- Email: [email protected]
Ecological Stewardship: A Common Reference for Ecosystem Management
194
Book reviews
through which to convey those con¯icting views. Unfortunately, the truly absorbing quality of stories found in the ®rst chapter was not always duplicated throughout the book. An even more appropriate subtitle for Visions of Paradise might have been `Glimpses of the Lives of Those Who Have Helped Create Our Landscape's Legacy'. Much of the text, particularly after Chapter 4, contains well-written, brief biographies of key individuals, such as John Muir, to whom most of two chapters were devoted, and Frederick Law Olmsted, who merited an entire chapter entitled `America's Landscape Architect'. This biographical information, although interesting, was not always relevant to Simpson's basic story and, at times, detracted from the larger discourse. Since most of those whom Simpson discussed in detail were elite players in American environmental history, including Gifford Pinchot and Aldo Leopold, the general public's perceptions of landscape were presented either as generalizations or through imagined attitudes of every-man Kilbourne. This approach puts a disproportionate focus on the perspectives of a few. Given the large number of published historical diaries, memoirs, and newspaper articles that include discussions of landscape experiences and perceptions, Simpson had a powerful vernacular literature from which to draw a more balanced overview of public values. Having discussed the essential trends in American landscape history, Simpson concluded with a position essay entitled `A Last Look'. There he summarized the principal perceptions that contributed to the American landscape. He also presented a personal assessment of the generally negative impacts of those perceptions, in the context of their implications for the landscape of our future. Unfortunately, this essay was poorly conceived as a short discussion, ®lled with many platitudes. He often failed to address the very dichotomies of perceptions and values that he so clearly articulated in earlier chapters. In a sense, he reemphasized some of the very myths Ð such as the `egalitarian, democratic landscape' or the `rational' landscape Ð that he earlier criticized or questioned. The critical issues dealt with in this book deserved a more thorough and re¯ective ®nal analysis than given to them. In spite of these drawbacks, Visions of Paradise is a highly readable and engaging story of the development of the cultural landscape in the United States.
Although written to be read from cover-to-cover, each chapter is suf®ciently independent that readers could select for those eras or topics of greatest interest to them. Simpson's re¯ections on his own landscape experiences, written in ®ve brief essays, are a highlight of the book, giving insight into the evolution of ideas that contributed to the book. Although much of the basic story presented in Visions of Paradise will be known to those familiar with the cited works, what most recommends this book to potential readers will be the engaging style and personal perspective with which Simpson has presented these glimpses of the American landscape. References Nash, Roderick, 1982. Wilderness and the American Mind. Yale University Press, New Haven.
Nancy Volkman* Department of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture Texas A & M University, College Station TX 77843-3137, USA *
Fax: 1-979-862-1784. E-mail address: [email protected] (N. Volkman) PII: S 0 1 6 9 - 2 0 4 6 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 6 0 - 8
Ecological Stewardship: A Common Reference for Ecosystem Management Nels C. Johnson, Andrew J. Malk, Robert C. Szaro, William T. Sexton (Eds.), Elsevier Science Ltd., Kidlington, Oxford, UK, 1999, 3 volumes, 1786 XXVIII pp., CD-ROM The introduction of a new concept always means that ink and paper must be sacri®ced (not to mention intellectual fatigue and real sweat). Ecological Stewardship, edited by a team of four of®cials from the US Forest Service and the World Resources Institute, devotes 1800 pages in this way (as well as a CDROM and several color and b/w illustrations) to delve into the concept of `ecosystem management' and its state-of-the-art.
