The Environmental Politics and Policy of Western Public Lands
The Environmental Politics and Policy of Western Public Lands

Author: Erika Allen Wolters

Publisher:

Published: 2020

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9780870710223

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"The management of public lands in the West is a matter of long-standing and oft-contentious debates. The government must balance the interests of a variety of stakeholders, including extractive industries like oil and timber; farmers, ranchers, and fishers; Native Americans; tourists; and environmentalists. Local, state, and government policies and approaches change according to the vagaries of scientific knowledge, the American and global economies, and political administrations. Occasionally, debates over public land usage erupt into major incidents, as with the armed occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016. While a number of scholars work on the politics and policy of public land management, there has been no central book on the topic since the publication of Charles Davis's Western Public Lands and Environmental Politics (Westview, 2001). In The Environmental Politics and Policy of Western Public Lands, Erika Allen Wolters and Brent Steel have assembled a stellar cast of scholars to consider long-standing issues and topics such as endangered species, land use, and water management while addressing more recent challenges to western public lands like renewable energy siting, fracking, Native American sovereignty, and land use rebellions. Chapters also address the impact of climate change on policy dimensions and scope. The Environmental Politics and Policy of Western Public Lands is co-published with Oregon State University Open Educational Resources, who will release an open access edition alongside this print edition"--

America's Public Lands
America's Public Lands

Author: Randall K. Wilson

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2020-02-25

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 1538126400

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How it is that the United States—the country that cherishes the ideal of private property more than any other in the world—has chosen to set aside nearly one-third of its land area as public lands? Now in a fully revised and updated edition covering the first years of the Trump administration, Randall Wilson considers this intriguing question, tracing the often-forgotten ideas of nature that have shaped the evolution of America’s public land system. The result is a fresh and probing account of the most pressing policy and management challenges facing national parks, forests, rangelands, and wildlife refuges today. The author explores the dramatic story of the origins of the public domain, including the century-long effort to sell off land and the subsequent emergence of a national conservation ideal. Arguing that we cannot fully understand one type of public land without understanding its relation to the rest of the system, he provides in-depth accounts of the different types of public lands. With chapters on national parks, national forests, wildlife refuges, Bureau of Land Management lands, and wilderness areas, Wilson examines key turning points and major policy debates for each land type, including recent Trump Administration efforts to roll back environmental protections. He considers debates ranging from national monument designations and bison management to gas and oil drilling, wildfire policy, the bark beetle epidemic, and the future of roadless and wilderness conservation areas. His comprehensive overview offers a chance to rethink our relationship with America’s public lands, including what it says about the way we relate to, and value, nature in the United States.

Wicked Environmental Problems
Wicked Environmental Problems

Author: Peter J. Balint

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2012-06-22

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 1610910478

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"Wicked" problems are large-scale, long-term policy dilemmas in which multiple and compounding risks and uncertainties combine with sharply divergent public values to generate contentious political stalemates; wicked problems in the environmental arena typically emerge from entrenched conflicts over natural resource management and over the prioritization of economic and conservation goals more generally. This new book examines past experience and future directions in the management of wicked environmental problems and describes new strategies for mitigating the conflicts inherent in these seemingly intractable situations. The book: reviews the history of the concept of wicked problems examines the principles and processes that managers have applied explores the practical limitations of various approaches Most important, the book reviews current thinking on the way forward, focusing on the implementation of "learning networks," in which public managers, technical experts, and public stakeholders collaborate in decision-making processes that are analytic, iterative, and deliberative. Case studies of forest management in the Sierra Nevada, restoration of the Florida Everglades, carbon trading in the European Union, and management of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania are used to explain concepts and demonstrate practical applications. Wicked Environmental Problems offers new approaches for managing environmental conflicts and shows how managers could apply these approaches within common, real-world statutory decision-making frameworks. It is essential reading for anyone concerned with managing environmental problems.

