Ecosystem Management

Ecosystem management (EM) promotes an integrated more holistic practice of sustaining ecosystem management approach to environmental issues; its central goal is the (Jenson and Bourgeron 1991). Th e central object of EM is protection of entire ecosystems. By focusing on an inter- to sustain the integrity of ecosystems and their structure, disciplinary solution to environmental challenges, EM can processes, and functions as described by the American biol- help to synthesize societal, economic, scientifi c, and gov- ogist and ecologist Eugene Odum (1956). He indicates that ernmental goals. Furthermore, as EM becomes part of structure refers to species composition within communities the foundation of environmental legislation, it will sup- and their distribution across attributes such as biomass, port and enhance the growing societal drive to protect age class, reproduction, and mortality. Process describes ele- our environment. ments that drive the system such as climatology, nutrient cycling, and species evolution and succession. Functional t the end of the twentieth century, the U.S. Presi- elements include habitat characterization and the role of Adent’s Council on Sustainable Development stated that the species and community in the food chain. At various human survival may well depend on widespread acceptance stages, nutrient cycling processes such as uptake, decom- of the principles of sustainable living and ecosystem man- position, and mineralization are considered functional ele- agement, a perspective articulated by former secretary of ments of ecosystems as well. the interior (and council member) Bruce Babbitt (1999): “When we act locally, we must think globally. We must An Interdisciplinary Approach also think holistically, considering the relationship between Nature and the economic, cultural, and spiritual life of our Th e growing infl uence of the interaction between soci- communities and societies.” Th e challenges are daunting ety and natural resources is of vital importance (Camp- bell 2001). Human values and politics are at the center due to threats from diverse factors such as an exponential increase in land use change and related ecosystem frag- of social considerations concerning environmental condi- mentation, pests, pathogens, disease, light and chemical tions (Peine 2007). As succinctly expressed by the U. S. pollution, invasive species, and climate change. Geological Survey and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an Ecosystem management (EM) is one practice that is interdisciplinary approach to solving environmental prob- being implemented to address these challenges. It is an lems is a true necessity. attempt to manage entire ecological systems rather than Biologists and land managers have one overriding uni- individual and fragmented components (Lindenmayer, versal question they need answered: What specifi c lands Margules, and Botkin 2000). As the interdisciplinary sci- do we need to restore, protect, and/or manage to most ence, monitoring, data documentation and sharing, and eff ectively achieve conservation objectives for X species predictive modeling improve, the more likely that innova- or guilds of species? Our operational dilemma involves tive EM practices will have greater success. issues of scale both spatial and temporal and how we EM was initially an outgrowth of the U.S. Forest Ser- strategically plan and actually take on-the-ground vice policy of multiple use, which promoted sustained yield action to achieve maximum results. Th e focus for this management practices of national forests to encompass the project will be how the socio-economic components of

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this process of choosing a viable critical habitat and the for pollution research, standard setting, monitoring, and necessary socio-economic components of the multidis- enforcement. Th e creation of these laws led to a major shift ciplinary process. (Peine et al. 2009) in the environmental movement. Groups such as the Sierra Club shifted focus from local issues to becoming a lobby EM emerged as a new paradigm for managing public in Washington. New groups, for example, the Natural and private lands. It combines the principles of ecosystem- Resources Defense Council and Environmental Defense level ecology and the policy requirements of managing Fund, arose to infl uence politics as well (Buttel and Lar- public lands (Samson and Knopf 1996). By 1994, eighteen son 1980). U. S. federal agencies had adopted some form of EM as a guiding policy (Cortner and Moote 1999). Th e environ- Challenges and Barriers mentalist R. Edward Grumbine (1994) suggests fi ve chal- lenging principles of EM essential to sustaining ecological While EM scientifi c management practices support gov- integrity: (1) maintain viable populations of native popula- ernmental and legal responses to ecosystem degradation, tions in situ, (2) represent within protected areas all native challenges are still evolving. Laws that incorporate single- ecosystem types throughout