Book reviews
This three-volume book is the outcome of a ®ve and a half year process. During this time, more than 400 people (Shafer, 1996) from federal agencies, foundations, land trusts, private companies, associations, universities, and private research institutes applied their knowledge to construct a promising plan: to de®ne a ®rm, detailed, and shared intellectual foundation for supporting the structure of ecosystem management. From 1994 Ð when the concept was established by Jack Ward Thomas (then Chief of the US Forest Service) Ð to 1999, when Ecological Stewardship was published, a public±private partnership collaborated in organizing and holding public meetings, review panel meetings, and a 2-week workshop in Tucson, Arizona. Six federal agencies, several state agencies, over a dozen universities, various forest products companies, and many non-governmental organizations intensively cooperated to bring this project to a successful epilogue. Summarizing a 3.5 in. tall book of three volumes in just a few lines is no minor task. A discussion on the topics addressed by the Ecological Stewardship references would need further effort and more lines. It is enough to say that the complete work includes 31 topics divided into six thematic sections (Biological and ecological dimension; Humans as agents of ecological change; Public expectations, values and law; Social and cultural dimension; Economic dimension; Information and data management) that are comprehensively presented in Volumes II and III. Volume I contains key ®ndings and is designed to work as a compass for the other two. The CD-ROM is another tool. It contains the three volumes in a lighter version of the book. The CDROM was not, unfortunately, conceived as a tool per se. There are no links between the different sections of the text, or pictures or any other documents not included in the three volumes. The CD-ROM could have been suitable for including recorded voices, pictures, and biographies of the participants as well as photos of the several events held during the long process, links to authors' e-mail addresses and web sites, feedback forms designed to ask the readers Ð and especially the future users of the references Ð their opinions and suggested readings. Unfortunately, the CD-ROM was conceived only as a container of the entire text. Searchable, indeed, but it is much too rigid and self-referential.
195
The process followed for building up this oeuvre is in itself signi®cant. This huge and hyper-complex task was based, at least, on three, plus one, kinds of partnership. The private±public partnership, the researchers±managers partnership, and the inter-agencies partnership were explored in the process. The public-agencies partnership is the ®rst in a list of points addressed by a subsection of the participants to the Tucson workshop in order to support a successful ecosystem approach to natural resources management. The private±public partnership was motivated, as the editors explain in the preface, by several factors. ``First, neither the US Forest Service nor any other federal agency had all of the experience or experts needed to synthesize state-of-the-art knowledge about ecosystem approaches. Second, to be most useful, the reference needed to be relevant to a range of organizations involved in natural resources management. A partnership between public agencies and between public and private organizations has helped to ensure broad ownership of the document. Third, the signi®cant cost in human and ®nancial resources to develop the reference would be dif®cult for any one organization to bear'' (p. xii). The researchers±managers partnership was fostered from the outset in order to look into problems from both sides. The original Ecological Stewardship plan was to have, for each of the 31 topics, two chapters Ð one on the scienti®c foundations of the topics, the other on the management perspectives and experiences Ð but the forced symmetry of this plan did not survive in the ®nal version. Managers and scientists merged their on-the-®eld experiences and labstudies in a combined structure. During the process managers and scientists cross-reviewed their chapters. ``The ecosystem approach affords new opportunities to strengthen partnership between researchers and managers in ways that will bene®t both science and management'' (p. xiv). The inter-agencies partnership is another positive determinant of the entire task. Six federal agencies Ð the four main American federal-level, public lands and resources management agencies: US Department of Agricultural Forest Service, the US Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and Bureau of Land Management, plus the USDI National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
196
Book reviews
