A novel assessment of the interplay between law and ecology in forest management
Trees are the embodiment of existence: abundant, regenerative, irrepressible. Yet as more of the planet undergoes profound and accelerating climate change, deforestation, loss of biotic diversity, and a pitiless spread of pests and pathogens, which treesif anywill thrive are increasingly urgent questions. Managing healthy forests remains factually uncertain, an uneasy dance between law and science.
How can law facilitate or even accelerate the application of forest ecology on landscapes like our national forests? This book is a thorough exploration of that question from more than a century of intersections of law and science on the national forests. With a focus on lawas distinct from mere policyas an agent in human relations and as a catalyst of scientific research, it makes the case that we can and must do better to solve intractable land management problems.
Reviews
A great resource for anyone interested in Forest Service law, policy, and history. Sam Kalen, University of Wyoming College of Law
Contents
Part One: Forest Ecological Inquiry: A Special Science
Science in Forestry: An Unending Arc
The Prospect of Forest Service Science In Retrospect
Ecology in Space and Time
Part Two: Law as Normative Tool
The Forest Service as Agent
Laws Exclusionary Function
Shared Legal Powers in Context
Part Three: Science and Law: From Retention to Reformation
Foundations Set and Hardened
Scaling the Search for Causes: Of Farms and Forests
The Campaign Against Fire: A Science of Timber Protection
Missoula: Apex of Service Fire Science
Facts Worth Knowing? Service Science Meets a Reformation
Forestry Evolved: The Legal Landscape of Resources
Scientific Forestry? On Legal Foundations Rebuilt
Part Four: Ecological Forestry in an Age of Polarities
Regulations for Forest Planning: Guides to Local Optima
A Geography of Biotic Diversity
From Populations, Communities, and Ecosystems: The Habitat Focus Hardens
The Megafire: What Kind of Nemesis?
A Lynx Tale: Restoring and Protecting Wide-Ranging Species in Rapidly
Changing Forests
Part Five: Intersections: Toward More Deliberate Redesign
Fact, Fiction, and Forestry: Weighing Available Evidence
Succession, Patchiness, and Evolution: Mosaic Ecology, Joint Inquiry
Depth: Facilitating Forest Ecological Inquiry by Law
Appendix Table of Abbreviations and Acronyms
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Jamison E. Colburn is the A. Robert Noll Distinguished Professor of Law at Penn State. He served as assistant regional counsel for US EPA and as trustee of the Connecticut River Watershed Council. He is the author of The Scales of Weighing Regulatory Costs: Technology, Geography, and Time.
