account of the Kaibab deer controversy, Christian C. Young describes the interactions, rivalries, and conflicts between state and federal agencies, scientists, nature lovers, conservationists, and hunters. Young blends a contextualized history of events with a new and more useful understanding about the promise of scientific knowledge in the face of factual uncertainty and public controversy. Scientists and historians have used this case to illustrate the difficulties of controlling wild populations. Their message is typically one of failure, and the reason most often given centers on our lack of knowledge of the natural world. As such, the burden of failure seems to rest on scientists, who work diligently but always seem to offer too little too late in the way of practical advice. Since our knowledge of the natural world will always be incomplete, Young argues that our ability to investigate nature requires flexible and interactive management plans. He shows how earlier "truths" learned on the Kaibab came to be recognized as myths and offers a compelling lesson about how science and society interact within challenging contexts of disagreement.

284 pages, Hardcover

First published January 3, 2002

About the author

Christian C. Young, PhD, is assistant professor of biology at Alverno College in Milwaukee, WI.

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really interesting elements in this reassessment of the "Kaibab deer controversy" and probably a "must read" for many of us interested in vertebrate ecology. Why only 3 stars? Well, one gets the sense that the author really can't ever make up his mind where he sits on manuy of the issues & whose opinions he is willing to take at face value. The result is a sort of "half-finished" feel to the text, but it still provides a nice follow on to a topic that has been argued over for nearly 80 years & will undoubtably continue to influence land-use management in the future.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good. It shows that a classic story from ecology is much more messy than the textbook case it has been made out to be.