Human Impacts in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: Evaluating Sustainability Goals and Eco-redevelopment
Patten DT. 1991. Human Impacts in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: Evaluating Sustainability Goals and Eco-redevelopment. Conservation Biology. 5(3):405-411
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is composed of a mosaic of national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and private lands, each managed with different goals. Perturbations, both natural and anthropogenic, influence these areas. Maintaining naturalness and sustaining the systems within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are desired assessment endpoints in determining the need for ecosystem redevelopment. Ecosystem degradation is a natural response to human impacts, and evaluation of degradation relative to management goals can be used to determine the acceptability of the goals and potential for eco-redevelopment. Goals may range from maintaining very natural sustainable ecosystems to developing sacrifice areas for heavy tourist use or oil development. To evaluate human impacts in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, management goals for all systems should be reexamined to determine whether the original goals remain appropriate and whether some level of eco-redevelopment is necessary to achieve these or newly established goals. Special attention should be given to impacts of interactive and cumulative human activities.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Patten, Duncan
- Units
- BICA , GRTE , YELL
- Keywords
- Animal Studies, Behavior, Boating, Camping, Construction, Ecology, Ecosystems, Facilities, Fishing, Grazing, Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Human Impact, Hunting, Land Use, Logging, Mining, Natural Resource Management, Petroleum Resources, Recreation