Environmental Ethics and Coastal Dunes in Western Lower Michigan: Developing a Rationale for Ecosystem Preservation

Abstract

The management of shoreline dune systems in the Great Lakes has long been contested. Some parties have viewed them as a consumable resource, while others have argued for their preservation. These differences arise out of con-trasting views about both the value of the dunes as well as which kind of value overrides which. Some of their value has been seen as residing in their geomorphic uniqueness, an interpretation based on older (largely qualitative) field studies that suggest they are fossil landscape features. Recent findings indicate, however, that most dunes arise from episodic, ongoing processes. Contradictory management implications of this new research can flow either from the heightened empirical uncertainty it has created (which gestures toward preservation) by undermining the prevailing views of dune development and chronology, or from diminished-value arguments it has stimulated (which lessen constraints on consumptive use) by calling into question older views about the geomorphic uniqueness of the dunes. Faced with such a dilemma, for practical guidance on the management of special places we turn to environmental ethics literature, where we find that long-standing disputes about where value in the environment is seated provide little further guidance. Accordingly, we propose that the ethical principle of respecting what others value out of respect for them be applied in such matters. This principle is consistent with both moral intuition and widespread practice, and its application in environmental policy would bypass some of the recalcitrant questions left open by other analyses of environmental value. With certain qualifications, this view then supports preservation of special places like lakeshore dunes regardless of the signal from empirical certainty or uncertainty or disagreement about just why valued places are valuable in the first place.