Ecosystems management can be viewed as an explicit attempt to build and manage interorganizational networks. A review of environmental management literature, however, reveals very little use of network organization models. For environmental professionals who encounter diverse stakeholders in their practice, this article offers a conceptual framework and case study that demonstrate the utility of approaching ecosystems as networks. Virtual network and learning organization models, combined with holographic (systems) thinking and generative learning paradigms, help explain how collaboration among multiple stakeholders in ecosystems management can work. The case of "Monroe 2020," the process for generating and implementing the comprehensive plan for Monroe County, Pennsylvania, provides a real-life illustration. The Monroe 2020 plan focuses on environmental quality and community economic goals, melded with resolution of longstanding conflict and commitment to a shared vision of the County's future. It emerged through a deliberate effort to build a broad-based, long-term constituency and tools for implementation. Monroe 2020 as plan and process represents a practical, mutually reinforcing alignment of natural ecosystems management and management of the built environment for human settlement. By fostering better understanding of how to create and manage effective collaborative partnerships, the ideas expressed here can contribute significantly to improved ecosystems management. Environmental Practice 5:119-133 (2003) o be effective, ecosystems management needs not only Afiliation ofauthors: