Across the Great Divide

Explorations In Collaborative Conservation And The American West

Amid the policy gridlock that characterizes menvironmental debates, a new conservation movemhas emerged. Known as “collaborative conservation,” it emphasizes local participation, sustainability, and inclusion of the disempowered, and focuses on voluntary compliance and consrather than legal and regulatory enforcement. Encompassing a wide range of local partnerships and initiatives, it is changing the face of resource managemthroughout the western United States.*Across the Great Divide* presents a thoughtful exploration of this new movement, bringing together writing, reporting, and analysis of collaborative conservation from those directly involved in developing and implementing the approach. Contributors examine: the failure of traditional policy approaches receconomic and demographic changes that serve as a backdrop for the emergence of the movemthe merits of, and drawbacks to, collaborative decision-making the challenges involved with integrating diverse voices and bringing all sectors of society into the movem.In addition, the book offers in-depth stories of eight noteworthy collaborative initiatives -- including the Quincy Library Group, Montana's Clark Fork River, the Applegate Partnership, and the Malpai Borderlands -- that explore how differgroups have organized and acted to implemtheir goals.Among the contributors are Ed Marston, George Cameron Coggins, David Getches, Andy Stahl, Maria Varela, Luther Propst, Shirley Solomon, William Riebsame, Cassandra Moseley, Lynn Jungwirth, and others. Across the Great Divide is an important work for anyone involved with collaborative conservation or the larger environmental movement, and for all those who care about the future of resource managemin the West.