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However, we note three fundamental problems. First, creative research is currently compromised by dwindling funding at the national level and particularly at the state level. Part of the problem is rooted in the growing tendency of agencies to attempt their own basic and applied research in opposition to cooperatives with universities. Second, we perceive a growing gulf between agencies and universities because it is often university scientists that point out flaws and interferences in agency management actions (Marston this volume). Third, universities are not currently producing management specialists in the natural resource arena who are astutely attuned to ecosystem connectivity. Graduates are trained primarily to do basic research and in most cases that training is highly specialized. We should not be surprised that agencies are becoming insular in their approach to management. Moreover, we should not be surprised that agencies tend to attempt ecological manipulations (e.g., introductions of exotic species, hatchery supplementation of wild populations) rather than focusing management on public education and regulation of human disturbances. Conducting research and managing resources should be distinguished as separate but complimentary activities. The successful manager must understand ecosystem connectivity and must be able to translate research findings into holistic resource management. It is also the manager's job to involve the public in the decision-making process by communicating how proposed actions relate to the whole and will thereby serve to reconnect severed interactive pathways. Because those making high-level management decisions must (1) comprehend ecosystem connectivity at the catchment level, (2) be familiar with the relevant primary literature, (3) determine when additional problem-oriented research is needed, and (4) translate all of the above into appropriate managerial decisions while effectively communicating with the public, their proper training is indeed a formidable task. University curricula in natural resource management need to be revamped to foster an understanding of e.g., economic and environmental sustainability, cultural needs and influences, demography and political change, and conservation ethics (Marston, this volume) in addition to traditional biology and ecology. Moreover, high-level management jobs (e.g., forest supervisors, park superintendents) require more rigorous training. Doctoral programs typically train either researchers or managers. We argue that to properly protect and manage our valued natural resources requires a solid grounding in research plus managerial expertise. We believe that contemporary management problems at the catchment scale are so complex that nothing less than a Ph.D. degree accompanied by a postdoctoral internship program will suffice to train conservators of ecological connectivity in river ecosystems. 24