Environmental Issues in Pacific Northwest Forest Management
Environmental Issues in Pacific Northwest Forest Management

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2000-08-14

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 0309053285

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People are demanding more of the goods, services, and amenities provided by the forests of the Pacific Northwest, but the finiteness of the supply has become clear. This issue involves complex questions of biology, economics, social values, community life, and federal intervention. Forests of the Pacific Northwest explains that economic and aesthetic benefits can be sustained through new approaches to management, proposes general goals for forest management, and discusses strategies for achieving them. Recommendations address restoration of damaged areas, management for multiple uses, dispute resolution, and federal authority. The volume explores the market role of Pacific Northwest wood products and looks at the implications if other regions should be expected to make up for reduced timber harvests. The book also reviews the health of the forested ecosystems of the region, evaluating the effects of past forest use patterns and management practices. It discusses the biological importance, social significance, and management of old-growth as well as late-succession forests. This volume will be of interest to public officials, policymakers, the forest products industry, environmental advocates, researchers, and concerned residents.

Renewable Energy and Wildlife Conservation
Renewable Energy and Wildlife Conservation

Author: Christopher E. Moorman

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2019-09-10

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 1421432730

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Brings together disparate conversations about wildlife conservation and renewable energy, suggesting ways these two critical fields can work hand in hand. Renewable energy is often termed simply "green energy," but its effects on wildlife and other forms of biodiversity can be quite complex. While capturing renewable resources like wind, solar, and energy from biomass can require more land than fossil fuel production, potentially displacing wildlife habitat, renewable energy infrastructure can also create habitat and promote species health when thoughtfully implemented. The authors of Renewable Energy and Wildlife Conservation argue that in order to achieve a balanced plan for addressing these two crucially important sustainability issues, our actions at the nexus of these fields must be directed by current scientific information related to the ecological effects of renewable energy production. Synthesizing an extensive, rapidly growing base of research and insights from practitioners into a single, comprehensive resource, contributors to this volume • describe processes to generate renewable energy, focusing on the Big Four renewables—wind, bioenergy, solar energy, and hydroelectric power • review the documented effects of renewable energy production on wildlife and wildlife habitats • consider current and future policy directives, suggesting ways industrial-scale renewables production can be developed to minimize harm to wildlife populations • explain recent advances in renewable power technologies • identify urgent research needs at the intersection of renewables and wildlife conservation Relevant to policy makers and industry professionals—many of whom believe renewables are the best path forward as the world seeks to meet its expanding energy needs—and wildlife conservationists—many of whom are alarmed at the rate of renewables-related habitat conversion—this detailed book culminates with a chapter underscoring emerging opportunities in renewable energy ecology. Contributors: Edward B. Arnett, Brian B. Boroski, Regan Dohm, David Drake, Sarah R. Fritts, Rachel Greene, Steven M. Grodsky, Amanda M. Hale, Cris D. Hein, Rebecca R. Hernandez, Jessica A. Homyack, Henriette I. Jager, Nicole M. Korfanta, James A. Martin, Christopher E. Moorman, Clint Otto, Christine A. Ribic, Susan P. Rupp, Jake Verschuyl, Lindsay M. Wickman, T. Bently Wigley, Victoria H. Zero

The Power of Renewables
The Power of Renewables

Author: Chinese Academy of Engineering

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2011-01-29

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 0309160006

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The United States and China are the world's top two energy consumers and, as of 2010, the two largest economies. Consequently, they have a decisive role to play in the world's clean energy future. Both countries are also motivated by related goals, namely diversified energy portfolios, job creation, energy security, and pollution reduction, making renewable energy development an important strategy with wide-ranging implications. Given the size of their energy markets, any substantial progress the two countries make in advancing use of renewable energy will provide global benefits, in terms of enhanced technological understanding, reduced costs through expanded deployment, and reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions relative to conventional generation from fossil fuels. Within this context, the U.S. National Academies, in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), reviewed renewable energy development and deployment in the two countries, to highlight prospects for collaboration across the research to deployment chain and to suggest strategies which would promote more rapid and economical attainment of renewable energy goals. Main findings and concerning renewable resource assessments, technology development, environmental impacts, market infrastructure, among others, are presented. Specific recommendations have been limited to those judged to be most likely to accelerate the pace of deployment, increase cost-competitiveness, or shape the future market for renewable energy. The recommendations presented here are also pragmatic and achievable.

