Soulé’s Conservation Biology as the Foundation for Econometric Ecosystem Management

It is never easy to characterize the accomplishments of an individual whose career has been devoted to improving the lot of others. Too often we lapse into cliches that undercut the admiration we feel for another's altruism and selflessness. This is particularly true with respect to the unique legacy ecologists leave behind. We usually consider teachers and scholars to be focused on the needs of other human beings, whereas ecologists, by deliberate choice, seem driven to understand and improve the conditions of non-humans-of animals, plants, species and even whole environments-whose ability to survive in a human-dominated world is lessened daily by the multitude of pressures they face. Just such a legacy confronts us now. Michael Soule's retirement presents a dilemma of description, a challenge of metaphor and anecdote, especially for those in academia, government, or private enterprise forced to confront the truths he has uncovered and, with his own strength of conviction and patient, clear-spoken manner, brought forward for consideration. Soule's dirtbeneath-the-fingernails approach to ecological problem solving has become the basis for an entirely separate science now called conservation biology, a practical alternative to managing ecological crises driven, he says, more often by expediency and practical human need than by any real commitment to protecting species and their habitats. In his own words, the issues are unsettling yet deserve focus and delineation: