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Natural resource management must conform to what is biologically possible, economically feasible, environmentally sustainable, and socially acceptable. Social acceptability is often overlooked until opposition makes its importance self-evident. In reality, it is not really purely independent from economic, biological, or sustainability issues, but interacts with them in a complex and sometimes subtle way. One way of trying to understand social acceptability is to observe situations and outcomes. This approach has yielded 7 basic propositions about what makes natural resource systems acceptable or unacceptable to people. Although they are not entirely predictive, application of these propositions should reduce the probability of land management decisions incurring significant opposition.

Risk arises from our inability to clearly foresee the future. That is, it is the child of uncertainty. Risk comes in many forms: climatic risk, biological risk, economic risk, and political risk. The single most effective way to minimize risk is through diversity. Multiproduct systems whose elements do not share exposure or sensitivity to the same risks will be more stable over time. Planning for and managing ecosystem diversity is a key economic element in agroforests, mixed species forest stands, pastures, agronomic intercrops, and rangelands.

Agroforestry includes both animal and plant agriculture combined with woody plants. The wide range of possible plant and animal components gives agroforestry a great deal of versatility. It is practiced in some form throughout all regions of North America because of its environmental and economic benefits. The specific form of agroforestry prevailing in different regions generally reflects the types of land resources available and their traditional use. The five most agroforestry practices in the United States are: [1] Silvopasture, [2] Alley Cropping, [3] Riparian Buffers, [4] Windbreaks, and [5] Forest Farming.