All those concerned with the Sierra Nevada agree that the magnitude and complexity of managing the region's resources for sustainable use demands new approaches to research, planning, and decision making. There is less agreement, however, on how to proceed, except that it must involve the major reform of educational systems (e.g., greater interdisciplinarity and emphasis on problem solving), scientific research (e.g., synthesis vs. reductionism), institutions (e.g., collaborative vs. organization-based planning), natural resource management (e.g., adaptive vs.

In recent years the state has narrowed the gap between state concerns regarding biodiversity and ecosystem management, and the processes of local government and agencies that affect those concerns. While these efforts made some progress, none was sufficient to ensure the integration of existing data and analysis into local processes.

In 2007 a distributed graduate seminar at eight universities analyzed the recently completed state wildlife action plans. We interviewed agency personnel and stakeholders in all 50 states to document impacts of the plans on conservation activities, current challenges to implementation, and  enabling mechanisms that have accelerated conservation progress.
Please visit the Products area for state-by-state and topical summaries of our findings.