Nie publishes new book

A new book by UM Associate Professor Martin Nie examines what drives ongoing conflicts surrounding public lands and resources and how they can be better managed.

The book — “The Governance of Western Public Lands: Mapping Its Present and Future” — was released this month by University Press of Kansas.

In the book Nie, who teaches natural resource policy in UM’s forestry college, explores factors that make issues controversial, how they have been dealt with in the past and ways they might be better managed in the future.

He looks closely at the designation of U.S. Forest Service roadless areas and management of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, using these cases to investigate issues about governing federal lands in the West.

The book also addresses conflict areas such as snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park, bear and wolf protection, fire and forest health, drilling in Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front and federal grazing policy.

Mike Dombeck, who has served as chief of the U.S. Forest Service and director of the Bureau of Land Management, said the book “should be required reading for all students of public policy and land management, as well as those who depend upon and care for our public lands.”

For more information, go online to http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/niegov.html.