In this study, migrant swidden farmers, known as campesinos, who reside in the buffer zone of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, and their relationship with environmental authorities are examined. Haenn investigates this topic first by establishing the setting of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve and then by examining the culture of the campesinos. Swidden farming is a form of subsistence agriculture that involves clearing areas of forest by slash and burn methods, which pose a threat to the biosphere reserve. The campesinos do not trust government environmental authorities and their needs are often at odds with conservationists. This type of farming is usually resorted to as a form of subsistence agriculture, and thus the livelihoods of these people depend upon clearing areas of forest. As campesinos are migrant farmers, their culture is a mixture of many areas of Mexico, they they all generally see the environment as a powerful entity and a place of work. She suggests that this may be a common understanding of non-industrial societies, who do not see the environment as something that needs human protection, because their livelihoods are at the whims of their environment. In other words, industrialized societies tend to view the environment as something people have power over, whereas the campesinos see the environment as having power over people. In one view, the forest is seen as a powerful place with spirits and a will of its own, where if left unchecked would grow in area; farming is seen as a way of keeping the borders of the forest under social control. In another view, the forest is viewed as unproductive and the residents believe that felling forests to create productive land is a desirable thing. This latter view is often held by people who had formerly worked in industrial agriculture. Generally, the campesinos prefer clearing new growth forests (roughly 5-10 years old), which they call acahuales, as the labor demands are the lowest. These views obviously contrast with the views of environmental managers and conflict emerges. Acopa, a regional government official who was the first Reserve Director at Calakmul, attempted to ameliorate the situation by considering both the needs of the people and the needs of the conservationists, and he presented himself as such: a common man who is also well educated. He was tasked with winning over the campesinos for the conservationists as well as for a political party, Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). Government agents representing the PRI created a program that gave economic incentive to the campesinos in return for votes, and later Acopa broadened this concept to economic incentives for certain environmental practices. However, this is still met with resistance by the campesinos, who are, for the most part, only incentivized by economic benefits. Due to a distrust of government officials and conflicts of interest, campesinos will vocally support some environmental actions with only minimal action, so long as they secure the economic gains and stay on the good side of the government. However, action will be performed sincerely, when the desires of both sides are in alignment, such as in the case of Jaguar tracking and tagging. This article shows us once again the importance of the alignment of local and governmental understandings and needs when it comes to the pursuit of sincere environmental action.