Progress is being made, but research and the national forests are still not working closely on major management questions. Inasmuch as ecosystem management encompasses the human dimension, greater attention should be provided research in the social aspects of ecosystem management. New ways of engaging the public will be required. Forest interests are skeptical of New Perspectives and ecosystem management. The development of innovative ways of engaging the public in decision processes will be essential.
Managers require state of the art technical tools, especially geographic information systems.
On the Ouachita, maps for an 8500-acre landscape management plan were drawn by hand and Pinchot Institute consultant George Parker observed that landscape divisions were based more on current conditions than on ecological potential. Conclusion New Perspectives was ambitious. The implicit objective was to do nothing less than to change the course of the Forest Service. In challenging some of the basic precepts of the agency, it released change agents throughout the Forest Service. And therein lies the risk.