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Prato and Fagre offer the first systematic, multi-disciplinary assessment of the challenges involved in managing the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem (CCE), an area of the Rocky Mountains that includes northwestern Montana, southwestern Alberta, and southeastern British Columbia. The spectacular landscapes, extensive recreational options, and broad employment opportunities of the CCE have made it one of the fastest growing regions in the United States and Canada, and have lead to a shift in its economic base from extractive resource industries to service-oriented recreation and tourism industries. In the process, however, the amenities and attributes that draw people to this "New West" are under threat. Pastoral scenes are disappearing as agricultural lands and other open spaces are converted to residential uses, biodiversity is endangered by the fragmentation of fish and wildlife habitats, and many areas are experiencing a decline in air and water quality.

Sustaining Rocky Mountain Landscapes provides a scientific basis for communities to develop policies for managing the growth and economic transformation of the CCE without sacrificing the quality of life and environment for which the land is renowned. The book begins with a natural and economic history of the CCE. It follows with an assessment of current physical and biological conditions in the CCE. The contributors then explore how social, economic, demographic, and environmental forces are transforming ecosystem structure and function. They consider ecosystem change in response to changing patterns of land use, pollution, and drought; the increasing risk of wildfire to wildlife and to human life and property; and the implications of global climate change on the CCE. A final, policy-focused, section of the book looks at transboundary issues in ecosystem management and evaluates the potential of community-based and adaptive approaches in ecosystem management.

Table of Contents

Part I. Introduction
1. Searching for Ecosystem Sustainability, Tony Prato and Dan Fagre
2. Crown of the Continent Ecosystem: Profile of a Treasured Landscape, Ben Long

Part II. Social Dimensions
3. Native Peoples and Archaeology of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, Brian O.K. Reeves
4. Economic Growth and Landscape Change, Tony Prato, Dan Fagre, and Ramanathan Sugumaran
5. Sustaining Wildland Recreation: Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities, Stephen F. McCool and John C. Adams

PART III. Biophysical Dimensions
6. Alpine Ecosystem Dynamics and Change: A View from the Heights, George P. Malanson, David R. Butler, and Dan Fagre
7. Conserving Biodiversity, Michael Quinn and Len Broberg
8. Aquatic Ecosystem Health, F. Richard Hauer, Jack A. Stanford, Mark S. Lorang, Bonnie K. Ellis, and James A. Craft
9. Conserving Water Resources, James M. Byrne and Stefan Kienzle,

PART IV. Ecosystem Dynamics

10. Paleo-Perspectives on Climate and Ecosystem Change, Greg Pederson, Cathy Whitlock, Emma Watson, Brian Luckman, and Lisa Graumlich
11. Modeling and Monitoring Biophysical Dynamics and Change, Dan Fagre
12. Ecosystem Responses to Global Climate Change, Dan Fagre
13. Fire Regimes and Their Management, Robert E. Keane and Carl Key

PART V. Management Issues and Challenges
14. Cumulative Effects Analysis and the Crown Managers Partnership, Michael Quinn, Danah Duke, and Guy Greenaway
15. Transboundary Conservation and the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, Marguerite H. Mahr
16. Adaptive Ecosystem Management, Tony Prato
17. Challenges of Managing Glacier National Park in a Regional Context, Tara Carolin, Steve Gniadek, Sallie Hejl, Joyce Lapp, Dawn LaFleur, Leo Marnell, Richard Menicke, and Jack Potter
18. Resolving Transboundary Conflicts: The Role of Community-based Advocacy, Steve Thompson and David Thomas
19. Achieving Ecosystem Sustainability, Tony Prato and Dan Fagre

Paper: $42.00; ISBN 978-1-933115-46-7;
Cloth: $90.00; ISBN 978-1-933115-45-0

Tony Prato 1 and Dan Fagre 2, Editors
1. Professor of ecological economics in the Division of Applied Social Sciences, and co-director of the Center for Agricultural, Resource and Environmental Systems at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
2. Research ecologist and global change research coordinator at the USGS Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center in West Glacier, MT.

Forthcoming April 2007
Resources For the Future Press www.rff.org/rff/RFF_PRESS
http://www.rff.org/rff/RFF_Press/CustomBookPages/SustainingRockyMountainLandscapes.cfm