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Show 16 environmental historian Hal Rothman, ''Park Service success in an area meant a loss of Forest Service prestige, the demise of its recreational policy, and restrictions upon the livelihood of its constituents."36 Although both agencies saw the small parcel of land as fairly insignificant, both felt that losing the debate could set a precedent. Despite the division and the overwhelming local support for Forest Service administration of the land, Rothman illustrated how the Park Service framed the debate to its advantage. In short, the debate was not about the merits of the scenery or the commercial value of Jogging and grazing. Rather, it was a battle over bureaucratic control. Rothman makes the case that when the Park Service won jurisdiction over the land, it set a precedent for the National Park Service's dominance over the Forest Service.37 It also set a precedent for deep divisions between Utah's ranching and farming community and the federal agencies overseeing land use and preservation. After World War II , a general increase in disposable income, mobility, and leisure time contributed to interest in more outdoor activities. 38 These factors led to a major development in the national conservation movement. Increased interest in recreation on public land provided a public use that could be employed to argue for land preservation. This argument could be made in the wise-use spirit of the conservation advanced by Hal K. R01hman, "Shaping the Nature of a Contro,.ersy: The Park Service, the Forest Service, and the Cedar Breaks Proposal," Utah Historicul Quurterly 55 (Summer 1987): 218. J6 J7 1bid., 228. n l lal K. Rothman, Dei,i/'s Bargains: Tourism in the Twentieth-CenturyAmericun West(Lawrcncc, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1998), 202-226; Marguerite S. Shaffer, See America First: Tourism and Nutianul Identity, 1880-/940 (Washington, DC: Smithsonian, 2001). |
