America's renewable resources : historical trends and current challenges / Kenneth D. Frederick and Roger A. Sedjo, editors.

First published in 1991 by Resources for the Future.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Overview : renewable resource trends / Kenneth D. Frederick and Roger A. Sedjo -- Water resources : increasing demand and scarce supplies / Kenneth D. Frederick -- Forest resources : resilient and serviceable / Roger A. Sedjo -- Rangeland resources : changing uses and productivity / B. Delworth Gardner -- Cropland and soils : past performance and policy challenges / Pierre R. Crosson -- Wildlife : severe decline and partial recovery / Winston Harrington -- Growing role of outdoor recreation / Marion Clawson and Winston Harrington.

By recording one country's experience with its vast natural resource base, America's Renewable Resources: Historical Trends and Current Challenges will help to inform the management of future demands on the resource base in the U.S. and throughout the world. The contributors focus specifically on renewable resources--water, forests, rangeland, cropland and soils, and wildlife--which possess the capacity to restore themselves after they have be consumed. Because this capacity can be destroyed and the time required for restoration can be very long, a balance in their use is necessary to sustain continued productivity. In arresting fashion, the authors trace the history of each resource's use from early colonial times through periods of dramatic, sometimes cataclysmic, changes in its utilization by an expanding, diversifying society. They show how unforeseen consequences have forced social institutions into existence and compelled policy makers, especially at the federal level, to deal with problems for which they were largely unprepared. America's Renewable Resources, by examining changes in demand, technologies, policies, and institutions, will assist both policy makers and the public at large to look past short-term events to the conditions fundamental to maintaining our future economic and environmental wellbeing. Originally published in 1991. 'Filled with high-quality information and thoughtful analysis, this book is a good antidote to orthodox environmental doomsdaying.' Reason 'The whole panorama of renewable resources is so engagingly displayed that the unwary reader will be lured unresistingly into taking the broader view.... This book has much to contribute to the environmental debate. Its unbiased, well-argued assessment will, given the chance, improve the ability of all factions intelligibly to weigh the issues.' Forestry Chronicle 'It was great to find a scholarly public policy book that provides facts rather than provoking a riot...gives a sense of perspective missing from many volumes.' Bloomsbury Review 'Should be required reading for legislators and administrators who deal with America's resources... Through this study, one can clearly see past policies and attitudes and can appreciate that sometimes the condition and use of resources was and is really in the eye of the beholder.' Forest and Conservation History .