Public Lands Management in the West: Citizens, Interest Groups, and Values

by Brent S. Steel

Overview

The use of public lands in the western United States has become the focus of international, national, and regional debate. Public concern for wildlife, fish, wilderness, recreation, and other values associated with these lands has increased substantially since the 1960s. And that concern has clashed with the more user/extraction orientation of traditional interests. The priorities for management of these lands have become the subject of increasing controversy and litigation, particularly with regard to U.S. federal forests and rangelands. At the heart of this debate are differing philosophical and normative views about the natural environment and human relationship to that environment. This volume provides an analysis of public values and philosophical views about the environment from an interdisciplinary perspective and will be of interest to scholars and policymakers in public policy, business-government relations, and environmentalism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275956950
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/26/1997
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

BRENT S. STEEL is Associate Professor of Political Science at Washington State University in Vancouver. He is the coauthor of Citizens, Political Communication, and Interest Groups (Praeger, 1992).

Table of Contents

Preface
Public Values, the Environment, and Public Lands
An Introduction to Natural Resource Policy and the Environment: Changing Paradigms and Values by Brent S. Steel and Nicholas P. Lovrich
Managing Federal Forests: National and Regional Public Orientations by Brent S. Steel, Peter List, and Bruce Shindler
Sources of Variation in Attitudes and Beliefs about Federal Rangeland Management by Mark Brunson and Brent S. Steel
Interests and Publics
Political Communication Strategies of Interest Groups and Industry in Federal Forest Policy by Brent S. Steel and John C. Pierce
Political Resources and Activities of Environmental Groups in Washington State by Debra Salazar
Consensus and Dissension among Rural and Urban Publics Concerning Forest Management in the Pacific Northwest by Mark Brunson, Bruce Shindler, and Brent S. Steel
County Government and the Public Lands: A Review of the County Supremacy Movement in Four Western States by Stephanie Witt and Leslie R. Alm
The County Supremacy Movement and Public Lands in Oregon by Christopher A. Simon
Changing Political Geometry: Public Lands and Natural Resources in Nevada by Kelly DeVine and Dennis L. Soden
Case Studies
The Siouxon Valley in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest by Richard Hansis
Citizen Values and Participation in the Tongass National Forest Debate by Bruce Shindler
An Oregon Case Study: Families, Gender Roles, and Timber Communities in Transformation by Jennifer Gilden
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

Provides an interdisciplinary perspective on assessing public values regarding the environment and discusses their relationship to natural resource problems in the American West. Contributors represent areas including anthropology, forest and rangeland resources, environmental policy, philosophy, and political science. Section I overviews values associated with public land management and looks at the trend toward biocentricity. Section II focuses on the roles of interest groups, industry, government, and rural and urban publics. Section III describes case studies in Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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