Nature's Keepers: The New Science of Nature ManagementFor more than a century, nature lovers have held fast to the belief that preserving the wild means keeping people out. Today, policies that dictate everything from the regulation of ocean fisheries to the protection of endangered species are founded on an almost religious conviction that nature is constant, eternal, self-regulating - "in balance" - save only when man intrudes. But as Stephen Budiansky dramatically illustrates, these credos of modern environmentalism are flatly contradicted by modern ecological research and have led to spectacular disasters. Because paradoxes abound in nature, many of the straightforward solutions that have been proposed to save endangered species, eliminate pests, or enlarge populations of game animals have backfired again and again. Based on a mythical view of a natural world where man never treads, such policies threaten to destroy the very things they claim to preserve - biodiversity, endangered species, unique wilderness landscapes. Now, however, modern ecological research is providing the tools for effective environment management by revealing for the first time how ecosystems really work and interact. This new science of nature management, rooted in the mathematical relationships that link the fates of all plants and animals, is being applied to actual problems, such as elk overpopulation in Yellowstone, management of game bird populations and fisheries, and ecological restoration. |
Contents
Good Poetry Bad Science | 3 |
The Cult of the Wild | 27 |
Disorderly Conduct | 69 |
Copyright | |
5 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
actually American animals appear balance become biological birds cause century clear Conservation continue deer disturbance diversity early earth ecological ecologists economic ecosystem edited effect effort endangered England entire environmental example exist experience extinction fact farm fields Figure fire forest grasses ground grouse grow growth habitat human hundred idea increase Indians Island John land landscape least less maintain million National Park native nature never North northern once percent pine plants political population practical prairie predators preservation Press problem processes production rare Restoration result savannas scientific Service simply single soil species stability stands succession suggest theory thing thousand tion trees turn University vegetation wild wilderness Wildlife woods Yellowstone York