Figure 1 – The 208 Wild and Scenic Rivers flow only 12,733.5 miles (20,493 km).
(20,493 km). As Figure 1 illustrates, these miles comprise a mere fraction of a percent of the more than 3.5 million (5.6 million km) river miles stretching out over more than 250,000 rivers (NOAA 2017). The uneven distribution of overall protected river miles across 40 states and Puerto Rico (see Figure 2) suggests application of the WSRA is complicated by both internal and external forces. Consequently, applying a policy of ecosystem-based adaptation depends on knowing what factors influence WSRA implementation. This article employed a mixed-methods analysis to reveal that a lack of standardized guidelines for determining a “region of comparison” limits the scope of the policy to provide a holistic national river conservation system. Moreover, the descriptive language of the policy’s conservation objective lacks relevance for many stakeholders. Thus, standardizing region of comparison models and reframing ORVs as ecosystem services may advance policy objectives. 42
International Journal of Wilderness
Methodology The study’s mixed-methods approach consisted of three distinct research phases. First, spatial and temporal analyses were conducted for a GIS database composed of datasets related to the national system. Datasets included designated rivers and their
corresponding ORVs; the Nationwide Rivers Inventory; the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Level III Ecoregions; federal jurisdictional boundaries for land management agencies, states, and territories; and political party affiliations for legislative and executive office terms. These data were analyzed with ArcMap and Excel software. The second phase consisted of discourse analysis of historical documents procured from the LBJ Presidential Library and the National Archives at Denver. Next, semistructured interviews were conducted with personnel attendants to the WSRA from each distinct region of the four federal land management agencies (n = 34) and two national river conservation organizations (American Rivers and American Whitewater [n = 12]), as well as associated technical experts (n = 4). Questions centered on their role in river conservation and the governance of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. In accord with grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss 1967), the interviews and
Figure 2 – Total federally protected wild and scenic rivers across 40 states and Puerto Rico
DECEMBER 2017 • Volume 23, Number 2
