Natural Resource Policy

Natural resource policies provide the foundation for sustainable resource use, management, and protection. Natural Resource Policy blends policy processes, history, institutions, and current events to analyze sustainable development of natural resources. The book's detailed coverage explores the market and political allocation and management of natural resources for human benefits, as well as their contributions for environmental services. Wise natural resource policies that promote sustainable development, not senseless exploitation, promise to improve our quality of life and the environment.

Public or private policies may be used to manage natural resources. When private markets are inadequate due to public goods or market failure, many policy options, including regulations, education, incentives, government ownership, and hybrid public/private policy instruments may be crafted by policy makers. Whether a policy is intended to promote intensive management of natural resources to enhance sustained yield or to restore degraded conditions to a more socially desirable state, this comprehensive guide outlines the ways in which natural resource managers can use their technical skills within existing administrative and legal frameworks to implement or influence policy.

Title of related interest also available from Waveland Press: Field, Environmental Policy: An Introduction (ISBN 9781577664284) and Silver-Wallen, Human Dimensions of Natural Resources: Participation and Research Foundations (ISBN 9781478652571).

"The authors adroitly synthesize a great deal of material and ground it in history because, overall, they are looking at the evolution of institutions and processes." --Forest History Today

"This looks like an excellent text for a natural resource policy course. I especially like the chapters devoted to relevant subjects like ethics, interest groups, the media, and partnerships. These are subjects that might normally escape treatment in a traditional policy course but are undeniably part of policy development and implementation." --David Kittredge, University of Massachusetts

"Keeping textbooks current is difficult at best. Natural Resource Policy, on the other hand, not only covers all necessary topics, but in the same order as my course outline." --Bruce Steele, North Dakota State University