The Mind of Janus: Intersections of Law and Science on the National Forests

A novel assessment of the interplay between law and ecology in forest management
 
Trees are the embodiment of existence: abundant, regenerative, irrepressible. Yet as more of the planet undergoes profound and accelerating climate change, deforestation, loss of biotic diversity, and a pitiless spread of pests and pathogens, which trees—if any—will thrive are increasingly urgent questions. Managing healthy forests remains factually uncertain, an uneasy dance between law and science.

How can law facilitate or even accelerate the application of forest ecology on landscapes like our national forests? This book is a thorough exploration of that question from more than a century of intersections of law and science on the national forests. With a focus on law—as distinct from mere policy—as an agent in human relations and as a catalyst of scientific research, it makes the case that we can and must do better to solve intractable land management problems.

Jamison E. Colburn is the A. Robert Noll Distinguished Professor of Law at Penn State. He served as assistant regional counsel for US EPA and as trustee of the Connecticut River Watershed Council. He is the author of The Scales of Weighing Regulatory Costs: Technology, Geography, and Time.