their natural range, (3) main- medium or single species management have been very eff ec- tain ecological and evolutionary processes, (4) manage over tive in some cases (Houck 1997), however, legal mandates periods of time long enough to maintain the evolutionary that encourage and incorporate a more integrated approach potential of species and ecosystems, and (5) accommodate are “necessary to sustain ecosystem composition, structure, human use and occupancy. and function” (Christensen et al. 1996). On a national level, In 1995, an interagency task force defi ned ecosystem there are a number of obstacles to the development and the management, saying, “Th e goal of the ecosystem approach implementation of EM-based laws, is to restore and sustain the health, productivity, and including scientifi c, institutional, biological diversity of ecosystems and jurisdictional, bureaucratic, and the overall quality of life through political barriers. In the United a natural resource management States, the political infl uence of approach that is fully integrated large industries has a signifi cant with social and economic goals” impact on the development of (IEMTF 1995). Extensive leg- the nation’s environmental laws islation in the United States pro- and regulations (Spence 2005), a viding key statutes for the practice situation that also applies regard- of EM was passed in the 1960s ing legislative or regulatory pro- through the early 1980s. Some posals that adopt EM principles. notable examples include the For example, due to extensive lob- Land and Water Conservation bying by the coal and power indus- Fund Act of 1964; Wild and Sce- tries, U.S. environmental laws have not nic Rivers Act of 1968; National fully addressed the harms to the environ- Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) ment associated with the production and use of 1969, which established the U.S. of coal. Accordingly, despite the existing legal Environmental Protection Agency framework of the Clean Water Act (CWA), (EPA) and a Council on Environ- mountaintop removal for coal production is mental Quality; the Clean Air Act allowed in the Appalachian Mountains, and (CAA) of 1970; the Water Pollu- there currently are no regulations to control tion Control Act Amendments toxic waste from coal-fi red power plant. Nor did of 1972; the Endangered Species the Clean Air Act of 1970 require unmodifi ed existing Act (ESA) of 1973; the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974; coal-fi red plants to adhere to emission-control standards. the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976; the Many of these plants still operate today with limited regu- Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1977, which latory control of their emissions (Manuel 2009). became known as the Clean Water Act; and the Com- Th ese barriers to EM legal responses increase exponen- prehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and tially when attempting to manage transnational ecosys- Liability Act, commonly known as the Superfund Act of tems. As the climate change issue so perfectly illustrates, 1980. Th ese laws regulated toxic substances, pesticides, even near scientifi c consensus has not generated a political and ocean dumping, and protected wildlife, wilderness, consensus on the appropriate international, intergovern- and wild and scenic rivers. Moreover, the laws provide mental approach. In the early 1990s, a large list of Nobel

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Prize winners and National Academy of Sciences members eastern North Carolina, in an area in which there are three signed an appeal stating that “there is broad agreement national wildlife refuges. within the scientifi c community that amplifi cation of the Earth’s natural greenhouse eff ect by the buildup of various An International Success gases introduced by human activity has the potential to pro- duce dramatic changes in climate” (IPCC 1992). Over 190 Internationally, there are a number of legal instruments countries representing more than 60 percent of the world’s that incorporate principles of EM, including the Conven- emissions have committed to the groundbreaking U.N. tion on Biological Diversity and its Cartagena Protocol, the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Convention on International Trade in Endangered Spe- and the binding obligations in the Kyoto Protocol thereto, cies of Wild Fauna and Flora, the Convention on Migra- including the European Union, Australia, Canada, and tory Species, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of Japan. But the nations responsible for the remaining 40 International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habi- percent of the world’s emissions have refused to make the tat, the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertifi cation, the commitment (UNFCCC 1992). UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, the U.N. Con- A National Success vention on the Law of the Sea, the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Th e many barriers