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

(Hardback)

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Description

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.

Reviews

"The volume edited by Brent Steel has much to offer observers in both of these natural resource policy categories....[I]t also has much to offer students in the broader fields of policy studies and political science....[T]his book leads the reader through the heart....[O]f the value conflicts that define federal land policy....[T]he quality of all the chapters if quite high....[I]n any event, Brent Steel and the other contributors to this volume deserve a hearty "congratulations for a job well done!" They have produced a project well worth reading by observers in the natural resource policy field and by anyone who wants to see how the models and techniques of political science can be brought to bear on a policy issue with skill and effectiveness."-American Politics
[S]tudents of history should ...find the book valuable in that it addresses important contemporary socioeconomic trends that have always interested historians: ....This is one volume by our disciplinary neighbors that historians will find worth consulting, especially those of us who work in the Pacific Northwest.-Pacific Northwest Quarterly
Public Lands Management in the West...will be of interest to scholars and policymakers in public policy, business-government relations, and environmentalism.-Environmental Law
The book is well referenced and includes abundant tables. An evenhanded treatment of contentious issues, suitable for upper-division undergraduates through professionals.-Choice
The volume edited by Brent Steel has much to offer observers in both of these natural resource policy categories....[I]t also has much to offer students in the broader fields of policy studies and political science....[T]his book leads the reader through the heart....[O]f the value conflicts that define federal land policy....[T]he quality of all the chapters if quite high....[I]n any event, Brent Steel and the other contributors to this volume deserve a hearty "congratulations for a job well done!" They have produced a project well worth reading by observers in the natural resource policy field and by anyone who wants to see how the models and techniques of political science can be brought to bear on a policy issue with skill and effectiveness.-American Politics
"Students of history should ...find the book valuable in that it addresses important contemporary socioeconomic trends that have always interested historians: ....This is one volume by our disciplinary neighbors that historians will find worth consulting, especially those of us who work in the Pacific Northwest."-Pacific Northwest Quarterly
"[S]tudents of history should ...find the book valuable in that it addresses important contemporary socioeconomic trends that have always interested historians: ....This is one volume by our disciplinary neighbors that historians will find worth consulting, especially those of us who work in the Pacific Northwest."-Pacific Northwest Quarterly
"Public Lands Management in the West...will be of interest to scholars and policymakers in public policy, business-government relations, and environmentalism."-Environmental Law
"The book is well referenced and includes abundant tables. An evenhanded treatment of contentious issues, suitable for upper-division undergraduates through professionals."-Choice

Author Bio

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).