Synopses & Reviews
Issues like clearcutting, wilderness preservation, and economic development have dominated debates over public lands for years, yet we seem no closer to resolving these matters than we ever were.
Martin Nie now looks at why there continues to be so much conflict about public lands and resource management-and how we can break through these impasses. Showing that such conflicts have been driven by interrelated factors ranging from scarcity to mistrust and politics, he charts the present status and future prospects of public lands management in America.
Nie looks closely at two of today's most intractable conflicts: the designation of U.S. Forest Service roadless areas and management of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. He uses these cases to investigate more inclusive issues about governing federal lands in the West, such as the contested use of science and litigation, lengthy planning processes, and controversial practices of Congress and the president in managing environmental disputes. Along the way, he addresses such other conflict areas as snowmobiles in Yellowstone, bear and wolf protection, fire and forest health, drilling in Montana's Rocky Mountain Front, and federal grazing policy.
Nie emphasizes the complicated and often contentious interaction between the branches of the federal government as a major factor in misunderstandings. He particularly cites the problem of vague statutory language, which tells our public land agencies little about what they should be doing but lots about how they should be doing it. Nie reexamines this confusing body of law and policy, in which the rulemaking process wags the dog and agencies are caught in political quagmires, to show how the pieces fit—but more often don't.
Throughout the book, Nie considers the factors that make some public land conflicts so controversial, revisits how they have been dealt with in the past, and proposes ways they might be better managed in the future. Eschewing the single-policy approach to public lands management—such as encouraging free markets—he instead surveys a diverse array of other available options. His big-picture outlook for the twenty-first century is a bold call for reshaping ongoing conflicts—and for reinvesting in our public lands.
Review
and#8220;Stitching the West Back Together makes a powerful argument for the importance of private lands in biodiversity conservation and the interdependence of public and private lands in the sustainability of working landscapes, which in turn is inextricably linked with the conservation of biodiversity in the West. What is unique about this book is that it addresses the problem and the potential solutions together and in a holistic way, giving an honest and balanced overview. An exciting contribution to the collaborative conservation literature, this book provides hope, tools, and recommendations that will help advance the use of collaborative conservation in the western United States.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Substantial, useful, and accessible, this book gives novel voice to people who have been at the heart of collaborative initiatives, allowing them to tell their stories in a powerful way. It is also one of the rare books that brings together work in forests and rangelands. Compelling.and#8221;
Synopsis
News headlines would often have us believe that conservationists are inevitably locked in conflict with the people who live and work on the lands they seek to protect. Not so. Across the western expanses of the United States, conservationists, ranchers, and forest workers are bucking preconceptions to establish common ground. As they join together to protect the wide open spaces, diverse habitats, and working landscapes upon which people, plants, and animals depend, a new vision of management is emerging in which the conservation of biodiversity, ecosystem integrity, and sustainable resource use are seen not as antithetical, but as compatible, even symbiotic goals.
Featuring contributions from an impressive array of scientists, conservationists, scholars, ranchers, and foresters, Stitching the West Back Together explores that expanded, inclusive vision of environmentalism as it delves into the history and evolution of Western land use policy and of the working landscapes themselves. Chapters include detailed case studies of efforts to promote both environmental and economic sustainability, with lessons learned; descriptions of emerging institutional frameworks for conserving Western working landscapes; and implications for best practices and policies crucial to the future of the Westand#8217;s working forests and rangelands. As economic and demographic forces threaten these lands with fragmentation and destruction, this book encourages a hopeful balance between production and conservation on the large, interconnected landscapes required for maintaining cultural and biological diversity over the longterm.
Synopsis
Across the U.S. West, conservationists, ranchers, farmers, and forest workers are acknowledging their common ground and joining together to protect the wide open spaces from the economic and demographic forces that are fragmenting them and destroying the habitat and watersheds upon which people, plants, and animals depend. A new vision is arising that perceives conservation of biodiversity and sustainable resource use as compatible and symbiotic, not antithetical. Such a vision calls for a more inclusive and expansive environmentalism that encourages local food and forestry production while preserving biodiversity and the large, interconnected landscapes upon which biodiversity depends. Written by an impressive array of scientists, conservationists, scholars, ranchers, and foresters, this volume explores the history of land policy and working landscapes in the Western U.S., the successful and failed efforts to promote environmental and economic sustainability on these landscapes, and the emerging institutional frameworks for conserving them. It concludes by recommending practices and policy crucial to the future preservation of these working landscapes.
