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- Info
ARM! for the future: adaptive resource management in the wildlife profession
| Author: |
Lancia, Richard A.; Braun, Clait E.; Collopy, Michael W.; and others |
| Date: |
1996 |
| Periodical: |
Wildlife Society Bulletin |
| Link: |
http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/rpc/1998-09/rpc_98sep_41.pdf
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| Abstract: |
The wildlife profession has a longestablished tradition of examining and debating the quality and direction of wildlife research (Sche ffer 1976, Romesburg 1981, Bailey 1982, McCabe 1985, Capen 1989, Nudds and Morrison 1991, Lancia e t al. 1333). This introspection is good, for it encourages the profession to improve and mature. In this essay, we provide what we hope w ill be a significant milepost in that process by advocating a general philosophy and protocol for w ildlife research and management. Rather than articulating a List of specific research priorities and reiterating the need for additional research money, we encourage an encompassing, fundamental shift that w ill promote more efficient use of current research and management dollars.
Over the last several years, various groups and many individuals interested in the management of natural resources have recognized a need for reform in natural resources-related research. These include the Ecological Society of America’s Committee for a Research Agenda for the 1990’s (Lubchenco e t al. 1991), the National Research Council’s Committee on Forestry Research (Comm . For. Res. 199 0) the Society of American Forester’s Task Force on Sustaining Long-te rm Forest Health and Productivity (Sot. Am . For. 1993) and many others (Brussard 1991; Brussard and Ehrlich 1992; Levin 19 9 2a,b; Levin 1993). Th ere appears to be a general consensus that change is due.
Furthermore, intensifying political debates about management of natural resources (e.g., timber harvests and ancient forests, sustainable development, and the preservation-conservation of biodiversity) call for integrated research and management to address uncertainty in wildlife and ecosystem management, and thereby ameliorate controversy in the future (Clark 1992, Ludwig et al. 1993, Ludwig 1994). Research and management can no longer afford to be “two solitudes”; distinctions betw een basic and applied research have blurred (Nudds 1979, Moffatt 1994). The central issue is th e application of sound scientific principles to solve problems. |
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