Over
the past three decades, governments at the local, state, and federal
levels have undertaken a wide range of bold innovations, often in
partnership with nongovernmental organizations and communities, to try
to address their environmental and natural resource management tasks.
Many of these efforts have failed. Innovations, by definition, are
transitory. How, then, can we establish new practices that endure?
In her new book, Implementing Innovation-Fostering Enduring Change in Environmental and Natural Resource Governance, Dr. Toddi
A. Steelman argues that the key to successful and long-lasting
innovation must be a realistic understanding of the challenges that
face it. She examines three case studies – land management in Colorado,
watershed management in West Virginia, and timber management in New
Mexico and reveals specific patterns of implementation success and
failure. Steelman challenges conventional wisdom about the role of
individual entrepreneurs in innovative practice. She highlights the
institutional obstacles that impede innovation and its longer term
implementation, while offering practical insight in how enduring change
might be achieved.
Learn more and purchase the book from Georgetown University Press
Follow Dr. Steelman on Twitter
Toddi A. Steelman
is an associate professor in the Department of Forestry and
Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University. She is
coauthor of Adaptive Governance: Integrating Science, Policy, and Decision Making and Collaborative Environmental Management: What Roles for Government?