December 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 30

Debate Over the Purpose
of Conservation Heats Up
By Richard J. Dolesh

W

ho is conservation for? The debate over this age-old question has recently taken a surprising and unfortunately acrimonious turn. The
feud between those in conservation who believe that nature should
be protected for its own sake, or its " intrinsic " value, and those who believe
that we should conserve nature to help man, or for the " instrumental " value
of nature, has broken into the open in an embarrassingly public squabble. The
January issue of Parks & Recreation Magazine provided background on how the
issue has been brewing and its relevance to public parks and recreation (www.
parksandrecreation.org/2014/January/Who-is-Conservation-For).
Clearly the issues about who conservation benefits have not been resolved, and as the debate has intensified and become more personal, there
is a growing fear that the continuing
arguments are harming the cause of
conservation by chilling potential
grantors and driving students away
from entering a field that has become
so divisive.

28	 Parks & Recreation

The issue of who
conservation is for is
not just a philosophical
or theoretical debate
by ivory-towered

| D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 4 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

academics.

The simmering dispute was
brought to a head recently with the
publication of a commentary in
the November 2014 journal Nature
(www.nature.com/news/working-together-a-call-for-inclusive-conservation-1.16260) by two highly respected ecologists, Heather Tallis of
the Nature Conservancy and Jane
Lubchenco, former administrator of
NOAA who is now at Oregon State
University. In their commentary, cosigned by 238 other respected scientists, ecologists and biologists, the
pair calls out colleagues in the field
for their uncompromising stance and
the increasingly vitriolic dialogue
over the question of why we should
conserve natural resources.
Tallis and Lubchenco identify two



December 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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