Ecosystem Science & Management

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Reforming the Forest Service

Reforming the Forest Service contributes a completely new view to the current debate on the management of our national forests. Randal O'Toole argues that poor management is an institutional problem; he shows that economic inefficiencies and environmental degradation are the inevitable result of the well-intentioned but poorly designed laws that govern the Forest Service. In this book, he proposes sweeping reforms in the structure of the agency and new budgetary incentives as the best way to improve management.

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Modeling the Environment

An Introduction To System Dynamics Modeling Of Environmental Systems

Modeling the Environment is the first introductory textbook for a technique of rapidly growing importance. It requires little or no mathematical background, and is appropriate for undergraduate environmental students as well as professionals new to modelling.

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Modeling in Natural Resource Management

Development, Interpretation, and Application

The natural environment is so complex that simplification through abstraction is necessary to communicate concepts and relationships, to comprehend possible reactions, and to decide upon a course of action for management. Today, nearly every decision concerning the management of natural resources is based on a model of one kind or another.

Modeling in Natural Resource Management offers a much-needed overview of the basic principles for understanding and evaluating models.

Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Current State and Trends

Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Current State and Trends

Findings of the Condition and Trends Working Group

Humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively in the last 50 years than in any comparable period of human history. We have done this to meet the growing demands for food, fresh water, timber, fiber, and fuel. While changes to ecosystems have enhanced the well-being of billions of people, they have also caused a substantial and largely irreversible loss in diversity of life on Earth, and have strained the capacity of ecosystems to continue providing critical services.

Among the findings:

Reopening the Western Frontier

Unlike other parts of the United States, deep change came slowly to the West, especially the rural west, which retained many of its 19th-century roots. Now, with the decline of the West's natural resource economics -- oil and gas drilling, mining, and ranching -- change is proceeding rapidly. As in the homestead era, the West is again open to resettlement. What will replace the old industries and way of life, and what forces for change will shape the future? Reopening the Western Frontier documents these dramatic changes that lie ahead.

Towards Forest Sustainability

The world's montane forests are vitally important for conservation and water catchment. Because logging regimes have significant impacts on biodiversity as well as water quality and water quantity, the management of these forests has often been a major source of conflict amongst rural communities, government agencies, and conservationists.

Ecosystem Management in the United States

An Assessment Of Current Experience

Scientists, researchers, land managers, environmental and citizen groups, and policy makers from across the political spectrum have in recent years embraced the concept of "ecosystem management." And while the dialogue often becomes mired in questions of definition -- just what is ecosystem management, and what are its goals -- people throughout the country have actively begun to take an ecosystem approach to resource management.

Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Multiscale Assessments

Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Multiscale Assessments

Findings of the Sub-Global Assessments Working Group

One of the major innovations of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment is the incorporation of local and regional assessments—33 in all—in a global portrait of the planet’s health.

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