ABSTRACT
The resource management community is made up of Americans of mostly Anglo-European ancestry who share a particular outlook on public land policy and management and an implicit understanding of the meaning of recreation and natural resources shared by most Americans of similar ancestry. When America's national forests were established near the end to the 19th century, the land set aside was generally far from urban centers. As the end to the 20th century nears, urbanization has spread to the point where some of the national forest lands lay at the doorstep of many millions of urban dwellers and the interstate highway has made much more national forest land only a brief drive from the largest metropolitan centers. The chapter highlights a growing body of research on the meanings individuals and groups assign to places and identify implications for managing public lands at the wildland-urban interface.
