The recognition of a greater role for value concerns in natural resource allocation policies and the shift to more biocentric moral perspectives in our treatment of the environment have considerable implications for natural resource allocation policy in the future. These issues are documented in the context of allocation policies in the Great Lakes basin. It is recommended that “backcasting” techniques, which create a future image of what we want a resource to be, be used to assist the transition to a more ecosystemic and sustainable form of environmental management in which values play a predominant role.