Through a mirror, darkly-using climate change information for land management

Conference · Fri Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1995

OSTI ID:198221

Slater, T F ^[1]

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1. Bureau of Land Management, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)

The writer Bruce Hutchison uses the phrase: {open_quotes}The land, always the land!{close_quotes} The land is a common denominator linking the ages. But the {open_quotes}land{close_quotes} in the broadest sense is a vast collection of natural components, events, and interconnections. It is complex, only partially understood, and ever-changing. Our ultimate challenge at this time is to SEE, as we look into the mirror of time. Regardless of the shadows of uncertainty, we must peer hopefully into the mirror to make meaningful connections between the past, the present, and the future. This is not easy. Traditional resource planning has been based on the short-term focus of today and tomorrow. That focus is beginning to change through a concept now popularized as {open_quotes}ecosystem management.{close_quotes} BLM recently has begun applying this concept in the formulation of the Eastern Utah Ecosystem Planning Initiative that is intended to give expanded dimensions to the planning and management of public land resources. These dimensions will give more attention to spatial (regional) and temporal (long-term) expectations. This paper investigates the theoretical and practical problems in linking the past to the future, using as the example the new planning initiative for Eastern Utah. It provides insights which may be applied to land-use planning and management, through new perspectives regarding changing climate and ecosystem patterns.

• Research Organization: Rust Geotech, Inc., Grand Junction, CO (United States)
• OSTI ID: 198221
• Report Number(s): CONF-9409325--; ON: DE96003275
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
56 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
APPLIED STUDIES
CLIMATIC CHANGE
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
FORECASTING
LAND RESOURCES
LAND USE
RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
UTAH