IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/envman/v53y2014i6d10.1007_s00267-014-0267-1.html

Risk Tradeoffs in Adaptive Ecosystem Management: The Case of the U.S. Forest Service

Author

Listed:
  • Marc J. Stern

    (Virginia Tech, Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation)

  • Caysie A. Martin

    (Virginia Tech, Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation)

  • S. Andrew Predmore

    (University of Illinois-Springfield, Department of Environmental Studies)

  • Wayde C. Morse

    (Auburn University, School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences)

Abstract

Natural resource planning processes on public lands in the United States are driven in large part by the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which dictates general processes for analyzing and disclosing the likely impacts of proposed actions. The outcomes of these processes are the result of multiple factors, many related to the manifold smaller incremental decisions made by agency personnel directing the processes. Through interviews with decision makers, team leaders, and team members on five NEPA processes within the U.S. Forest Service, this study examines those incremental decisions. Risk, in particular external relationship risk, emerged as a dominant lens through which agency personnel weigh and make process-related decisions. We discuss the tradeoffs associated with agency actors’ emphasis on this form of risk and their potential implications for adaptive ecosystem management and organizational performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Marc J. Stern & Caysie A. Martin & S. Andrew Predmore & Wayde C. Morse, 2014. "Risk Tradeoffs in Adaptive Ecosystem Management: The Case of the U.S. Forest Service," Environmental Management, Springer, vol. 53(6), pages 1095-1108, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:envman:v:53:y:2014:i:6:d:10.1007_s00267-014-0267-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s00267-014-0267-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00267-014-0267-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00267-014-0267-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:envman:v:53:y:2014:i:6:d:10.1007_s00267-014-0267-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.