"Top Down" In the Rain

The golden years for conservation and environmental protection seemed to be in the 70's and 80's. Led by Aldo Leopold, a science based conservation movement swept through this country that led to the Endangered Species Act and brought a tremendous increase in the number of agencies and groups devoted to the conservation of all species. By the 80's, wildlife conservation seemed to peak and was gaining an incredible amount of attention. This attention ultimately led to its downfall. Wildlife conservation agencies and groups quickly became politicised, pushing policy and action plans backed by political pressures instead of actual science. Even though scientific management is one of the seven sisters of the North American Conservation model, we seem to be taking a top-down management approach to conservation. Top-down management basically means you take a running system and look at it "top-down", in its entirety, and develop policy based on that perspective. The problem with this approach is that the ones at the top are at an increased rick to be swayed by political pressures.

"Where once professional managers determined the direction and content of agency policy and action,  now they are virtually powerless and the control of management rests with career politicians and administration professionals whose primary interest is to ensure the people in the field take top-down direction regardless of the science."

Is the top-down approach being implemented in South Carolina? The director of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) is being forced into retirement, by a board, most of whose members were selected by Gov. Nikki Haley last year. One might recall the director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) resigned a short time ago after a new Haley picked board took control of that agency. Haley has stated publicly that she had nothing to do with the retirement of either Frampton or DHEC chief Earl Hunter, but she was aware that the members of the board were ready for the agency to go in a different direction. South Carolina has now chosen its law enforcement chief Alvin Taylor to take over SCDNR operations. Alvin Taylor has an extensive law enforcement background and has consistently risen through the ranks, but how much does he know about actual conservation? Following Frampton's questionable retirement, its going to be interesting to see the direction Taylor plans to take. Will Taylor push policy backed by science or will he give into the political pressures of the board? Conservation needs to be driven by the people who know best how to deliver it. Taylor needs to bring with him a bottom-up approach to conservation and management. He needs to empower the individuals who are actually in the field doing the "dirty" work.  With enough science on his side, he has the power to transform conservation even in the most politically complicated conditions.

http://www.arubewithaview.com/blog/tag/wildlife-policy