| Proponents of ecological restoration claim that we can transcend the defensive stance of traditional environmentalism and repair the damage already done (Jordan 2000). The tremendous appeal of this image of humans as a positive contributor to environmental health has rapidly made restoration, particularly stream restoration, a driving force of the environmental movement, an institutionalized commitment at all levels of American government, and a lucrative industry.Unfortunately, the demand for stream restoration projects far outstrips knowledge of how to implement them. Dave Rosgen, a consultant in Colorado, stepped into the breach American universities have so far failed to fill by developing a relatively simple system for classifying and reconstructing stream channels. Despite vocal opposition from university- and agency-based scientists, Rosgen's approach has been adopted and implemented by a broad range of local, state, and federal agencies, and certification in Rosgen's approach is increasingly supplanting academic training as a requirement for restoration practitioners. How has a consultant with little formal academic training been able to effectively supplant the role of universities as the consecrated producers of scientific knowledge and authority? This dissertation draws on Bourdieu's work on scientific fields to argue that Rosgen's work has been so successful because it creates badly-needed structure in the midst of uncertainty: a common language for communication, a set of shared methods and standards of practice and, perhaps most importantly, the primary means of disciplinary reproduction for the emerging field of stream restoration.Beyond the stream restoration field, however, the Rosgen Wars have important theoretical implications for the construction of scientific authority and the neoliberal university. His success demonstrates the possibility of private industry not just infiltrating, but supplanting, the academy. The Rosgen Wars may thus presage a fundamental shift in the political economy of scientific expertise. |
