Prairie politics: Constructing science, nature and community in the Chicago wilderness

This dissertation is an ethnographic study of the public controversy over the ecological restoration of the Forest Preserves of Cook County in the Chicago metropolitan area. Restoration requires the removal of non-native species of plants that are considered to adversely affect native plant and animal communities. The conflict arose when residents living near the forest preserves noticed large trees being cut down in areas they had long enjoyed as forests.; This study involved a two-year period of participant-observation and employed in-depth interviews, content analysis of written texts, and video recordings. Informed by recent constructivist work in the Public Understanding of Science (PUS), environmental sociology, and the sociology of scientific knowledge (SSK), this study explores the ways in which the activities of ecological restoration co-construct science, nature, and the human communities of which they are part.; Central to the conflict is the erection of boundaries separating "expert" from "non-expert" in performing and understanding the science that explains nature. In the case of the controversy, "expert" restorationists act as both activists and scientists who connect the promotion of a social movement to "save nature" with the technical and scientific work of applied ecology. This activist-science appears dishonest and dangerous to critics who see as incompatible the pursuit of moral authority alongside the desire to be an objective, scientific authority.; Restorationists and their critics also grapple with the issue of defining the communities responsible for participating in the management of public land. Although "community advisory councils" and "community hearings" are a constant feature of attempts to mediate the conflict, the meaning of "community" is shown to be inevitably dependent upon the political interests its serves.; The construction of both "expert science" and "community" is further realized in the physical changes made (or potentially made) upon the landscape. Using the Oak Savanna ecosystem as an example, this study demonstrates the importance of the social construction of nature alongside the co-constructions of science and community. Ultimately it is these three co-constructions that must be recognized to appreciate the broader meaning of this conflict and of its implications for community based conservation in the U.S.