The EcoFactory - The United States Forest Service and the Political Construction of Ecosystem Management

The Forest Service adopted Ecosystem Management as a political strategy, the ecological and scientific aspects of the framework notwithstanding. Ecosystem Management was an ambiguous, undefined concept that the agency could shape in the context of political events. This article tells the story of the Forest Service's crisis and its awkward attempts to regain autonomy and prestige. In the volatile and politicized atmosphere of forest policy, the Forest Service attempted to change its image by adopting a new name for its practices, resorting to the common practice of meeting conflict and crisis with vague, sensationalist political imagery and drama.