tration, and the Geological Survey and National Biological Service Ð worked together for the purpose of better de®ning ecosystem management. Ecological Stewardship was not the ®rst opportunity for such cooperation. Since the late 1980s, many federal agency of®cials, scientists, and natural resource policy analysts have advocated a new, broader approach to managing lands and natural resources owned by the federal government called `ecosystem management.' In 1994, a report of the US General Accounting Of®ce (GAO) described the federal agencies' early efforts to implement ecosystem management and to discuss it (American Forest Association, 1993). The report outlined the role of the Interagency Ecosystem Management Task Force created by the White House Of®ce on Environmental Policy (Interagency Ecosystem Management Task Force, 1995), and summarized the status of the federal initiatives to implement ecosystem management. ``Federal land management must no longer be focused on individual uses on individual land units or on protecting individual natural resources. Rather, a consensus has emerged that ecosystem management provides a sounder approach for meeting the federal stewardship mandates of protecting natural resources and sustaining long-term commodity production and other uses on federal lands'' (GAO, 1994, p. 24). The common references generated by this multi-joint program provide enough cross-®eld and cross-agency guidance to feed the ecosystem management practice and studies for years to come. The public-agencies partnership, otherwise called `keeping everyone in the loop,' is the keystone of planning and management projects. The public has to be productively and systematically involved throughout the planning projects, even in non-traditional ways. Several methods have evolved with ecosystem management, including vision workshops, adding a professional on-site planner, local workshops, local surveys, and data-collection. Planning is a way of working together on subjects of mutual interest: the piece of land on which we live and on which our successors will live. Although the book is full of references and de®nitions, one was missing. I could not ®nd a de®nition of stewardship (using the search tool in the CD-ROM). Probably it is unnecessary for a quali®ed American reader, but the book is intended to be useful even for
international readers (p. xi). Besides, a small test proved that the concept of stewardship does not have an exclusive interpretation. I detected three sources, in some way connected with the project underlying this book, to ®nd a de®nition. The ®rst is Sustainable America. A New Consensus (The President's Council on Sustainable Development, 1996) which called for `stewardship as a guide': ``the intuitive and essential moral commitment Americans have to preserve Earth's beauty and productivity for future generations is best expressed in the concept of stewardship'' (p. 8). The second is from `the people's glossary of ecosystem management terms' on the US National Forest Service's web site. Stewardship there is de®ned as `caring for the land and its resources to pass healthy ecosystems to future generations.' The third source is an article on Park Science published few weeks after the Tucson workshop and related to that event. The author Ron Hiebert of the National Park Service (Hiebert, 1996) pointed out that stewardship: ``. . . of the nation's crown jewels for future generations [. . .] is an awesome responsibility. We must, on a routine basis, ®nd and apply the best information available in making management decisions. All of us must continue to hone our skills and keep abreast of new tools and technologies. Finally, we must involve the public in a meaningful way in park management.'' The three de®nitions (and I am sure I could ®nd more) illustrate the multi-faceted dimension of stewardship. It is a national ethical matter, it implies individual responsibility, and it regards the technical skill of people involved, directly and indirectly, in resources management. Personally, I believe that stewardship is an effective ethical principle and that the stewards of human being of earth or land is a positive vision. Stewardship connects our present on the earth with our species' responsibility and with future generations. Everyone has to work in order to put into effect their own part in the stewardship of the earth, even the woodlands behind their backyard. Ecological Stewardship is the ultimate resource in the steward's hands. References American Forest Association, 1993. Building partnership for ecosystem management on forest and range lands in mixed
Book reviews ownership. In: A Workshop Convened by the Forest Policy Center, American Forestry Association, and hosted by the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, 22±24 October 1993. Hiebert, R., 1996. Ecosystem stewardship: what does it mean? Park Sci. 16 (2), 26±27. Interagency Ecosystem Management Task Force, 1995. The Ecosystem Approach: Healthy Ecosystem and Sustainable Economics. National Technical Information Service, Spring®eld, VA. Shafer, C.L., 1996. Ecological stewardship workshop: the National Park Service takes a step toward ecosystem management. Park Sci. 16 (2), 23±26. The President's Council on Sustainable Development, 1996. Sustainable America. A New Consensus for Prosperity, Opportunity, and a Healthy Environment for the Future. US Government Printing Of®ce, Washington, DC.
197
United States General Accounting Of®ce, 1994. Ecosystem Management. Additional Actions Needed to Adequately Test a Promising Approach. Report to Congressional Requester, Washington, DC.
