ABSTRACT
This chapter provides some concluding thoughts about the analyses in this book and some suggestions for ways to maximize opportunities to elevate the status of the ecosystem within the law as people govern the creation and growth of mountain resorts in the future. The complexity of the mountain ecosystem invites one to seek an overarching conceptual model that encompasses the full range of both the natural and anthropogenic activities that take place. The mountains lie largely 'upstream' from many societal sources of the ecological interferences. The human activities at the mountain resorts are also relatively discrete, the number of players is quite small, and the land is often held in large tracts. The ecosystem that 'dynamic complex of plant, animal, and microorganism communities and the nonliving environment interacting as a functional unit' is inherently intricate, and scientific understanding of the mountain ecosystem is still unfolding.
