Changing national forest values
| Authors: | David N. Bengston, Zhi Xu |
| Year: | 2008 |
| Type: | Book Chapter |
| Station: | Northern Research Station |
| Source: | Krippendorf, K.; Block, M. A., eds. The content analysis reader. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications |
Abstract
The evolution of forest values is currently being widely discussed and debated in the forestry community. It is often claimed that a fundamental shift in forest values has taken place in recent decades. For example, historian Samuel Hays (1988:550) suggested, "New values have emerged about what the forest in America is and what role it ought to play in modem society." Shands (1991) stated that managing the national forests in ways that are responsive to changing public values is the core problem faced by the USDA Forest Service. Gordon (1993) argued that a shift in public values is part of the explanation for the declining influence of the multiple-use sustained-yield paradigm of forest management. It is increasingly recognized that the values people hold about forest ecosystems are an important part of the social underpinning of ecosystem management, the emerging forest management paradigm. Grumbine (1994:34) went further, arguing that "Ecosystem management is an early stage in a fundamental reframing of how humans value nature." Thus, ecosystem management can be viewed as a response to changing values or as a driving force that is creating value change. In either case, values play a critical role in identifying ecosystem management goals, setting the context for decision-making, and guiding our choices.