Danilo Palazzo* Dipartimento di Scienze del Territorio Politecnico di Milano via Borardi 3-20133, Milano, Italy *
Tel.: 39-02-2399-5450; fax: 39-02-2399-5454. E-mail address: [email protected] (D. Palazzo)
PII: S 0 1 6 9 - 2 0 4 6 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 6 4 - 5
Book reviews
through which to convey those con¯icting views. Unfortunately, the truly absorbing quality of stories found in the ®rst chapter was not always duplicated throughout the book. An even more appropriate subtitle for Visions of Paradise might have been `Glimpses of the Lives of Those Who Have Helped Create Our Landscape's Legacy'. Much of the text, particularly after Chapter 4, contains well-written, brief biographies of key individuals, such as John Muir, to whom most of two chapters were devoted, and Frederick Law Olmsted, who merited an entire chapter entitled `America's Landscape Architect'. This biographical information, although interesting, was not always relevant to Simpson's basic story and, at times, detracted from the larger discourse. Since most of those whom Simpson discussed in detail were elite players in American environmental history, including Gifford Pinchot and Aldo Leopold, the general public's perceptions of landscape were presented either as generalizations or through imagined attitudes of every-man Kilbourne. This approach puts a disproportionate focus on the perspectives of a few. Given the large number of published historical diaries, memoirs, and newspaper articles that include discussions of landscape experiences and perceptions, Simpson had a powerful vernacular literature from which to draw a more balanced overview of public values. Having discussed the essential trends in American landscape history, Simpson concluded with a position essay entitled `A Last Look'. There he summarized the principal perceptions that contributed to the American landscape. He also presented a personal assessment of the generally negative impacts of those perceptions, in the context of their implications for the landscape of our future. Unfortunately, this essay was poorly conceived as a short discussion, ®lled with many platitudes. He often failed to address the very dichotomies of perceptions and values that he so clearly articulated in earlier chapters. In a sense, he reemphasized some of the very myths Ð such as the `egalitarian, democratic landscape' or the `rational' landscape Ð that he earlier criticized or questioned. The critical issues dealt with in this book deserved a more thorough and re¯ective ®nal analysis than given to them. In spite of these drawbacks, Visions of Paradise is a highly readable and engaging story of the development of the cultural landscape in the United States.
Although written to be read from cover-to-cover, each chapter is suf®ciently independent that readers could select for those eras or topics of greatest interest to them. Simpson's re¯ections on his own landscape experiences, written in ®ve brief essays, are a highlight of the book, giving insight into the evolution of ideas that contributed to the book. Although much of the basic story presented in Visions of Paradise will be known to those familiar with the cited works, what most recommends this book to potential readers will be the engaging style and personal perspective with which Simpson has presented these glimpses of the American landscape. References Nash, Roderick, 1982. Wilderness and the American Mind. Yale University Press, New Haven.
Nancy Volkman* Department of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture Texas A & M University, College Station TX 77843-3137, USA *
Fax: 1-979-862-1784. E-mail address: [email protected] (N. Volkman) PII: S 0 1 6 9 - 2 0 4 6 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 6 0 - 8
Ecological Stewardship: A Common Reference for Ecosystem Management Nels C. Johnson, Andrew J. Malk, Robert C. Szaro, William T. Sexton (Eds.), Elsevier Science Ltd., Kidlington, Oxford, UK, 1999, 3 volumes, 1786 XXVIII pp., CD-ROM The introduction of a new concept always means that ink and paper must be sacri®ced (not to mention intellectual fatigue and real sweat). Ecological Stewardship, edited by a team of four of®cials from the US Forest Service and the World Resources Institute, devotes 1800 pages in this way (as well as a CDROM and several color and b/w illustrations) to delve into the concept of `ecosystem management' and its state-of-the-art.
