Studies of large-scale conservation projects among local populations have long focused on traditional and customary land use with an emphasis on herding and subsistence practices. Often this work is concerned with the implication of conservation projects in the marginalization of local or indigenous peoples through attempts to change and forbid practices. While much of this work is focused on Africa and the Americas, my research moves that dialogue into Lebanon and examines the unexplored area of recreational sport hunting practices. The Shouf Biosphere Reserve in Lebanon has attempted to enact national hunting laws to preserve natural habitat and bird populations, undertaking campaigns that attempt to regulate and curb hunting in the local area. My paper is based on months of interviews and participant observation with biosphere personnel, police, politicians, Shouf residents and hunters over a crucial period of initial law enforcement. This paper focuses on the capacity of the biosphere to make national law effective and establish a semblance of environmental governance in connection to sport hunting. While much of governance is concerned with government, my paper looks at a localized, semi-formal application and negotiation of national law. In doing so it considers the social nuances of sport hunting in the Shouf region and interrogates the role of the reserve in relation to the state in the application of law to govern recreational practices. In particular it addresses how the reserve has used multiple means in various attempts to address hunting and the extent to which these attempts are aware of and apply the criticism that has been leveled against conservation platforms. Despite an observed self-awareness and precise local knowledge, the Shouf's efforts have been only marginally successful. This paper contends that more than cultural sensitivity, knowledge of local populations and local political will is called for to establish a viable environmental governance. While these are necessary components of effective governance, without the enforcement capacity of the state such governance cannot be achieved. This apparent need for the state brings into question the calls for decentralization that have resounded through development thought and practice and more recently through environmental management formulations.