Abstract

The dissertation provides an account of the emergence, development, and justification of the application of medical models of illness and health to environmental management. From its inception, ecosystem health has been a pragmatic, management oriented concept, that has emerged from the practice of management, rather than from theoretical work. I show how a practice---that is, a set of management goals, scientific beliefs, and practical norms---yields a conception of environmental or ecosystem health. For each view I discuss, I present its practice of management and infer its conception of environmental or ecosystem health. Environmental health is not a new notion, but occurs in different ways in previously overlooked views in the early environmental movement, namely in resource conservation, preservation, and the public health movement. Most of the dissertation is devoted to more recent approaches to health informed by the work of Aldo Leopold and ecological science. Two movements have emerged in response to different aspects of Leopold's thought: the conservation biology view of health in response to Leopold's focus on biodiversity, and the systems ecology view of health in response to Leopold's emphasis on ecosystem functions. Most recently, ecosystem management practitioners have tried to achieve a pragmatic synthesis of the conservation biology approach to health and the systems approach to health. Recognizing that disagreement still exists, a procedure known as "stakeholder negotiations" has been proposed to reconcile disputes. I discuss problems with this view, and provide an alternative with the notion of "ecosystem triage." Management priority should be given to species and systems that are probably savable but only through prompt action, especially those species with a disproportionate effect on ecosystem function. In addition, priority should be given to management that results in the creation of positive externalities for ecosystem goods