Conservation for a New Generation: Redefining Natural Resources Management

In hundreds of watersheds and communities across the United States, conservation is being reinvented and invigorated by collaborative efforts between federal, state, and local governments working with nongovernmental organizations and private landowners, and fueled by economic incentives, to promote both healthy natural communities and healthy human communities.

Conservation for a New Generation captures those efforts with chapters that explain the new landscape of conservation along with case studies that illustrate these new approaches. The book brings together leading voices in the field of environmental conservation—Lynne Sherrod, Curt Meine, Daniel Kemmis, Luther Propst, Jodi Hilty, Peter Forbes, and many others—to offer fourteen chapters and twelve case studies that

• demonstrate the benefits of government agencies partnering with diverse stakeholders;
• explore how natural resources management is evolving;
• discuss emerging practices for conservation, including conservation planning, ecological restoration, valuing ecosystem services, and using economic incentives;
• promote cooperation on natural resources issues that have in the past been divisive.

Throughout, contributors focus on the fundamental truth that unites human and land communities: as one prospers, so does the other; as one declines, so too will the other. The book illustrates how natural resources management that emphasizes building strong relationships results in outcomes that are beneficial to both people and land.

Conservation for a New Generation highlights the dynamic state of how natural resources management is being practiced in the United States today as it transitions from top-down programs and federal mandates to a largely bottom-up approach that involves a broad range of stakeholders working together to achieve common goals. The book considers the implications of those changes for future conservation efforts and offers a conceptual blueprint for effective conservation that can guide students and practitioners both now and into the future.

Richard L. Knight is professor of wildlife conservation in the Warner College of Natural Resources at Colorado State University. Courtney White is cofounder and executive director of the Quivira Coalition, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building bridges between ranchers, conservationists, public land managers, scientists, and others.