Book reviews
This three-volume book is the outcome of a ®ve and a half year process. During this time, more than 400 people (Shafer, 1996) from federal agencies, foundations, land trusts, private companies, associations, universities, and private research institutes applied their knowledge to construct a promising plan: to de®ne a ®rm, detailed, and shared intellectual foundation for supporting the structure of ecosystem management. From 1994 Ð when the concept was established by Jack Ward Thomas (then Chief of the US Forest Service) Ð to 1999, when Ecological Stewardship was published, a public±private partnership collaborated in organizing and holding public meetings, review panel meetings, and a 2-week workshop in Tucson, Arizona. Six federal agencies, several state agencies, over a dozen universities, various forest products companies, and many non-governmental organizations intensively cooperated to bring this project to a successful epilogue. Summarizing a 3.5 in. tall book of three volumes in just a few lines is no minor task. A discussion on the topics addressed by the Ecological Stewardship references would need further effort and more lines. It is enough to say that the complete work includes 31 topics divided into six thematic sections (Biological and ecological dimension; Humans as agents of ecological change; Public expectations, values and law; Social and cultural dimension; Economic dimension; Information and data management) that are comprehensively presented in Volumes II and III. Volume I contains key ®ndings and is designed to work as a compass for the other two. The CD-ROM is another tool. It contains the three volumes in a lighter version of the book. The CDROM was not, unfortunately, conceived as a tool per se. There are no links between the different sections of the text, or pictures or any other documents not included in the three volumes. The CD-ROM could have been suitable for including recorded voices, pictures, and biographies of the participants as well as photos of the several events held during the long process, links to authors' e-mail addresses and web sites, feedback forms designed to ask the readers Ð and especially the future users of the references Ð their opinions and suggested readings. Unfortunately, the CD-ROM was conceived only as a container of the entire text. Searchable, indeed, but it is much too rigid and self-referential.
195
The process followed for building up this oeuvre is in itself signi®cant. This huge and hyper-complex task was based, at least, on three, plus one, kinds of partnership. The private±public partnership, the researchers±managers partnership, and the inter-agencies partnership were explored in the process. The public-agencies partnership is the ®rst in a list of points addressed by a subsection of the participants to the Tucson workshop in order to support a successful ecosystem approach to natural resources management. The private±public partnership was motivated, as the editors explain in the preface, by several factors. ``First, neither the US Forest Service nor any other federal agency had all of the experience or experts needed to synthesize state-of-the-art knowledge about ecosystem approaches. Second, to be most useful, the reference needed to be relevant to a range of organizations involved in natural resources management. A partnership between public agencies and between public and private organizations has helped to ensure broad ownership of the document. Third, the signi®cant cost in human and ®nancial resources to develop the reference would be dif®cult for any one organization to bear'' (p. xii). The researchers±managers partnership was fostered from the outset in order to look into problems from both sides. The original Ecological Stewardship plan was to have, for each of the 31 topics, two chapters Ð one on the scienti®c foundations of the topics, the other on the management perspectives and experiences Ð but the forced symmetry of this plan did not survive in the ®nal version. Managers and scientists merged their on-the-®eld experiences and labstudies in a combined structure. During the process managers and scientists cross-reviewed their chapters. ``The ecosystem approach affords new opportunities to strengthen partnership between researchers and managers in ways that will bene®t both science and management'' (p. xiv). The inter-agencies partnership is another positive determinant of the entire task. Six federal agencies Ð the four main American federal-level, public lands and resources management agencies: US Department of Agricultural Forest Service, the US Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and Bureau of Land Management, plus the USDI National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
196
Book reviews
