The administration of the public lands in the Greater Yellowstone area always has been contentious. Today, the administrative and public policy issue of central concern is how, and whether, to administer the region under the principles of “ecosystem management.”; Although gaining in popularity as a new natural resource management and administrative paradigm, ecosystem management is fraught with unanswered questions pertinent to public administration, political theory, and public policy. These questions, discussed here, include the use of concepts of nature to defend various political orders; the role of science in this particular public policy debate when contrasted with more democratic methods of public decision making; and the administrative assumptions of national park and national forest managers.