Nature and Bureaucracy: The Wildness of Managed Landscapes (Routledge Explorations in Environmental Studies)

This book questions how bureaucracies conceive of, and consequently interact with, nature, and suggests that our managed public landscapes are neither entirely managed nor entirely wild, and offers several warnings about bureaucracies and bureaucratic mentality. One prominent challenge facing scientists, policymakers, environmental activists, and environmentally concerned citizens, is to recognize that human influence in the natural world is pervasive and has a long history. How we act, or choose not to act, today will continue to determine the future of the natural world. Western-style management of nature, mediated by economic rationality and state bureaucracies, may not be the best strategy to maintain environmental integrity. The question is, what kinds of human influence, conceived of in the widest possible sense, will produce ideal environments for future generations? The related question is, who gets to choose? The author approaches the problem of analyzing the mutual influence of human and natural systems from two perspectives: as an objective scholar investigating bureaucracies and natural systems from the outside, and over the last decade as an inside practitioner working in various roles in federal land management agencies developing policies and regulations involved in the control of natural systems. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of natural resource management, policy and politics, and professionals working in environmental management roles as well as policymakers involved in public policy and administration. Cover Endorsement Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Epigraph Table of Contents Figures Acknowledgements Introduction: The Wild Garden Notes Part I The Bureaucracy of Nature 1 Against Efficiency: Why We Cut Trees (And What Happens When We Do) A Utilitarian Vision The Enemy Sins of the Past The Efficient and the Good Carbon, Proforestation, and Decadence The Rationalized Forest The Virtues of Inefficiency What Are Trees? Global Cooling, Global Warming, Humans, and Forests The Realm of Politics The Story of Forests Notes 2 When the Well Runs Dry: Aquifers, Canals, and the Colorado River System Groundwater Colorado River Water The Central Arizona Project The Fourth Lesson Culture-Nature Public Discourse and Environmental Values The Worth of Water Notes 3 Atlantic Salmon, Endangered Species, and the Failure of Environmental Policies What Is a Wild Salmon? Disappearing Salmon Twentieth-Century Salmon Restoration Continuing Salmon Threats “Maine Salmon Is Extinct” The Final Rule Environmental Values and the Policy Process Wild Salmon Notes 4 Count Every Fish: Nonmarket Fishing Economies On the Yukon River Subsistence Laws and Regulations Managing Environments for Subsistence “Surplus” Fish The Bering Sea: Managing Chinook Bycatch Markets and Subsistence Customary Trade: Non-Western Economies Health Safety of Traditionally Processed Salmon “You Can’t Just Let Nature Run Wild” Notes 5 Managing Natural Resources in Alaska: Anthropology Bureaucratized State Involvement Customary and Traditional Use Meaningful Orders of Persons and Things Division of Subsistence Criteria of Subsistence Use Against “Customary and Traditional Use” Long-Term Subsistence Patterns Seasonality Efficiency Proximity Accessibility Preparing, Preserving, and Storing Knowledge Sharing “Seeing Like a State” The Awkward Play of Knowledge Systems Notes Part II The Nature of Bureaucracy 6 Traditional Bureaucratic Knowledge: The Order of Rules Notes 7 Bureaucratic Management of Wildlife: Wolves in the State of Alaska Notes 8 Enemy Ancestors Notes 9 To Save the Spiritual Notes 10 Traditional Ecological Knowledge Notes 11 The Dharma of Nature The Wild Garden Notes Index "This book questions how bureaucracies conceive of and consequently interact with nature, suggests that our managed public landscapes are neither entirely managed nor entirely wild, and offers several warnings about bureaucracies and bureaucratic mentality. One prominent challenge facing scientists, policymakers, environmental activists, and environmentally concerned citizens is to recognize human influence in the natural world is pervasive and has a long history, and to act accordingly-or to choose not to act. Western-style management of nature, mediated by economic rationality and state bureaucracies, may not be the best strategy to maintain environmental integrity. The question is what kinds of human influence, conceived of in the widest possible sense, will produce ideal environments for future generations? The related question is who gets to choose. The author approaches the problem of analyzing the mutual influence of human and natural systems from two perspectives: as an objective scholar investigating bureaucracies and natural systems from the outside, and over the last decade as an inside practitioner working in various roles in federal land management agencies developing policies and regulations involved in the control of natural systems. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of natural resource management, policy and politics, and professionals working in environmental management roles as well as policymakers involved in public policy and administration"-- Provided by publisher