Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Nie, Martin

Titel

The Governance of Western Public Lands: Mapping Its Present and Future

Erscheinungsjahr

2008

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

PAIS Index

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• 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. The author 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 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 rule-making process wags the dog and agencies are caught in political quagmires, to show how the pieces fit - but more often don't.