About the Author
Susan Charnley is a research social scientist at the USDA Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station. She has published numerous articles relating to rural communities and forest management in the West.Gary P. Nabhan is a research scientist at the University of Arizonaand#8217;s Southwest Center. He is the author or editor of twenty-four books, including, most recently, Desert Terroir: Exploring the Unique Flavors and Sundry Places of the Borderlands.
Table of Contents
Foreword Charles F. Wilkinson
Introduction Susan Charnley, Thomas E. Sheridan, and Gary P. Nabhan
Part 1 The Importance of ConservIng Western WorkIng Landscapes
Chapter 1 A Brief History of People and Policy in the West
Thomas E. Sheridan and Nathan F. Sayre
Chapter 2 Status and Trends of Western Working Landscapes
Susan Charnley, Thomas E. Sheridan, and Nathan F. Sayre
Chapter 3 The Biodiversity That Protected Areas Canand#8217;t Capture: How Private Ranch, Forest, and Tribal Lands Sustain Biodiversity
Gary P. Nabhan, Richard L. Knight, and Susan Charnley
Part 2 CollaboratIve Conservation
Chapter 4 Beyond and#147;Stakeholdersand#8221; and the Zero- Sum Game: Toward Community- Based Collaborative Conservation in the American West
Thomas E. Sheridan, Nathan F. Sayre, and David Seibert
Spotlight 4.1 Historic Precedents to Collaborative Conservation in Working Landscapes: The Coon Valley and#147;Cooperative Conservationand#8221; Initiative, 1934
Curt Meine and Gary P. Nabhan
Chapter 5 The Quivira Experience: Reflections from a and#147;Doand#8221; Tank Courtney White
Spotlight 5.1 Grass- Fed and Grass- Finished Livestock Production: Helping to Keep Working Landscapes Intact
Gary P. Nabhan, Carrie Balkcom, and Amanda D. Webb
Chapter 6 Place- Based Conservation Finds Its Voice: A Case Study of the Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition
Maia Enzer and Martin Goebel
Part 3 Case Studies of WorkIng Forests
Chapter 7 Swan Story
Melanie Parker
Spotlight 7.1 Arcata Community Forest
Mark Andre
Chapter 8 Taking a Different Approach: Forestland Management in the Redwood Region
Mike Jani
Spotlight 8.1 The Conservation Fundand#8217;s Garcia River Forest, California
Chris Kelly
Chapter 9 Stewardship Contracting in the Siuslaw National Forest
Shiloh Sundstrom and Johnny Sundstrom
Spotlight 9.1 Stewardship Agreements: The Weaverville Community Forest, California
Pat Frost
Part 4 Case Studies of WorkIng Ranches
Chapter 10 Lava Lake Land and Livestock: The Role of Private Landowners in Landscape- Scale Conservation
Michael S. Stevens
Spotlight 10.1 Country Natural Beef
Susan Charnley and Sophia Polasky
Chapter 11 Conservation and Development at Sun Ranch: The Search for Balance in the U.S. West
Roger Lang, William H. Durham, and Josh Spitzer
Spotlight 11.1 The Madison Valley Ranchlands Group
Thomas E. Sheridan
Chapter 12 Integrating Diversified Strategies on a Single Ranch: From Renewable Energy and Multiple Breeds to Conservation Easements
Dennis Moroney
Spotlight 12.1 Private Land Conservation Trends in the Western United States
Jon Christensen, Jenny Rempel, and Judee Burr
Part 5 EmergIng Approaches to ConservIng WorkIng Landscapes
Chapter 13 The Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan and Ranch Conservation in Pima County, Arizona
Thomas E. Sheridan
Spotlight 13.1 Ranching and the and#147;Death Taxand#8221;: A Matter of Conservation as Well as Equity
Thomas E. Sheridan, Andrew Reeves, and Susan Charnley
Chapter 14 Payments for Ecosystem Services: Keeping Working Landscapes Productive and Functioning
Gary P. Nabhan, Laura Land#243;pez- Hoffman, Hannah Gosnell, Josh Goldstein, Richard Knight, Carrie Presnall, Lauren Gwin, Dawn Thilmany, and Susan Charnley
Spotlight 14.1 The Conservation Reserve Program
Steven E. Kraft
Conclusions and Policy Implications
Thomas E. Sheridan, Gary P. Nabhan, and Susan Charnley
Acknowl