Naturalness and beyond: Protected area stewardship in an era of global environmental change
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Abstract
For most large U.S. parks and wilderness areas, enabling legislation and management policy call for preservation of these protected areas unimpaired in perpetuity. Central to the notions of protection, preservation, and unimpairment has been the concept of maintaining “naturalness,” a condition imagined by many to persist over time in the absence of human intervention. As will be discussed below in more detail, the goal of naturalness has been codified in legislation and protected area policy and built into agency culture. For much of the 20th century, the adequacy of naturalness as the guiding concept for stewardship of protected areas remained largely unchallenged. Scientists, managers, and conservationists assumed that natural conditions could be preserved and that doing so would assure long-term conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems within protected area boundaries.
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Naturalness and beyond: Protected area stewardship in an era of global environmental change |
| Series title | George Wright Society Forum |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Year Published | 2008 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | George Wright Society |
| Contributing office(s) | Western Ecological Research Center |
| Description | 21 p. |
| First page | 36 |
| Last page | 56 |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |