The major aim will often be wildlife conservation, with subsidiary! aims such as education, research, recreation and amenity. It may be necessary to specify short term aims of public relations where there is hostility to the presence of a reserve, or of legal changes in boundaries, leases, etc.

Since a nature reserve forms an integral part of the pattern of land- use in a region or country, its management cannot be divorced from the wider issue of using the environment to benefit mankind. During 1971 approximately 0-7 per cent of the land surface in Britain is covered with nature reserves, but in overall land-use planning decisions, what is the role of wildlife conservation? This is very difficult to demonstrate since there is no way to assess the value of conservation in economic terms. Until such economic theories have been produced and tested, judgements must of necessity be subjective, often slanted towards the policy and resources of the administering organization.

National organizations will inevitably limit their attention to the most important sites, again based on some value judgement of the importance of these sites. Since the finance for their operations is nationally based there is the possibility of more flexibility in the management decisions.

Local organizations, however, will want rather more in the form of immediate returns from wildlife conservation. Unless they are very far sighted this local benefit will become an important aspect of the aims of management, and is one that is likely to conflict with the very long- term aim of sustained conservation management. Thus, this section of the management plan will always attempt to find methods of integrating wildlife conservation with the other forms of land-use, helping in forming a balance in the overall land-use planning decisions of the area in which the reserve is situated.

What should be the approach to conservation  management as a system? Should it be via 'pure ecology', basing the procedures of conservation and biological management upon ecological theory, mathematical models and statistical analysis? Or alternatively, should it be via 'applied ecology', mostly using the empirical experience of past management as a basis for future management? Forest management tends to follow the latter approach since there is a long tradition of forest management. Wildlife conservation is still a very young movement, and although there is a basis of past management experience this is not nearly as great as is that of forestry. Indeed, there is as yet no general tradition of wildlife management. Texts on conservation attempt to demonstrate the principles of management by analogy. There are historically so many instances of the interaction of people the environment that this empirical approach can be used with a fair degree of success. However, management is concerned not only with the administration of the present state of the resource, but also with predicting the future course of the resource.  It is therefore desirable to integrate research findings, particularly into the role of local factors into the practices of conservation.  Integral research projects along these lines should be part of the management process.

It is also important to integrate the reserve into the planning process as an educational resource. Education at the school level is thus an important aspect of conservation management, but several questions must be asked. First, what sort of demand is there in schools for the field teaching of biology, and how is this demand likely to develop during the forthcoming years? Secondly, how can an area of land be planned so as to maximize its usefulness in educational activities? Thirdly, what sort of projects can be carried out? Should they have a practical application, or is field teaching an extension of laboratory teaching where, if it is wished, the same experiment can be repeated every year? And, fourthly, how can educational and conservational uses of an area of land be integrated so that neither adversely affects the other?

There is greater opportunity for adult education. The recreational users of the countrysideare the main targets for the educational process, since they have come voluntarily from home into the area and are generally keen to find out about their surroundings. Surveys that have been carried out on nature reserves, have indicated that information is one of the facilities in greatest demand by the recreational user of the countryside. Conservation management should attempt to satisfy this demand by supplying information that contains the essential facts about the environment and its conservation.