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

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.