COMPASS AND GYROSCOPE : INTEGRATING SCIENCE AND POLITICS

Abstract

Review by James M. Peek, Ph.D. Professor of Wildlife Resources, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844, USA. TEL: 208-885-7120. Lee, Kai N. COMPASS AND GYROSCOPE : INTEGRATING SCIENCE AND POLITICS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 1993. 243 pp. US$16.95 cloth ISBN: 1-55963-197-X. Recycled, acid-free paper. In today's world, scientific advances and social problems seem to exist in ignorance of each other. With COMPASS AND GYROSCOPE, Kai Lee illustrates a way to make a connection. He has the temerity to address the conundrum by using the Columbia River Basin of the Pacific Northwest as a case study. The compass of the title refers to adaptive management. The point is made that as we seek to manage and sustain the world's major ecosystems, we face uncertainty and must acknowledge it. Politically, this is risky because leadership must identify the costs of information gathering and acknowledge failures. The word gyroscope describes negotiation and bounded conflict, which is our disagreement within prescribed limits as we seek agreement. Adaptive management, bounded conflict, and negotiation all seem to encourage the notion of progress. Such discussions are especially relevant today as salmon stocks decline, fishing is curtailed, and land uses are modified. Meanwhile, controversy increases. Even the Northwest Power Planning Council, established to recommend and develop equable solutions to the Pacific Northwest's water-related problems, has come under fire and is targeted for elimination. Lee aptly compares the situation to other large-scale ecosystem experiences, including: the Queensland Tropical Forest of Australia, which was heavily and controversially logged; the state of Washington's attempt to coordinate resource management through the legislatively mandated Timber, Fish, and Wildlife Program; and the Canadian Salmon Enhancement Program. An alternative to adaptive management called cybernetic learning is also examined, as is an organization's institutional barriers to using available information. There are extensive notes appended, including a section called Notes on Sources. A very useful bibliography rounds out the volume. Resource scientists and others who are interested in the sustainable development of natural resources will find this work an essential aid to better understanding. It requires close study, and is not light reading. While it seems self-evident to many that we must find a solution to what our natural resources can sustain in the way of their use and perpetuation, COMPASS AND GYROSCOPE discusses such difficult issues in an objective and scholarly fashion. The author's insights as a member of the Planning Council and other experiences provide invaluable material as well. This volume can serve as a reference to a variety of resource management courses. It is a highly objective treatment of a pressing issue in today's world, most especially in the Pacific Northwest.