biophysical science mix?

ABSTRACT: Forest managers face an array of prickly, seemingly intractable environmental prob-lems. They have traditionally turned to the biophysical sciences to help gauge potential manage-ment effects, weigh alternatives, and set priorities. Over the past several decades, forest managers have watched management plans disintegrate in the face of grassroots-level protests, quarrels be-tween regional-level regulatory organisations, and even national-level policy disputes. At whatever level, the controversies have a common denominator: they involve conflicting human values, atti-tudes and behaviors. With this realisation, several forest management efforts have attempted to in-corporate social analyses into their scientific base, with limited success. This paper explores three models of social and biophysical scientific integration from Australia and the United States. It then turns to three philosophers who considered the benefits and barriers to integration: E.O. Wilson (an entomologist who advocates consilience, a convergence of all types of knowing); Wendell Berry (a historian who believes knowledge is context-dependent); and Thomas Gieryn (a sociologist of sci-ence who identifies cultural barriers to integration). The paper concludes with a summary of the experiential lessons and the philosophers ' wisdom.