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Until recently, natural resource management of such commodities as timber and wildlife was driven largely by the desire to exploit these resources. Since the 1960s, however, ecologists have warned that this approach to natural resource management could have unforseen consequences because it ignored how ecosystems function within the landscape. Federal agencies that oversee forest and wildlife resources have begun to implement different schemes of ecosystem management, clarify the key elements of sound ecosystem management and offer prescriptions for implementing them. The authors discuss definitions of ecosystem management, sustainability of ecological systems, landscape ecology, resource management at different scales and in an ecosystem context, advances in computer technology that facilitate classification schemes for ecosystems, ecosystem restoration, biological diversity and public concerns.