ABSTRACT
AN INEVITABLE TENSION exists between those who make use of natural resources to produce food, fiber, timber, energy, and minerals, and those who look to the natural environment for ecosystem services, such as natural amenities and recreational experiences. Tensions also arise on the rural-urban interface. Few deny that goods, people, and services need to move freely between rural and urban places, yet conflicts abound. Expansion of cities and suburbs may require conversion of farmland. Public programs intended for everyone may not work well for some unless explicit attention is given to human population density. Studies about resource-based economies or rural economies and rural people that make no reference to environmental effects or urban affairs clearly are doomed to irrelevance.
