| This study outlines a nascent revolution in American attitudes towards nature as humans, facing unprecedented loss of biological diversity (biodiversity) through species extinction and ecosystem degradation are pressed to move away from anthropocentrism and towards an ecosystems view of the world. Drawing on material from conservation biology, environmental law, land management history and politics, and environmental ethics, the study is cast in terms of the history of U.S. federal lands management--resource management, where nature is seen as a collection of resources for human use (resourcism), must become an ecosystem management which takes its cues more from scientific ecology than politics.; The work is built around a case study of the Greater North Cascades Ecosystem in Washington state. Conservation biology theories suggest that current management and protection strategies are inadequate. Viable population, reserve size, habitat fragmentation, and disturbance regime theories provide the scientific evidence for the biodiversity revolution.; From biology, federal environmental laws whose aim is to protect biodiversity are examined. The Endangered Species Act and the National Forest Management Act are reviewed and critiqued. Focusing on the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service, the implementation of these statutes is reviewed and found wanting. An alternative ecosystem management for native diversity is outlined which includes a moratorium on logging of old growth forests, accelerated research in conservation biology and landscape ecology, creation of a Biodiversity Protection Network at local, regional and continental scales, research in sustainable forestry, and restoration of damaged ecosystems. Interagency cooperation, grassroots participation in local and regional federal lands planning and management, and Congressional leadership towards passage of an Endangered Ecosystems Act are advocated.; The final section of the study challenges the long-term ability of a science-based ecosystem management to sustain a balanced human-nature relationship. A place-based deep ecological values system and lifestyle may provide citizens of modern societies a better fit within the ecological limits of Earth. |
