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Abstract

The Utah Department of Natural Resources initiated a number of programs before the term "ecosystem management" come into vogue that employ principles and concepts characteristic of EM. The Book Cliffs Conservation Initiative is a cooperative, multiple-use undertaking by the State, Bureau of Land Management, Nature Conservancy, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and private landowners. Antelope Island State Park is a cooperative management effort by several state agencies, and Salt Lake and Davis counties, managed by the state Division of Parks and Recreation, and engaging active public participation. The Southwestern Utah Planning Authorities Council is a coordinated effort by representatives of 18 federal, state, tribal, and local government entities to manage the Virgin River basin. It is intended to be an experiment in intergovernmental cooperation in ecosystem management. If it succeeds in the Virgin River basin, we hope to implement it elsewhere in the state. The Escalante Canyon Task Force is an effort by federal, state, and local officials to designate an area of spectacular natural resources as a national conservation area, and reconcile the competing demands of the environmental community and historic land users (grazing, timber, mining, oil and gas). Five perspectives on ecosystem management: (1) It concerns on prevention rather than repair through comprehensive cooperation and coordination. (2) The states must take the lead in implementing ecosystem management. (3) It is a process, not an outcome, involving communication and coordination between various levels of government and citizenry. (4) It cannot be "top-down driven," a mechanism of central planning. (5) It cannot be a tool of such "second agendas" as a means of expanding federal power, diminishing property rights, or tolerating bad science.

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