tration, and the Geological Survey and National Biological Service Ð worked together for the purpose of better de®ning ecosystem management. Ecological Stewardship was not the ®rst opportunity for such cooperation. Since the late 1980s, many federal agency of®cials, scientists, and natural resource policy analysts have advocated a new, broader approach to managing lands and natural resources owned by the federal government called `ecosystem management.' In 1994, a report of the US General Accounting Of®ce (GAO) described the federal agencies' early efforts to implement ecosystem management and to discuss it (American Forest Association, 1993). The report outlined the role of the Interagency Ecosystem Management Task Force created by the White House Of®ce on Environmental Policy (Interagency Ecosystem Management Task Force, 1995), and summarized the status of the federal initiatives to implement ecosystem management. ``Federal land management must no longer be focused on individual uses on individual land units or on protecting individual natural resources. Rather, a consensus has emerged that ecosystem management provides a sounder approach for meeting the federal stewardship mandates of protecting natural resources and sustaining long-term commodity production and other uses on federal lands'' (GAO, 1994, p. 24). The common references generated by this multi-joint program provide enough cross-®eld and cross-agency guidance to feed the ecosystem management practice and studies for years to come. The public-agencies partnership, otherwise called `keeping everyone in the loop,' is the keystone of planning and management projects. The public has to be productively and systematically involved throughout the planning projects, even in non-traditional ways. Several methods have evolved with ecosystem management, including vision workshops, adding a professional on-site planner, local workshops, local surveys, and data-collection. Planning is a way of working together on subjects of mutual interest: the piece of land on which we live and on which our successors will live. Although the book is full of references and de®nitions, one was missing. I could not ®nd a de®nition of stewardship (using the search tool in the CD-ROM). Probably it is unnecessary for a quali®ed American reader, but the book is intended to be useful even for
international readers (p. xi). Besides, a small test proved that the concept of stewardship does not have an exclusive interpretation. I detected three sources, in some way connected with the project underlying this book, to ®nd a de®nition. The ®rst is Sustainable America. A New Consensus (The President's Council on Sustainable Development, 1996) which called for `stewardship as a guide': ``the intuitive and essential moral commitment Americans have to preserve Earth's beauty and productivity for future generations is best expressed in the concept of stewardship'' (p. 8). The second is from `the people's glossary of ecosystem management terms' on the US National Forest Service's web site. Stewardship there is de®ned as `caring for the land and its resources to pass healthy ecosystems to future generations.' The third source is an article on Park Science published few weeks after the Tucson workshop and related to that event. The author Ron Hiebert of the National Park Service (Hiebert, 1996) pointed out that stewardship: ``. . . of the nation's crown jewels for future generations [. . .] is an awesome responsibility. We must, on a routine basis, ®nd and apply the best information available in making management decisions. All of us must continue to hone our skills and keep abreast of new tools and technologies. Finally, we must involve the public in a meaningful way in park management.'' The three de®nitions (and I am sure I could ®nd more) illustrate the multi-faceted dimension of stewardship. It is a national ethical matter, it implies individual responsibility, and it regards the technical skill of people involved, directly and indirectly, in resources management. Personally, I believe that stewardship is an effective ethical principle and that the stewards of human being of earth or land is a positive vision. Stewardship connects our present on the earth with our species' responsibility and with future generations. Everyone has to work in order to put into effect their own part in the stewardship of the earth, even the woodlands behind their backyard. Ecological Stewardship is the ultimate resource in the steward's hands. References American Forest Association, 1993. Building partnership for ecosystem management on forest and range lands in mixed
Book reviews ownership. In: A Workshop Convened by the Forest Policy Center, American Forestry Association, and hosted by the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, 22±24 October 1993. Hiebert, R., 1996. Ecosystem stewardship: what does it mean? Park Sci. 16 (2), 26±27. Interagency Ecosystem Management Task Force, 1995. The Ecosystem Approach: Healthy Ecosystem and Sustainable Economics. National Technical Information Service, Spring®eld, VA. Shafer, C.L., 1996. Ecological stewardship workshop: the National Park Service takes a step toward ecosystem management. Park Sci. 16 (2), 23±26. The President's Council on Sustainable Development, 1996. Sustainable America. A New Consensus for Prosperity, Opportunity, and a Healthy Environment for the Future. US Government Printing Of®ce, Washington, DC.
197
United States General Accounting Of®ce, 1994. Ecosystem Management. Additional Actions Needed to Adequately Test a Promising Approach. Report to Congressional Requester, Washington, DC.
Danilo Palazzo* Dipartimento di Scienze del Territorio Politecnico di Milano via Borardi 3-20133, Milano, Italy *
Tel.: 39-02-2399-5450; fax: 39-02-2399-5454. E-mail address: [email protected] (D. Palazzo)
PII: S 0 1 6 9 - 2 0 4 6 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 6 4 - 5