For freshman/senior-level introductory courses in Introduction to Natural Resource Management, Advanced Natural Resource Management, Natural Resource Economics, Natural Resource Policy, and Environmental Science. Unlike other natural resource management texts that focus solely on the ecological aspects of resourcesand with an overly pessimistic view of the futurethis text explores natural resource management in context in a functional, applied framework by integrating ecology, history, planning, economics, and policy into coverage of each natural resource, and by providing a balanced, guarded optimistic view of the most current research and technology's capability to overcome natural resource problems. Exceptionally straightforward and readable, it is easily accessible to students with limited background in ecology, biology, and economics.