Steven Yaffee is the Theodore Roosevelt Professor of Ecosystem Management. Research involves natural resource and environmental policy, planning and management; processes of policy formation and implementation; and organizational arrangements for managing natural resources. Of particular interest is policy involving endangered species, public lands, ecosystem management, and nonprofit environmental organizations. Also interested in innovative ways to make collective choices including alternative dispute resolution, collaborative problem-solving, and negotiation processes.

Awards and Grants:

Funding from the Packard and Hewlett Foundations for development of evaluation tools for collaborative ecosystem management processes Research Interests: Development and evaluation of ecosystem-based approaches to resource management, including ways to bridge geographic, political, organizational, and perceptual boundaries. Evaluation and conceptualization of public policies aimed at the conservation of biological diversity and the protection of endangered species of plants and animals. Evaluation of federal public lands policy and institutions.

Identification and analysis of alternative approaches to making collective choices, including topics in collaborative problem solving, alternative dispute resolution, negotiation, and conflict management.

Current/Recent Research:

Ecosystem Management in the United States. Inventory and assessment of the experience at more than one hundred sites employing ecosystem-based approaches to resource management.

In Search of Excellence in the United States Forest Service. Survey and analysis of "success stories" where USFS personnel were effective at bridging the agency-nonagency boundary. Assessment of organizational change and innovation diffusion strategies to promote bridging among public and private organizations.

Cooperation Across Boundaries to Achieve Ecological Stewardship. Two parallel studies exploring the factors that promote and inhibit cooperative relationships in ecosystem management, including case studies.

Policy Lessons from the Evolution of the Spotted Owl/Old Growth Controversy in the Pacific Northwest. Study of policy implications leading to publication of a book.

The Long Term Effects of Negotiating Forest Plan Appeals. This investigation examines whether some of the claims of proponents of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms are achieved, using case studies and a survey of more than twenty national forests that resolved appeals through formal negotiations.

Public Participation in Habitat Conservation Planning. The Endangered Species Act encourages private landowners to prepare habitat conservation plans as a means of protecting endangered species. This study examines the effectiveness and appropriateness of public participation in the HCP process.

Teaching Interests:

Teaching interests include understanding political behavior and organizational dynamics affecting resource and environmental policy choices; negotiation and mediation skills; ecosystem management; public lands policy; and the history of American resource and environmental policy. The courses I teach are intended to develop professional skills in graduate students. Hence, they are generally grounded in real-world cases or role-play simulations so that they are quasi-experiential. I provide conceptual frameworks and summaries of the literature which we then apply to the real world situations to explore what a decision-maker or a negotiator should do.

Selected Publications:

Wondolleck, Julia M. and Steven L. Yaffee. 2000. Making Collaboration Work: Lessons from Innovation in Natural Resource Management (Washington, D.C.: Island Press).

Yaffee, Steven L. and Julia M. Wondolleck. 2000. Making Collaboration Work. Conservation Biology in Practice, 1(1):17-25.

Yaffee, Steven L. 1999. Three Faces of Ecosystem Management. Conservation Biology, 13(4): 713-725.

Yaffee, Steven L. 1998. Cooperation: A Strategy for Achieving Stewardship Across Boundaries. In: Stewardship Across Boundaries. Richard L. Knight and Peter Landes, eds. (Washington, D.C.: Island Press), 299-324.

Anderson, Jeremy and Steven Yaffee. 1998. Balancing Public Trust and Private Interest: Public Participation in Habitat Conservation Planning, A Summary Report. A research report commissioned by the National Wildlife Federation. (Ann Arbor: School of Natural Resources & Environment, University of Michigan).

Hoffman, Andrew, Max Bazerman, and Steven Yaffee. 1997. Balancing Business Interests and Endangered Species Protection. Sloan Management Review 39(1): 59-73.

Aengst, Peter, Jeremy Anderson, Jay Chamberlin, Christopher Grunewald, Susan Loucks, Elizabeth Wheatley, and Steven Yaffee. 1997. Introduction to Habitat Conservation Planning. Endangered Species Update 14(7&8): 5-9.

Yaffee, Steven L. 1997. Why Environmental Policy Nightmares Recur. Conservation Biology 11(2): 1-10.

Yaffee, Steven L. and Julia M. Wondolleck. 1997. Building Bridges Across Agency Boundaries. In: Creating a Forestry for the 21st Century: The Science of Ecosystem Management. Kathryn A. Kohm and Jerry F. Franklin, eds. (Washington, D.C.: Island Press), 381-396.

Yaffee, Steven L., Ali F. Phillips, Irene C. Frentz, Paul Hardy, Sussanne Maleki, and Barbara E. Thorpe. 1996. Ecosystem Management in the United States: An Assessment of Current Experience. (Washington, D.C.: Island Press).

Yaffee, Steven L. 1996. Ecosystem Management in Practice: The Importance of Human Institutions. Ecological Applications 6: 724-727.

Yaffee, Steven L. 1996. The Spotted Owl Controversy in the United States and its Implications for the Practice of Sustainable Forestry. Revue Forestiere Francaise. 48:51-64.

Yaffee, Steven L. 1995. Lessons About Leadership from the History of the Spotted Owl Controversy. Natural Resources Journal. 35(2):381-412.

Yaffee, Steven L. and Julia M. Wondolleck. 1995. Building Knowledge Pools and Relationsheds at the Forest Ecosystem Level. Journal of Forestry. 93:60.

Yaffee, Steven L. 1994. The Wisdom of the Spotted Owl: Policy Lessons for a New Century. (Washington, D.C.: Island Press).

Yaffee, Steven L. 1982. Prohibitive Policy: Implementing the Federal Endangered Species Act (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).