Colorado Powder Keg
Colorado Powder Keg

Author: Michael W. Childers

Publisher: University Press of Kansas

Published: 2016-05-23

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 0700636749

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Downhill skiing is a vital economic engine for many communities in the Rocky Mountain states, attracting 20 million skier days per season. Colorado is by far the most popular destination, with more than two dozen major ski resorts creating a thriving industry that adds billions to the state's coffers. But, many ask, at what cost? Michael Childers traces the rise of Colorado's ski industry alongside that of the burgeoning environmental movement, which sprang up in opposition to rampant commercial development on mountains that had been designated as public lands. Combining official ski resort figures, U.S. Forest Service documents, real estate and tourism records, wildlife data, newspaper articles, and public comments, Childers shows how what started as an innocent leisurely pursuit has morphed into a multi-billion dollar business that forever changed the landscape of Colorado and brought with it serious environmental consequences. This first environmental history of skiing in Colorado traces the recreation's rise in popularity as a way of examining major changes in public land management in the American West during the last century. As more people headed to Colorado's mountains in search of thrills on the slopes, the USFS quickly became overwhelmed by the demand and turned resort development over to the private sector. The result has been a decades-long battle between developers and environmentalists-with skiers and Colorado residents caught in the middle. Childers examines the history of the ski industry within Colorado throughout the twentieth century along with the challenges the industry's growth posed in balancing the private development of public lands and mounting environmental concerns over issues such as rural growth, wildlife management, and air and water pollution. He then traces the history of radical environmentalism back to the 1960s to show how it picked up momentum, culminating in the Earth Liberation Front's 1998 arson at Vail Ski Resort--which ended up doing more harm than good to the environmentalist cause by recasting the mega-resorts as victims and turning public opinion against all environmental activists in the area. As Americans weigh their desire for fresh powder against their concern for protecting unspoiled lands, Childers's book provides valuable food for thought. Colorado Powder Keg opens a new window on the history of skiing in the American West as it adds to the broader debate over the management and purpose of national forests.

Pollution in a Promised Land
Pollution in a Promised Land

Author: Alon Tal

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2002-08

Total Pages: 588

ISBN-13: 0520234286

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"This book is likely to become the future point of reference for scholarship on environmental issues in Israel. Tal combines his extensive inside knowledge with broad and thorough research to take the reader clearly through a complex fabric of personalities, organizations, and issues."—Stuart Schoenfeld, York University "This is truly an excellent book. It is the first treatment of the whole array of environmental issues in Israel, and in its historical context – an absolute necessity. Extremely well-written and in fact hard to put down, this book is useful on many levels, for United Nations Agencies and development officials, Israeli and Palestinian government officials, and environmentalists and teachers around the world."—Brock Evans, Executive Director, The Endangered Species Coalition and author of many articles and books on the politics of the environment "Pollution in a Promised Land is an innovative book, and an important one, by perhaps the most prominent environmental activist in Israel. Tal's approach is to take an "eagle's eye view" of his vast subject, now gliding far above, providing overview, now swooping down very close and, through interviews or anecdotes, describing his subject with great immediacy and in memorable detail."—Noah J. Efron, Bar Ilan University "Anyone who cares about the land of Israel should read Pollution in a Promised Land. It is critical to understanding the social, political, and scientific dimensions of the country's environmental challenges as well as the country's remarkable ecological achievements. Alon Tal is uniquely qualified to present this fascinating and dramatic environmental history."—Tzachi Hanegbi, Minister of the Environment, Israel

One Third of the Nation's Land
One Third of the Nation's Land

Author: United States. Public Land Law Review Commission

Publisher:

Published: 1970

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13:

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Where and what are public lands? -- To whom the public lands are important -- Planning future public land use -- Public land policy and the environment -- Timber resources -- Range resources -- Mineral resources -- Water resources -- Fish and wildlife resources -- Intensive agriculture -- The Outer Continental Shelf -- Outdoor recreation -- Occupancy uses -- -Tax immunity -- Land grants to states -- Administrative procedures -- Trespass and disputed title -- Disposals, acquisitions, and exchanges -- Federal legislative jurisdiction -- Organization, administration, and budgeting policy -- Appendices.