In recent years, a number of state natural resource agencies have begun to shift away from centralized, multiple-use management pactices to ones based on principles of ecosystem management. There are a number of reasons why states have become increasingly involved in EM. These include the transfer of natural resource oversight from federal to state agencies, the appropriate geographical scale of states, the extensive existing networks of offices and staff, and the experience of state agencies in dealing with multiple stakeholders (federal officials, local government officials, industry groups, recreational users, environmental organizations, etc.).

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) is one of the state agencies currently attempting to implement EM guidelines and programs. In the past, MDNR defined its mission in terms of the specific resources, lands, and uses managed by its four internal divisions (Forest Management, Fisheries, Parks and Recreation, and Wildlife). Advocates of EM have argued that this approach fragments both the management process and the natural systems managed. Under this arrangement, critics contend, divisions routinely failed to share information, made decisions demanding collaboration independently of one another, focused on too narrow a range of uses, and paid insufficient attention to landscape-level ecological processes and broad-scale human impacts. An initial set of EM initiatives designed to remedy these and other management problems was developed in 1995 by the Division of Fisheries. These efforts led to the formation of the Watershed Approach Re-Engineering Team (WART) and to the reorganization of the Fisheries Division in terms of watershed-based management units. A broader EM initiative, "The Joint Venture," is currently underway within MDNR. Formulated under the direction of Division chiefs, this planning project explores ways to integrate information gathering and distribution mechanisms, to coordinate decision-making processes, and to re-conceive management units on a larger scale.

MDNR would like to learn from the experiences of other state natural resource agencies that have embarked on similar missions. In particular, they would like to know more about:

• State agency policy statements outlining particular visions of EM;
• Specific reorganization plans developed to implement new policies;
• How agencies have reconceived and remapped physical parameters of management areas;
• How agencies deal with internal resistance to change and develop incentives to facilitate acceptance/lessen distortion; and
• Training and recruitment initiatives.