Pseudo-Linear Transformations
Nathan S. Jacobson · Annals of Mathematics · 1937
The biological and social context for wildlife management in the United States is transforming as the human population expands into and consumes wildlife habitat, and citizens ’ interests and concerns about wildlife become increasingly diverse. Although the context has changed considerably since state-based wildlife management emerged, the founding principles remain largely intact as applied to wildlife management today. Those principles reflect dependencies, both historical and resource-based, between state wildlife agencies (SWAs) and hunters. I use institutional theory to describe the state-based public wildlife management system that exists in the United States as the state wildlife management institution: the people, processes and rules, as well as the norms, values and behaviors, associated with state wildlife management. Situating state-based public wildlife management in institutional theory provided a framework for my inquiry. The primary focus of my research was to assess whether and how SWAs dependent on a single funding source (i.e., hunters) transform due to changes in their dominant funding paradigms. I first interviewed leaders from 24 SWAs (n = 24) to