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- Info
Living with nature: Are we willing to pay the price
| Author: |
Sampson, R. Neil |
| Date: |
1996 |
| Periodical: |
Wildfire News and Notes |
| Abstract: |
The conflict of values and the risk to resources that results when we mingle urban development with wildland areas is one of the most difficult issues today's resource managers face. It is an increasingly complex situation in virtually every part of the Nation; one for which good solutions simply have not, in many places, been put in place. But even as this problem gets more difficult and expensive, we are not implementing the solutions we know. What is interesting is that these are not really challenges for science or natural resource management, although that is the expertise of most of us here today. These are issues of plain old politics, and they need to be addressed by the whole public, and by our elected representatives, because that is where the problem hits home hardest and the responsibility lies. The problem is not a shortage of reasonable ideas; it is a lack of political will. I've been asked to provide an overview of how some of these issues have evolved and how we might think about their implications; in terms of both resource management and the quality of life in our communities, states, and nation. In other words, how did we get into this situation, and what kinds of approaches might be considered as we look for solutions. |
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