Review Of "Averting Extinction: Reconstructing Endangered Species Recovery" By T. W. Clark

Document Type

Book Review

Publication Date

12-1-1997

Published In

Choice

Abstract

From 1982 to 1985, federal, state and private organizations spent over 10 million dollars trying to save the black-footed ferret from extinction in the wild, and failed. Clark argues persuasively that this failure was primarily due to organizational flaws in endangered species recovery programs rather than scientific errors. He reviews the history of the ferret debacle from several viewpoints and formulates suggested revisions in recovery program organization and environmental policy in general. The work provides evidence of the importance of politics and government organization structure over science in species recovery programs and will probably become a classic case study. With its extensive bibliography, Clark's book will be most useful for graduate programs in environmental science and public policy. The analysis of organizational behavior theory is on a level accessible to upper-division undergraduates and general readers but may not hold their interest; the writing is rather dry, and there are few figures and tables. Undergraduate libraries serving strong public policy and environmental programs should have this book, as it so clearly delineates the difference between government policy and government action.

Comments

This work is freely available courtesy of Choice Reviews. The review has been reproduced in full in the abstract field.

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