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| Wildlife Policies in the U.S. National Parks | 
| Authors: Frederic H. Wagner, Ronald Foresta, Richard Bruce Gill, Dale Richard Mccullough, Michael R. Pelton, William F. Porter, Hal Salwasser
Publisher: Island Press
Category: Book
List Price: $30.00
Buy New: $28.92
You Save: $1.08 (4%)
New (5) from $28.92
Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 947293
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 251
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 0.7
ISBN: 1559634057
Dewey Decimal Number: 333.9540973
EAN: 9781559634052
ASIN: 1559634057
Publication Date: July 1, 1995
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW
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| Customer Reviews:
Essential study of wildlife policies in the national parks, but recommendations are weak September 6, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This report was originally commissioned by The Wildlife Society to make recommendations for managing wildlife in the national parks. TWS was disappointed with the result, and the authors decided to publish it on their own instead of trying to satisfy them.
It's an excellent review of the history of wildlife management in the national parks. Originally, wildlife were an afterthought because the parks were built around monumental scenery. After that, many people started to think of some species of wildlife as part of the scenery too, such as bears in Yellowstone or Yosemite. Eventually, wildlife became a featured part of some parks such as Isle Royale or the Everglades. In all parks, wildlife faces threats external to the park such as pollution or exotic species, as well as internal threats from tourism and other national park service goals.
The authors review these issues very well, and this book is one of the central texts for any review of wildlife in the parks. However, they shrink back from making any strong recommendations. As scientists, they tend to feel more comfortable with recommendations of the form, "If your goal is X, then your policy should be Y." They are less comfortable talking about what the policy goals should be, and the authors did not see this book as the place to make radical recommendations about decommissioning roads, removing tourists, or the like.
They also don't really confront the political problems involved in park policy. These include the interests of concessionaires and gateway communities, hunters in the region around each park, congressional pork, the political interests of the National Park Service, and the self-interest of scientists who work in parks (such as the authors!). While they mention these issues, they don't really confront them as either obstacles or opportunities to their preferred policy, in large part because their policy recommendations are pretty weak themselves.
Though this book is essential if you want to understand wildlife in parks, those limitations are an important weakness. It deserves 4.5 stars but I'll round up because I'm in a good mood.
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Wildlife, nature and the Environment
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