The Cost of Poor Natural Resource Leadership: The Ecological, Economic, Social, and Political Repercussions

The lack of leadership can have devastating impact on the nation’s fish, wildlife and their habitats.  If natural resource use is left unchecked, the future could be bleak for society.  Natural resource managers are charged with protecting our natural resources while maximizing the benefits to society as a whole.  There are many challenges and whoever makes the resource management decisions controls the fate of natural resources.

Our history is replete with both successes and failures from those decisions.  Interestingly the definition of success and failure may be different depending on what your natural resource strategy is.  Leadership becomes a challenge in the face of long-term ecological impacts from those decisions.  The consequences of poor leadership can leave pretty big scars on our national landscape.  Beyond obvious ecological impacts, a lack of leadership dooms the nation’s fish, wildlife and their habitats to second-rate status in terms of the impact they have on local, state, and national economies.  Beyond the direct benefits derived from the revenues of outdoor recreation business, the multiplier effect of outdoor recreation is significant and needs to be part of the decision process.

The direct benefits outdoor recreation provides society, in terms of health and welfare, is becoming better understood as well. Coupled with the air and water quality benefits from healthy natural resources those social benefits are significant as well. Failure to recognize those benefits is a failure of leadership.  Finally a lack of leadership allows the political high ground to be occupied by those who might not appreciate the value of nation’s fish, wildlife and their habitats and treat outdoor recreation as a hobby or the societal benefits as an unessential element of the national good.

Strong, intelligent and courageous leadership is an essential element in the management of our natural resources. It absence portends tragedy.