Over the past century, solutions to natural resources policy issues have become increasingly complex. Multiple government agencies with overlapping jurisdictions and differing mandates as well as multiple interest groups have contributed to gridlock, frequently preventing solutions in the common interest. Community-based responses to natural resource problems in the American West have demonstrated the potential of local initiatives both for finding common ground on divisive issues and for advancing the common interest.

The first chapter of this enlightening book diagnoses contemporary problems of governance in natural resources policy and in the United States generally, then introduces community-based initiatives as responses to those problems. The next chapters examine the range of successes and failures of initiatives in water management in the Upper Clark Fork River in Montana; wolf recovery in the northern Rockies; bison management in greater Yellowstone; and forest policy in northern California. The concluding chapter considers how to harvest experience from these and other cases, offering practical suggestions for diverse participants in community-based initiatives and their supporters, agencies and interest groups, and researchers and educators.

Natural resources issues are complex, often emotional, and almost always political. Efforts to improve natural resources management practices must take into account the scientific aspects of an issue plus these other dimensions. This book explains how to address and resolve the human issues underlying natural resources problems. It shows how the policy sciences -- a systematic method for analyzing and proposing solutions -- can be applied to any natural resources policy and management problem. The policy sciences approach proves flexible, widely applicable, and useful in developing realistic alternatives in diverse situations.

The book begins with a discussion of what natural resources are, how people make decisions about using them, and how the policy sciences can be used toward improving policy and management practices. Ten case studies inside and outside the United States follow. Policy science methods are applied to such problems as endangered species conservation, urban parks, the development of energy projects, the relations between national parks and people who live near them, ecotourism and biodiversity, and the relation between human rights and environmental conservation in refugee situations.