Ecological Stewardship Vol. 1 : A Common Reference for Ecosystem Management

A highly regarded work on ecosystem management published by Elsevier Science in association with the US Forest Service and the World Resources Institute.

Ecological Stewardship addresses the six ecosystem management themes of: Shifting Public Values, Expectations and Law; Social and Cultural Dimensions; Humans as Agents of Ecological Changes; Biological and Ecological Dimensions; Economic Dimensions and Information Collection and Evaluation.

Fully illustrated with colour photographs throughout, Volume I synthesizes the key scientific and management findings and conclusions of the six topics originally covered in the three-volume set. A CD ROM, comprising the full text of the original three volumes, perfectly complements this summary volume.

Background

In December 1995, the US Forest Service, in collaboration with five Department of Interior agencies and NOAA and with financial support from a dozen private foundations, convened a two week workshop in Tucson, Arizona. This event brought together over 400 leading researchers and natural resource managers to develop an overview of the science and practice of ecosystem management. When they left, participants had developed detailed plans for documenting the knowledge base and management challenges for implementing "ecological stewardship approaches" to natural resource management. Sixty commissioned papers drafted by teams assembled at the Tucson workshop were started in the weeks and months that followed. These papers cover six recurring themes in ecosystem management and cover a wide range of biological, social, economic and other topics. For each topic, two papers were drafted - one on the scientific or research aspects of the topic and one on management experience and perspectives.

In May 1996, the US Forest Service and the World Resources Institute (WRI) entered into a cooperative agreement to develop the Tucson workshop papers into a comprehensive book on resource management. The goal of this book is to put researchers, managers and policy makers in touch with the latest concepts, research findings, and management experiences relevant to ecosystem management. The WRI designed the review process to ensure that each paper addressed the most important scientific and management issues in its topic area, made key linkages between science and management, and accurately reflected the most recent concepts, research, and management experience.

(J.R. Brown)
Vol. I 'Key Findings' does two things very well. It summarizes and, most importantly, synthesizes much more detailed work of chapters in the succeeding volumes, and it organizes the information into an easily accessible format. The authors were able to capture the important points...and communicate them in simple terms to the reader.

I am confident in recommending this reference to a wide variety of users, including researchers, agency staff, environmental NGOs, commodity groups, conservation districts, and most especially educators. This reference could easily form the basis for an undergraduate course in sustainable management, or individual chapters would be invaluable as readings in graduate courses in several disciplines...The accompanying CD ROM simplifies using the document by incorporating a relatively easy to use search function.
Ecological Engineering 17,4