to EM infl uence over legislation, how- Wastes and their Disposal, and the Vienna Convention to ever, have been successfully overcome in the development Protect the Ozone Layer with its Montreal Protocol. of a number of signifi cant national and international legal One very successful example of a collaborative legal instruments. Consider, for example, the U.S. Endangered regime that addresses the management of a specifi c trans- Species Act (ESA), regarded by some as one of the fi rst and boundary ecosystem resource pertains to the Great Lakes most successful examples of legislation that implements Basin. Th e Great Lakes are the largest surface freshwater EM-styled management (Houck 1997). Th e U.S. Congress system on Earth, containing approximately 84 percent of passed the ESA in 1973 as amended, which provides broad North America’s surface freshwater and 21 percent of the protection for species of fi sh, wildlife, and plants that are world’s supply. Th e basin is located in heavily industrialized listed as threatened or endangered in the United States and areas of both the United States and Canada, and nearly elsewhere. Protections for listing species include the design 25 percent of Canadian and 7 percent of U.S agricultural and implementation of recovery plans and the designation production are part of the basin’s ecosystem (Karkkainen of critical habitat. 2004). Th e Great Lakes marine ecosystem is subject to a Th e red wolf (Canis rufus) was one of the fi rst and most number of environmental stressors, including toxic and highly threatened species addressed by the then new ESA nutrient pollution, both solid and atmospheric; city and legislation. It once ranged throughout the southeastern agricultural waste; industrial discharges and disposal-site United States. Indiscriminate killing, bounties, and habitat leachate; declining fi sheries, wetlands loss, and habitat destruction were the initial drivers of population decline. destruction; and alteration of natural stream fl ows. Further disruption related to timber harvesting, mining, Th e venerable 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty and the and agriculture forced red wolves into the open, thereby Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement are the primary increasing contact with humans and livestock while creat- legal instruments governing the basin’s international man- ing favorable conditions for invasive coyotes (Canis latrans). agement programs. While the United States and Canada As the number of wolves decreased, coyotes moved in, and negotiated the fi rst Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement extensive crossbreeding occurred. A government predator- in 1972 based upon conventional pollution control strate- control program exacerbated an already dire situation for gies, the 1978 and 1987 revisions to the agreement explicitly the wolves. Th e U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) adopted an integrated ecosystem management approach. fi rst offi cially recognized the taxon as endangered in 1967, Within the United States, there are more than 140 diff er- and the species was extinct in the wild by 1980. With the ent federal programs that fund and implement the Great enactment of the ESA, an ambitious recovery plan—argu- Lakes management activities, including, for example, the ably the most complex ever—was initiated. Th e first step Bi-national Toxics Strategy, Lakewide Area Management was to establish a foundation breeding stock based on only Plans, and Remedial Action Plans for designated prior- fourteen individuals with adequate taxonomic purity, cap- ity areas. Governance of the Great Lakes Basin is shared tured from the wild (Norwack 1992). After decades of cap- across national, state, and local borders and involves vari- tive breeding, red wolves were released experimentally on ous federal agencies in both the United States and Canada, Bull Island of Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge in eight U.S. states, two Canadian provinces, a series of bina- South Carolina. Currently, red wolves successfully exist in tional nongovernmental and intergovernmental bodies,

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major ports and municipalities throughout the region, Christensen, Norman L., et al. (1996). Th e report of the Ecology Society tribal nations in the United States and in Canada, local and of America Committee on the scientifi c basis of ecosystem manage- regional nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), busi- ment. Ecological Applications, 6(3), 665–691. Cortner, Hannah J., & Moote, Margaret Anne. (1999). Th e politics of nesses and trade interests, and the scientifi c community. ecosystem management. Washington, DC: Island Press. Despite its complexity, this structure has been cited as the Didia, Dal O. (1997). Democracy, political instability and tropical defor- “premier example of successful transboundary collabora- estation. Global Environmental Change, 7(1), 63–76. tion in joint management of a freshwater aquatic ecosys- Downs, Anthony. (2005). Smarth growth: Why we discuss it more than we do it. Journal of the American Planning Association, 71(4), tem” (Karkkainen 2004). 