1. Injury may change overnight to damage when a group becomes aware of 

 resource and perceives its loss or change harmful to their interest, 



2. Damage to one group of people may not be damage to another; in fact, there 

 may be benefits. 



This last statement may not be clear. Like pain, a little damage may be very 

 beneficial for it can prevent further major damage. A little pain may be instructive, a 

 lot of pain deadly. Similarly, as in a cotton insect outbreak, the cotton loss may be 

 great in one area but the cotton prices may double for someone else. It is possible that 

 some insect control programs (said to be damage control but in practice usually 

 injury control) may allow high crop production, lowered prices due to simple supply- 

 demand relations, and a net monetary loss to the farmers and the national tax base. 

 Damage is easy to claim and hard to compute. 



Management means operating a rational system for achieving human goals or 

 objectives. An example of the role of resource management is shown in Figure I. In 

 the unmanaged state, elk (e.g., in the Pacific Northwest, USA) waxed and waned as 

 forests matured and fires burned. Elk need low-growing grass, forbs, and browse (i.e. 

 twigs and leaves). Elk populations peaked when food supplies (resulting from 

 lightning fires) were abundant. They usually over-grazed and browsed their range, 

 eating away their food supply, and the future populations suffered or were never born 

 due to low nutrition. These are the low points in Figure 1. This unstable population 

 with its sharp peaks and troughs was natural. Under management, as shown, a 

 desired population can be achieved, preventing the highs (when forest tree damage, 

 soil erosion, and trout stream losses occurred) and the lows (when hunting is poor 

 and starvation conspicuous). 



Management means steering the resource ship, within bounds, to reach a desired 

 destination. The destination has to be decided by people. Simply being at the rudder 

 without direction does not count, for that will probably lead to a course much like 

 that produced by nature. 



It may seem heretical to some, but natural trends may not be most desired by 

 people. The odds are they are not. Controlling and shaping a resource, much as in 

 Figure I, is necessary if the very undesirable highs and lows are to be avoided. 



Sometimes these highs and lows cannot or will not (a clear decision) be avoided. 

 Then society or some group pays. Mitigation is payment. It is one of the last of the 



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Years (Time) 



Figure 1. Graph of elk population. 

 166 



