Environmental Politics and Policy in the West, Revised Edition

"Although focused on [a] specific region, the various chapters provide summaries of policy making and historical backgrounds vital to understanding environmental policy in the West and in the US in general. A valuable contribution to environmental studies/policy and related programs. Summing up: highly recommended."
- W. Ouderkird, CHOICE Magazine

"This is a good, dispassionate summary of the struggle of the past fifty years over mining, environmentalism, and land use in the West."
- Eric Clements, 2008 Mining History Journal

Population growth and industrial development have put the wide-open spaces and natural resources that define the West under immense stress. Vested interests clash and come to terms over embattled resources such as water, minerals, and even open space. The federal government controls 40 to 80 percent of the land base in many western states; its sway over the futures of the West's communities and environment has prompted the development of unique policies and politics in the West.

Zachary A. Smith and John C. Freemuth bring together a roster of top scholars to explicate the issues noted above as well as other key questions in this new edition of Environmental Politics and Policy in the West, which was first published in 1993. This thoroughly revised and updated edition offers a comprehensive and current survey.

Contributors address the policy process as it affects western states, how bureaucracy and politics shape environmental dialogues in the West, how western states innovate environmental policies independently of Washington, and how and when science is involved (or ignored) in management of the West's federal lands. Experts in individual resource areas explore multifaceted issues such as the politics of dam removal and restoration, wildlife resource concerns, suburban sprawl and smart growth, the management of hard-rock mining, and the allocation of the West's tightly limited water resources.

Contributors include: Leslie R. Alm, Carolyn D. Baber, Walter F. Baber, Robert V. Bartlett, Hugh Bartling, Matthew A. Cahn, R. McGreggor Cawley, Charles Davis, Sandra Davis, John C. Freemuth, Sheldon Kamieniecki, Matt Lindstrom, William R. Mangun, Denise McCain-Tharnstrom, Daniel McCool, Jaina L. Moan, and Zachary A. Smith.

Zachary A. Smith is a Regents' Professor of Political Science at Northern Arizona University. John C. Freemuth is a professor of public policy and senior fellow at the Cecil Andrus Center for Public Policy and Administration at Boise State University.