Often missing or underdeveloped in wildland fire research is a clear sense of the link between contemporaneous political possibility and the desired ecological or management outcomes. We examine the disconnect between desired outcomes and what we call the “politically possible”. Politically possible policy solutions are those that recognize how compromise, stakeholder engagement, and the distribution of costs and benefits combine to structure political acceptability. Better attending to the politically possible in wildland fire-related research can, in turn, inform our understanding of the cause, effect, and the potential solutions to fire management challenges. We observe how a lack of awareness and attention to the politically possible can create divisions or barriers to realistic action.

The control of most of Earth's freshwater resources with millions of tons of concrete underpins the modern world. This concrete is the physical manifestation of historical political choices about the use and value of ecosystem benefits, the context for current management challenges, and the point of departure for decisions on the future of water resources. Water resource systems, despite the emphasis on the engineered marvels that grab our attention, are perhaps best understood as a set of interconnected political calculations. This article examines the purpose of infrastructure in social–ecological systems and the importance of history and institutional permanence. It explores the political effects of water system infrastructure, the potential redistributive consequences of climate change, and why policy regimes and institutional arrangements will prove resistant to change.

In 1993, in an attempt to avoid the traditional lengthy, costly, and often controversial process of relicensing hydropower projects, Avista Corporation initiated a novel collaborative approach that brought together a number of disparate actors to craft a consensus relicensing application. The company's interest in a cooperative settlement was driven by continuing changes in the economic, political, and regulatory environment of relicensing. Over the last three decades various regulatory actors have placed a greater emphasis on environmental protection, increased competition in the electricity industry, and opened the relicensing process to new participants. There were three primary issues in the settlement discussions: the level of funding Avista would commit to environmental mitigation, species protection and habitat restoration, and the future operation of hydropower projects. The negotiated settlement provides the company with a degree of cost and regulatory certainty, while environmental organizations and government wildlife agencies gain an accelerated time-frame for mitigation and protection activities and a secure funding commitment. The Clark Fork settlement is evidence that negotiated compromises to relicensing applications may in certain circumstances become an effective means to balance economic and environmental values.

As the 30th birthday of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) passes and the act moves toward middle age, it is possible to discern a new generation of ESA-related issues. One of these is the management of the small number of species that have recovered or will recover to the point where they can be delisted. The delisting of some species raises two important questions that are the focus of this article. First, how will the delisting of species affect the relationship between state governments and the federal government? Second, how will state efforts to manage delisted species seek a balance between utilitarian and ecological values? This article examines the planned delisting of the gray wolf in the northern Rocky Mountains and three state management plans (Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming). It argues that the compromises entailed in these management plans suggest a sense of the future direction of the politics of species conservation.

International watershed basins shared by two or more states cover nearly half the land surface of the earth and often present complex, interconnected management challenges. The Columbia River basin has long been considered a model case of international watershed management. The fiftieth anniversary of the Canada–United States treaty that governs the basin occurred in 2014, which was also the first year either country could give notice to terminate and request to renegotiate. Stakeholders and values shut out of the original negotiations have long advocated for fundamental changes in how the river is managed and operated. While those interests who are the primary beneficiaries of the current system want to limit any changes in terms, operations, and distribution of benefits. This article explores the politics of potential treaty renegotiation and focuses on the institutional permanence of the existing system, demands for ecosystem functions in future system operations, and whether transformational change or incremental adaption is the politically likely outcome.

The Northwest Forest Plan required the US Forest Service (USFS) to shift its management focus to ecological values rather than the utilitarian ones that had dominated forest policy in the region. This article examines the effects of this shift on the USFS's historic mission to provide recreational access to the region's forests. Focusing on six national forests, it draws on a series of interviews with USFS personnel to answer two questions that explore the persistence of policies across time and the importance of the implementation stage in shaping outcomes. How did the USFS balance a deeply entrenched, institutionalized history of recreational use against new ecological priorities and habitat protection expectations? What were the effects at the local level on recreational use and access in riparian and other ecologically sensitive areas? The findings indicate that despite greater attention to ecological protection, recreation continues to be a priority.