367–378. Environmental Defense Fund. (2009). What do catch shares mean for Another Industrial Revolution fi shing jobs and fi shing fl eets? Retrieved September 3, 2010, from http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagid=48874 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2006). On a fi nal and positive note, there is a growing societal Sustainable grazing systems. Retrieved September 3, 2010, from awareness of environmental degradation and a commit- http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0603sp2.htm ment toward long-term stewardship and restoration (Stein- Grumbine, R. Edward. (1994). What is ecosystem management? berg 2009). EM-based initiatives are occurring not only Conservation Biology, 8(1), 27–38. Guynup, Sharon. (2003). “Dirty fi shing” emptying oceans, experts say. nationally and internationally, but also at regional, state, National Geographic. Retrieved September 3, 2010, from http://news. and local levels and are being developed with the involve- nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/08/0811_0308011_tvbycatch. ment of business groups, environmental and other NGOs, html scientists, and individual landowner citizens as well as Houck, Oliver A. (1997). On the law of biodiversity and ecosystem man- agement. Minnesota Law Review, 81, 869–976. supranational, national, and subnational governmental and Interagency Ecosystem Management Task Force (IEMTF). (1995). management organizations. Th e challenge is to consolidate Th e ecosystem approach: Healthy ecosystems and sustainable economies: policy, science, and political commitment. Th e economist, Vol. 1. Overview. Springfi eld, VA: National Technical Information author, and social critic Jeremy Rifkin suggests that “we are Service. Independent Lens. (2003). Razing Appalachia [Summary of the motion on the cusp of another historic convergence of energy and picture Razing Appalachia]. Retrieved September 3, 2010, from communication—a third industrial revolution—that could http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/razingappalachia/fi lm.html extend empathic sensibility to the biosphere itself and all of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). (1992). Climate life on Earth” (Rifkin 2010). Legal structures that adopt change 1992: Th e supplementary report to the IPCC impacts assess- ment. Retrieved September 13, 2010, from http://www.ipcc.ch/ EM principles could serve to encourage the development ipccreports/far/IPCC_Suppl_Report_1992_wg_I/ipcc_far_wg_I_ and success of innovative ecosystem programs and to extend suppl_material_full_report.pdf empathic sensibilities to fragile ecosystems globally. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). (2007). IPCC fourth assessment report: Climate change 2007. Retrieved September John D. PEINE, Becky L. JACOBS, Kay E. FRANZREB, 13, 2010, from http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/syr/ and Maggie R. STEVENS en/main.html Jensen, Mark E., & Bourgeron, Patrick S. (1991). A guidebook for inte- University of Tennessee grated ecological assessments. New York: Springer-Verlag Inc. See also Clean Air Act; Clean Water Act; Convention on Karkkainen, Bradley. (2004). Marine ecosystem management & a “post- sovereign” transboundary governance. San Diego International Law Biological Diversity; Convention on International Trade Journal, 6, 113. in Endangered Species; Convention on Wetlands; Endan- Krysanova ,Valentina; Vetter, Tobias; & Hattermann, Fred. (2008). gered Species Act; Forest Reserve Act; Lacey Act; Land Detection of change in drought frequency in the Elbe basin: Use—Regulation and Zoning; National Environmental Comparison of three methods. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 53(3), 519–537. Policy Act; Silent Spring; Wilderness Act Lindenmayer, David B.; Margules, Chris R.; & Botkin, Daniel B. (2000). Indicators of biodiversity for ecologically sustainable forest management. Conservation Biology, 14(4), 941–950. FURTHER READINGS Maehr, David S., & Lacy, Robert C. (2002). Avoiding the lurking Babbitt, Bruce. (1999). Foreword. In John Peine (Ed.), Ecosystem man- pitfalls in Florida panther recovery. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 30(3), agement for sustainability: Principles and practices. New York: CRC 971–978. Press. Maehr David S.; Land, E. Darrell.; Shindle, David B.; Bass, Oron L.; Bauch, Simone; Sills, Erin; Rodriguez Estraviz, Luis Carlos; McGinley, & Hoctor Th omas S. (2002). Florida panther dispersal and conserva- Kathleen; & Cubbage, Frederick. (2009). Forest policy reform in tion. Biological Conservation, 106(2), 187–197. Brazil. Journal of Forestry, 107(3), 132–138. Manuel, John. (2009). Balancing act: Creating the right regulation for Buttel, Frederick H., & Larson, Oscar W., III. (1980). Whither environ- coal combustion waste. Environmental Health Perspectives, 117(11), mentalism? Th e future political path of the environmental movement. 498–503. Natural Resources Journal, 20, 323. National Ecological Assessment Team (NEAT). (2006). Strategic habi- Campbell, David. (2001). Assessing human process in society: tat conservation: Final report of the National Ecological Assessment Environmental interactions. In Mark E. Jensen & Patrick C. Team. Retrieved September 3, 2010, from http://www.fws.gov/ Bourgron (Eds.), A guidebook for integrating ecological assessments. New SOUTHWEST/About%20Us/PDFs/SHC%20NEAT_Final_Rpt. York: Springer-Verlag. pdf

