The "ecosystem approach" to natural resource planning and management -- an approach that focuses on preserving the integrity of entire natural systems -- is becoming widely recognized as the key to large-scale environmental health.The 1978 Water Quality Agreement between the United States and Canada provided the catalyst for implementing ecosystem planning and management in the Great Lakes basin. No longer constrained by arbitrary political boundaries, decision makers could focus their attention at the ecosystem level, with the health of the watershed as their main concern.In this volume, Susan Hill MacKenzie uses three in-depth case studies to explore the institutional prerequisites to the creation and implementation of ecosystem-based management plans in the context of Great Lakes water resources. The book provides: a description of the foundations and historical roots of the ecosystem approach to water resource planning and management an assessment of the degree to which the goals of ecosystem management have been achieved a comparative analysis and assessment of the planning and implementation processes an overview of changes in the institutional structure of agencies in the Great Lakes region a prognosis for integrated resource management using the tenets of the ecosystem approach This study presents important information for resource managers and policymakers at the state and national levels as well as academic and research communities involved with environmental policy and the management of natural resources.