The Mind of Janus: Intersections of Law and Science on the National Forests(The Wallace Stegner Series in Environmental Studies)

A novel assessment of the interplay between law and ecology in forest management

Trees are the embodiment of existence: abundant, regenerative, irrepressible. Yet as more of the planet undergoes profound and accelerating climate change, deforestation, loss of biotic diversity, and a pitiless spread of pests and pathogens, which trees—if any—will thrive are increasingly urgent questions. Managing healthy forests remains factually uncertain, an uneasy dance between law and science.

How can law facilitate or even accelerate the application of forest ecology on landscapes like our national forests? This book is a thorough exploration of that question from more than a century of intersections of law and science on the national forests. With a focus on law—as distinct from mere policy—as an agent in human relations and as a catalyst of scientific research, it makes the case that we can and must do better to solve intractable land management problems.

Table of Contents:
Contents

Part One: Forest Ecological Inquiry: A Special Science

Science in Forestry: An Unending Arc
The Prospect of Forest Service Science — In Retrospect
Ecology in Space and Time

Part Two: Law as Normative Tool

The Forest Service as Agent
Law’s Exclusionary Function
Shared Legal Powers in Context

Part Three: Science and Law: From Retention to Reformation

Foundations Set and Hardened
Scaling the Search for Causes: Of Farms and Forests
The Campaign Against Fire: A Science of Timber Protection
Missoula: Apex of Service Fire Science
Facts Worth Knowing? Service Science Meets a Reformation
Forestry Evolved: The Legal Landscape of “Resources”
Scientific Forestry? On Legal Foundations Rebuilt

Part Four: Ecological Forestry in an Age of Polarities

Regulations for Forest Planning: Guides to Local Optima
A Geography of Biotic Diversity
From Populations, Communities, and Ecosystems: The Habitat Focus Hardens
The ‘Megafire’: What Kind of Nemesis?
A Lynx Tale: Restoring and Protecting Wide-Ranging Species in Rapidly Changing Forests

Part Five: Intersections: Toward More Deliberate Redesign

Fact, Fiction, and Forestry: Weighing Available Evidence
Succession, Patchiness, and Evolution: Mosaic Ecology, Joint Inquiry
Depth: Facilitating Forest Ecological Inquiry by Law

Appendix – Table of Abbreviations and Acronyms
Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the Author :
Jamison E. Colburn is the A. Robert Noll Distinguished Professor of Law at Penn State. He served as assistant regional counsel for US EPA and as trustee of the Connecticut River Watershed Council. He is the author of The Scales of Weighing Regulatory Costs: Technology, Geography, and Time.

Review :
“A great resource for anyone interested in Forest Service law, policy, and history.” —Sam Kalen, University of Wyoming College of Law