If the owls represent nature, how could you describe the related conflict?

The central conflict in Hoot is between man and nature. The owls' natural habitat is going to be bulldozed to make way for a Mother Paula’s All-American Pancake House. The young owls represent just how vulnerable nature is to humankind's destructive impulses. But nature has a way of fighting back sometimes. We see this illustrated by the cottonmouth snakes that scare off the guard dogs brought in to stop the building site being vandalized. However, Mother Nature's resistance to the encroachments of humans sometimes needs a helping hand from humans themselves, and in the story such assistance comes from Mullet Fingers, the culprit behind all the attempts to hold up construction on the building site. Roy and his classmates also get involved, linking arms as they face down the might of the bulldozers.