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Nowak, Ronald M. (1992). Th e red wolf is not a hybrid. Conservation Retrieved September 3, 2010, from http://www.basel.int/text/ Biology, 6, 593–595. 17Jun2010-conv-e.doc Odum, Eugene P. (1956). Fundamentals of ecology. Philadelphia: Cartagena Protocol of Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Sanders. Diversity, January 29, 2000, 39 I.L.M. 1027. Palmer, Margaret A., et al. (2010). Mountaintop mining consequences. Convention on Biological Diversity. (1992). Retrieved September Science, 327, 148–149. 3, 2010, from http://web.me.com/taro91/Plant_in_the_United_ Peine, John D. (2007). Social considerations. In Martin Raphael and States/CONVENTION_ON_BIOLOGICAL_DIVERSITY_. Randy Molina (Eds.), Conservation of rare and little known species: html Biological, social and economic considerations (pp. 236–272). New York: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Island Press. Fauna and Flora. (1973). Retrieved September 3, 2010, from http:// Peine, John J., et al. (2009). Habitat restoration and conservation prioriti- www.cites.org/eng/disc/text.shtml zation tool for the Endangered Species Act. Knoxville: Th e University of Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, Tennessee Institute for the Secure and Sustainable Environment. Especially as Waterfowl Habitat. (1971). Retrieved September Rifkin, Jeremy. (2010). Th e empathic civilization: Th e race to global conscious- 3, 2010, from http://www.eoearth.org/article/Convention_on_ ness in a world in crisis. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher / Penguin. Wetlands_of_International_Importance_especially_as_Waterfowl_ Rychwalski, Erica. (2010). Conservation science: Can cities and biodi- Habitat versity coexist? Th e Nature Conservancy. Retrieved September 3, 2010, Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate from http://www.nature.org/tncscience/misc/art25018.html Change. (1997). Retrieved September 3, 2010, from http://unfccc. Samson, Fred B., & Knopf, Fritz L. (Eds.). (1996). Preface. In Fred B. int/essential_background/convention/background/items/2853 Samson & Fritz L. Knopf (Eds.), Ecosystem management: Selected read- Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. (1987). ings (p. v). New York: Springer Verlag. Retrieved September 3, 2010, from http://www.unep.org/ozone/ Spence, David B. (2005). Coal-fi red power in a restructured electricy pdfs/Montreal-Protocol2000.pdf market. Duke Environmental Law and Policy Forum, 15, 187–220. Treaty relating to boundary waters between the United States and Steinberg, Paul F. (2009). Institutional resilience amid political change: Canada (U.S.–Gr. Brit.), January 11, 1909, 36 Stat. 2448 Th e case of biodiversity. Conservation Global Environmental Politics, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in 9(3), 61–81. those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (2008). Agriculture. Desertifi cation, Particularly in Africa. (1994). Retrieved September Retrieved September 3, 2010, from http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/ 3, 2010, from http://www.unccd.int/convention/text/convention. index.html php?annexNo=0 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (2010). Clean air mer- United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. (1982). cury rule. Retrieved September 3, 2010, from http://www.epa.gov/ Retrieved September 3, 2010, from http://www.un.org/Depts/los/ camr/ index.htm Weber, Edward. (2000). A new vanguard for the environment: Grass- United Nations Convention on Migratory Species. (1979). Retrieved roots ecosystem management as a new environmental movement. September 3, 2010, from http://www.cms.int/ Society & Natural Resources, 13(3), 237–259. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Wu, Jianguo, et al. (2004). Th e Th ree Gorges Dam: An ecological per- (UNFCCC). (1992) Retrieved September 3, 2010, from http:// spective. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2(5), 241–248. unfccc.int/2860.php UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. (1972). Retrieved September 3, 2010, from http://whc.unesco.org/en/conventiontext/ TREATIES / RESOLUTIONS / CONVENTIONS Vienna Convention to Protect the Ozone Layer. (1985). Retrieved Basel Convention. (1989). Basel Convention on the control of trans- September 3, 2010, from http://www.unep.org/ozone/pdfs/vienna- boundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal. convention2002.pdf

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