Adaptive management of natural resources explicitly incorporates learning into a process of science-based decision making. First proposed in the late 1970s, over time, adaptive management has become an increasingly common approach to management of complex social-ecological systems characterized by high uncertainty and conflict. Rangelands used for livestock production are one such system. Management outcomes of any given livestock operation are a unique combination of the local ecology found in a particular place, the management goals and approach of the operator and regulators, and regulatory requirements. Scholars have hypothesized that adaptive management can reduce conflict by allowing experimentation and increased management flexibility when there are competing viewpoints. We used a change to adaptive management for grazing allotment administration implemented by the US Forest Service in Arizona and New Mexico to evaluate this research question. We interviewed ranchers and Forest Service employees in Arizona and New Mexico to understand how they define adaptive management, what changes they experienced due to the shift to adaptive management, and their perceptions of the impacts of adaptive management. A decade after its implementation, our data show that adaptive management alone does not reduce conflict but can help reduce conflict where trust between permittees and the US Forest Service is strong. Where trust is lacking, adaptive management may strengthen existing patterns of conflict. These findings have important management implications for the use of adaptive management in the administration of public lands and as a conflict management tool.

自然资源的自适应管理将学习明确纳入基于科学的决策过程中。随着时间的流逝，自适应管理在1970年代末期首次提出，已经成为管理具有高度不确定性和冲突的复杂社会生态系统的一种越来越普遍的方法。用于牲畜生产的牧场就是这样一种系统。任何给定的畜牧业经营的管理成果都是特定地点当地生态，经营者和监管者的管理目标和方法以及监管要求的独特结合。学者们假设，当存在相互竞争的观点时，适应性管理可以通过允许实验和增加管理灵活性来减少冲突。我们对亚利桑那州和新墨西哥州的美国森林服务局实施的适应性管理变更进行了放牧分配管理，以评估该研究问题。我们采访了亚利桑那州和新墨西哥州的牧场主和林业服务部门的员工，以了解他们如何定义适应性管理，由于适应性管理的转变而经历的变化以及他们对适应性管理的影响的认识。实施10年后，我们的数据表明，仅在被许可人与美国林业局之间的信任度很高的情况下，自适应管理并不能减少冲突，但可以帮助减少冲突。在缺乏信任的地方，适应性管理可能会加强现有的冲突模式。