Wild Forests

Wild Forests presents a coherreview of the scientific and policy issues surrounding biological diversity in the context of contemporary public forest management. The authors examine past and currpractices of forest managemand provide a comprehensive overview of known and suspected threats to diversity.In addition to discussing general ecological principles, the authors evaluate specific approaches to forest managemthat have been proposed to ameliorate diversity losses. They presone such policy -- the Dominant Use Zoning Model incorporating an integrated network of &quote;Diversity Maintenance Areas&quote; -- and describe their attempts to persuade the U.S. Forest Service to adopt such a policy in Wisconsin.Drawing on experience in the field, in negotiations, and in court, the authors analyze the ways in which federal agencies are coping with the mandates of conservation biology and suggest reforms that could better address these important issues. Throughout, they argue that wild or unengineered conditions are those that are mlikely to foster a return to the species richness that we once enjoyed.